Rental Car Companies...Which one?

[kristenrice]

Looking for opinions....

We have $$$ set aside for a rental car. We know we don't NEED one, but with 2 young and unpredictable children, we want to have our own car available.

We are going in January of 2008 and we have the Entertainment book as well as the various discount codes and such from mousesavers.com. From the research I have done, I believe that a standard car from any of the rental agencies will fit into our budget.

Now to my question....
Essentially, what is the "best" company to go with in regards to service, ease of access, car cleanliness, etc? I have looked at Alamo, National, Enterprise and Hertz. All of these have cars that we can get for less than what we have budgeted.

Without taking PRICE into consideration, which would you choose? Coments are appreciated!

 

[bavaria]

To me, service and cleanliness aren't really factors - if the car is dirty (and I have never had one and I rent almost weekly) then I exchange it. The service I expect is 'hello' 'thank you' and 'goodbye'. Again, no real issues - a few times I was not charged correctly and customer service corrected the issue instantly.

I voted Hertz but as a Presidents Circle my experience may be different from yours. I am also a National frequent renter.

Do you want to select your own car? National or Alamo, if you are part of their frequent renter program.

Do you want to get away quickly? any of the ones with a frequent renter program

Do you want to avoid a shuttle? Hertz is offsite

 

[goofy4tink]

I've only rented twice now....once at the Dolphin and once at MCO. Both times the car was clean. The Dolphin experience was wonderful..no issues at all. At MCO, there was an issue, but it was due to my not reading the small print. The CSR at the counter was very helpful and patient with me, even when I got cranky (wrongly I might add!!) We are renting with Budget in August but that's simply because Alamo doesn't have a handy office at Port Canaveral.

 

[powellrj]

we have done National, Alamo and Hertz. The last 3 times have been National because of EA and they seem to have the best prices if you are willing to work with codes and coupons.

We like the just walking out to the lot and picking up and car and driving away. The only line you have to wait in is the one as you leave the lot.

Alamo just always seemed to not be very organized even though they are owned by the same company.

With Hertz all I remember is we had a lot of just waiting around time.

 

[DawnCt1]

The choice comes down to which one is in the airport, type of vehicle and price. There is usually no other consideration. I prefer the Chryster minivans or Ford Windstar.

 

[jodifla]

We're preferred Avis members. We used to go cheapest price, but that ended after a couple of 2 hour waits in car lines!

Now, Avis drops us off right at our car, and we drive off! No stupid hassles -- that's worth a lot right there.

 

[CarolA]

I am willing to pay for service so I go with Herz most often.

Sorry, but cheap and rude don't cut it for me LOL! (Alamo.... anyone?) I have used National, but based on my last few experiences they seem to be adopting the Alamo model which involves going out of thier way to make the customer's experience horrid. My experience at the Dolphin was just HORRID. The kid wearing the "Alamo" shirt did NOT know how to rent a car. At EVERY step in the process he had to call someone to ask 'How do I do this?" and this was a BASIC car rental. I walked out!

 

[DawnCt1]

I am willing to pay for service so I go with Herz most often.

Sorry, but cheap and rude don't cut it for me LOL! (Alamo.... anyone?)

I should have added; I would NEVER rent from Alamo. Even though National owns it now, the culture hasn't changed.

 

[DVC-Don]

For several years now we've used almost only Dollar & Budget. I've joined the frequent renters programs for both and skip any lines.

I used Hertz 3 times and each time I waited a lot and once they gave me a very hard time about a discount program I belong to.

 

[Detailor]

I prefer the rental companies that are onsite at the airport for the convenience and speed from airplane to car. Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, National and L&M all have cars at MCO. I also like to save as much money as I can so I tend to use the companies that traditionally have the best prices. In my experience that's Budget and Dollar (I'm not comfortable with L&M). Lots of places that you can find coupons and discounts for both of these companies (mousesavers.com, bjs.com, costco.com, southwest.com, etc., and the specials at the company's websites, too).

Dick Taylor

 

[Disneyjosh229]

I should have added; I would NEVER rent from Alamo. Even though National owns it now, the culture hasn't changed.

Unfortunatly the culture is spreading over to National. A few weeks ago at RSW I waited realistically 15 mins at the gate for the "agent" (someone whom spoke horrible english wearing plain street clothes) to find my reservation, scan my car and print the paperwork and I was number one in line (infront of 3 or 4 other customers). Anyways, if I had the choice listed above and it being MCO, I would choose...

1) Hertz
2) National (Only because of EA)
3) Enterprise
4) Alamo

 

[Tamara]

Usually we rent through National (because of the EA) but this past January, we went through Alamo (in the airport) and I have to say they were very good. Very polite and accommodating (which after reading the boards I was ready for some sort of problem). We joined quick-silver (alamo's program), went right out to the little office type booth in the garage (one person ahead of us in line) and chose our car without a problem. Even driving off the lot was easy, although there was NO communication between my DH and the woman that checked us out of the garage. I think it took less than 20 minutes from start to finish.
We used coupons from the Entertainment book and booked as eary as possible and ended up with a standard suv for about $280 for 12 days. I was very pleased with the entire alamo experience.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I was very pleased with the entire alamo experience.

I'm glad to hear a positive Alamo comment...I was starting to get scared reading this thread. Cancelled a Budget and a Thrifty ressie because Alamo beat them. Hopefully I haven't shot myself in the foot by letting price rule my choice of car company.

 

[Tamara]

I'm glad to hear a positive Alamo comment...I was starting to get scared reading this thread. Cancelled a Budget and a Thrifty ressie because Alamo beat them. Hopefully I haven't shot myself in the foot by letting price rule my choice of car company.

Yes, we had a good experience with Alamo, they did nothing above and beyond, they just did thier job in a timely manner. There was one issue while I was there though...someone had reserved a Hummer and Alamo didn't have it for them, I left before any decisions were made so I don't know how that problem was resolved. I would recommend joining the Alamo Quick-silver thing so you can bypass the counter inside and go straight out to the booth in the parking garage. After getting our luggage, we walked by the lines inside and they were pretty intimidating but outside...not a problem! Good luck with your rental - I hope you have a positive experience too!