Rental car and add ons

[bocaj1431]

I need some help from those who are more familiar with renting cars. I will be renting from MCO (ALAMO).

1). Is the quote I reserved online final unless I choose to add on when I pick up the rental. (Used Costco travel to reserve)
2). Checked with my insurance company and was told I have everything I need to cover the rental accept Loss of use and diminished value. If I choose to add these, is there a clear way to add this without them sneaking in another fee? Is there a clear separate line item for each when I add them?
3). When pick up car if I reserved a economy car and they are out can they charge me more for what they do have available?
TIA

 

[georgina]

I need some help from those who are more familiar with renting cars. I will be renting from MCO (ALAMO).

1). Is the quote I reserved online final unless I choose to add on when I pick up the rental. (Used Costco travel to reserve)
2). Checked with my insurance company and was told I have everything I need to cover the rental accept Loss of use and diminished value. If I choose to add these, is there a clear way to add this without them sneaking in another fee? Is there a clear separate line item for each when I add them?
3). When pick up car if I reserved a economy car and they are out can they charge me more for what they do have available?
TIA

1) I use Alamo through Costco at MCO frequently. It will be the price listed as long as you pick up and drop off around the times listed on the reservation. There is a grace period, and I think they understand if your plane is late coming in, but otherwise if you change by several hours with no reason the rate can change. Occasionally the tax rate has changed resulting in a few dollars difference but that is rare.

2) I don't know, I have never used insurance through the rental agency. Are you paying with a credit card that provides rental car protection? That is what I rely on.

3) I have always been told to choose from the next level up if there are no cars in my category available. Usually I checkin online ahead of time and skip the counter completely, once at another location I was at a counter and the person offered me an upgrade for a price (turns out they were out of my reserved car class and tried to get me to pay to upgrade) When I said no thanks they had to upgrade me for free.

 

[bocaj1431]

1) I use Alamo through Costco at MCO frequently. It will be the price listed as long as you pick up and drop off around the times listed on the reservation. There is a grace period, and I think they understand if your plane is late coming in, but otherwise if you change by several hours with no reason the rate can change. Occasionally the tax rate has changed resulting in a few dollars difference but that is rare.

2) I don't know, I have never used insurance through the rental agency. Are you paying with a credit card that provides rental car protection? That is what I rely on.

3) I have always been told to choose from the next level up if there are no cars in my category available. Usually I checkin online ahead of time and skip the counter completely, once at another location I was at a counter and the person offered me an upgrade for a price (turns out they were out of my reserved car class and tried to get me to pay to upgrade) When I said no thanks they had to upgrade me for free.

I will definitely check on the cc and I’m glad I do not have to worry about the price changing too much from the reservation price.
Exactly what happened with the upgrade experience you had is what bothers me about the rental process. I’m going to look into checking in on line. I have never used that before and it seems like it would make things much easier.

Thanks for all the tips.

 

[EACarlson]

If you have one, use a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve to pay for the rental and you shouldn't have to worry about anything insurance related. They are the only CC's I'm aware of that include primary rental insurance standard. You can also pay a small fee through AMEX if you use one of their cards. Car rental insurance is one of the bigger reasons I pay the $95 annual fee for my Sapphire Preferred.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

If they are out of the car class you rent you will not be charged for having to take another car class. I have never had an issue with the car class I reserved being sold out. They always have cars rolling in. So much so you will have difficulty backing out of my parking spot because they are moving cars it constantly