Relevance of time to car rental availability?

[sweet maxine]

I'm just not much in the know about car rentals, so I have this question for those of you that are.

Is the availability worse at night, say around 9 p.m., or is it better in the morning around 9 a.m.? I'm thinking about just staying close to the airport the first night, then taking the shuttle back to the airport to rent the car in the morning. I'm worried that late in the evening there will be limited to no availability, and don't want to get caught without a car. I wouldn't want to reserve one size, then find out everything's gone when I get there. How does that work? Would I be better just coming back in the morning to pick up a car?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Got no answers for you sweet maxine. The same thought has been popping around in my mind too. We have the added complication of our 6 yr old DS being wheelchair-bound, so we really really really need the minivan, or maybe a full sized SUV (tho they are a lot less comfortable than a minivan, and lifting DS's wheelchair up to the higher tailgate level of an SUV could be dangerous to daddy's back).

So I would be interested in others' thoughts on this issue as well.

 

[NotUrsula]

Depends on what you are renting. For the most part, availability of cars intermediate and smaller is iffy after about 8 pm, but the company will upgrade you to the smallest thing they have left, at no add'l charge. I have never seen the MCO rental garages totally empty at any time, not even on September 16th, 2001. I heard somewhere that MCO has the largest rental fleet in the nation.

We normally use Natl., and we always arrive no earlier than 10 pm. Most of the time there are plenty of large vans, suv's, and minivans around, and some really large full-size cars, what DH likes to call geri-barges. Essentially, what remains late at night are the models that are the most expensive to rent. We normally rent an intermediate, but most of the time we end up with a fullsize. We don't need a really large vehicle and would rather not have one, actually; we prefer to drive something that gets better gas mileage.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Thx very much NotUrsula; your comments are very enlightening, and in my case, reassuring.

We appreciate the help!

 

[DebbieB]

We usually arrive mid-afternoon and there is plenty of availability. However, in May we arrived around 7:00pm on a Sunday night, pickings were slim.

 

[gigi1313]

i heard somewhere many moons ago that rental cars were more plentiful in the afternoons and on weekdays because that is when the staff came in to clean them between renters... basically the processors (people who clean/deodorize/vacuum/etc) work a regular workweek M-F or S 9 to 5, so it's during that time that the stock gets replenished... which would make perfect sense that late on a sunday there will be less cars to select from because even if people ret'd their cars all day saturday and sunday, they have not been put back out to be re-rented...

don't know how "factual" it is, but it's what i read some years ago, and it sorta makes sense... and now makes me question arriving at mco at 9am on a monday!

 

[sweet maxine]

I am renting through National with a good rate for an intermediate. So are you telling me that most likely that type of car may not be available around 9 or 9:30 p.m., so they will upgrade to the next available size for no extra charge? I'm just trying to make sure something will be there for me when I get there as I will have grandson in tow, and as pumpkinboy says, need to have the car!

I will be arriving on a weekday, if that makes any difference.

 

[safetymom]

It would depend on the time of the year that you are going. I think most of the rental agencies have a supply of cars so that no matter what time you go they would have a car for you.

If you are going around a major holiday you might not see as many cars.

The rental agencies know when the cars are due back and schedule their crews around it.