Returning rental car early?

[goofy4tink]

we need to return our rental car early...Fri morning instead of Sun morning. I'm not looking for a change in rate, or money back. Just want to turn it in.
Is that going to be a huge pain? Returning to MCO.

 

[seashoreCM]

The act of turning a rental car in early will usually not result in a somewhat longer delay at the return counter while any additional paperwork is done.

But if you did not have the car for a certain minimum length of time such as 5 days or spanning a certain point in time such as Saturday night then your rate might be refigured to a somewhat higher rate.

 

[mrsstats]

On my last trip to Hilton Head we had to return after only 2 days of a weeks vacation. We were charged extra for that. Which to me was really unfair since they now had the use of the vehicle for 5 days that I already paid for.

 

[Hopefully]

I too have been charged extra for returning a rental early

 

[NotUrsula]

In this situation you will almost surely be charged extra unless you were already paying a high rate; most discount rates require a Saturday night keep, and if you don't fulfill that, it voids the terms of the rate. They will probably recalculate at the daily weekday rates, unless you have already had it since at least last Saturday morning.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Generally, if the booking has a weekly or weekend rate that includes a Saturday night stay (and typically includes a discounted rate if calculated on a per day basis) your rental will be recalculated at the prevailing daily rate. If the car rental companies didn't have some penalty of this sort, folks would start routinely booking the cheaper weekly or weekend rates and then return the cars early. This causes problems for capacity planning and demand-based pricing algorithms.

 

[OKW Lover]

As others have noted Diane, it depends on your rental period. If you rented a car at a weekly rate, but return it well short of that you could be switched to a daily rate and the cost recalculated. It may be better for you to just keep the car for the extra days.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, wanted to check back in and let you all know of my experience.
I rented the car at MCO on Monday, to return on Sunday, with that Sat night stay. I went to the Alamo counter at the Dolphin and told the agent my situation....I needed to return the car on Friday morning vs Sunday morning, wasn't looking for a lesser charge, and to add dh as an addtl driver so he could return it at MCO. I had no issue at all paying the $207 I had planned on paying. Well, she took dh's info, then told me my cc had been authorized for the $207 charge. But now the charge would be $153!
So, she reduced my charge, nit even charging the addtl driver charge.
I think she could tell how pleased and grateful I was!!

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks for the update!

 

[prprincess]

Glad your rate was reduced!! Before I read your updated, I was going to chime in and say that we'd returned a car early once, and our rate was reduced--we'd driven from Orlando back to New Jersey and our trip was shorter than expected.

 

[richmo]

Well, wanted to check back in and let you all know of my experience.
I rented the car at MCO on Monday, to return on Sunday, with that Sat night stay. I went to the Alamo counter at the Dolphin and told the agent my situation....I needed to return the car on Friday morning vs Sunday morning, wasn't looking for a lesser charge, and to add dh as an addtl driver so he could return it at MCO. I had no issue at all paying the $207 I had planned on paying. Well, she took dh's info, then told me my cc had been authorized for the $207 charge. But now the charge would be $153!
So, she reduced my charge, nit even charging the addtl driver charge.
I think she could tell how pleased and grateful I was!!

I think you were fortunate and ran into a very nice Alamo agent. As others have mentioned, if you get bumped out of a weekly rate, especially if its a promo (think coupon codes), down to a daily rate, the daily rate could easily be more than the weekly, even though they get the car back earlier. As @Ralph&Pam mentioned, you'd be seeing folks grabbing weekly promo rates and returning cars early.

 

[a742246]

Well, wanted to check back in and let you all know of my experience.
I rented the car at MCO on Monday, to return on Sunday, with that Sat night stay. I went to the Alamo counter at the Dolphin and told the agent my situation....I needed to return the car on Friday morning vs Sunday morning, wasn't looking for a lesser charge, and to add dh as an addtl driver so he could return it at MCO. I had no issue at all paying the $207 I had planned on paying. Well, she took dh's info, then told me my cc had been authorized for the $207 charge. But now the charge would be $153!
So, she reduced my charge, nit even charging the addtl driver charge.
I think she could tell how pleased and grateful I was!!

To me the Dolphin has the best car rental people in the business. My pickup times though is usually after 1:00 PM when the rush is over!

 

[LSchrow]

Well, wanted to check back in and let you all know of my experience.
I rented the car at MCO on Monday, to return on Sunday, with that Sat night stay. I went to the Alamo counter at the Dolphin and told the agent my situation....I needed to return the car on Friday morning vs Sunday morning, wasn't looking for a lesser charge, and to add dh as an addtl driver so he could return it at MCO. I had no issue at all paying the $207 I had planned on paying. Well, she took dh's info, then told me my cc had been authorized for the $207 charge. But now the charge would be $153!
So, she reduced my charge, nit even charging the addtl driver charge.
I think she could tell how pleased and grateful I was!!

the people at Dolphin Alamo/National are the reason we won't rent from anyone else in the Orlando area - picking up a car there is such a pleasant experience, and they have been amazing the very few times we had a problem
I'm so glad it worked out for you!

 

[bumbershoot]

Even the airport national people are good. We had anone day rental to return to ccc. Then we decided to keep it longer but still return to ccc. They changed that no worries. Then we needed to keep it longer and return to the airport and again no issue.

Should mention dh is executive status with them so maybe that's why.