Returning rental car early?

[kandb]

We are renting an Alamo car for one day. Husband picking it up at the Disney care center on a Sunday at around noon and reserved it to drop it off on Monday morning at 8am at MCO. We are staying at a hotel right near the airport with the shuttle. Our flight leaves at 10am. I think I would rather drop it off Sunday night, so we don't have to hassle with the turning it in in the morning and we just take the shuttle to the airport in the morning with our luggage. We are flying Jetblue, so I think Term. C. Will we get charged more if we drop it off early? Thanks for any input.

 

[sam_gordon]

This is just a guess, but doing a quick scan at alamo's website, pickup at Noon and drop off at MCO at 5p or at 9p, same day, it's the same "daily rate". So it appears it will be the same charge (you're paying for the full day, regardless of how long you use it).

 

[kandb]

This is just a guess, but doing a quick scan at alamo's website, pickup at Noon and drop off at MCO at 5p or at 9p, same day, it's the same "daily rate". So it appears it will be the same charge (you're paying for the full day, regardless of how long you use it).

OK, that makes sense but when we pick up car I will have my husband double checks. Thank you!

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

We are renting an Alamo car for one day. Husband picking it up at the Disney care center on a Sunday at around noon and reserved it to drop it off on Monday morning at 8am at MCO. We are staying at a hotel right near the airport with the shuttle. Our flight leaves at 10am. I think I would rather drop it off Sunday night, so we don't have to hassle with the turning it in in the morning and we just take the shuttle to the airport in the morning with our luggage. We are flying Jetblue, so I think Term. C. Will we get charged more if we drop it off early? Thanks for any input.

car rentals are different since Covid. Be careful that your contract does not charge an early drop off fee. We were charged by Avis $10 an hour for dropping off a car a few hours early at MCO when we changed a flight due to bad weather predictions for that evening. Did not realize it till we saw the CC bill the next month. Some charge by the day, others by the hour.

Also, in the future, consider using the Hyatt at MCO airport. You can drop off the car the night before your flight It is a little more money ($189 a night) then the other hotels but you may be breaking even by spending one less day on the rental. You can go downstairs and check your bags then go up and wait in your room until you are ready to go through security. . Ch. 3 on the TV is the MCO flight board and if your flight is delayed, you can stay in the room for a few hours.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Should not be a problem. You would only see a change in rate if you rented for the week and returned it in a couple of days, but then that SHOULD be in your favor. You are just renting for a couple of hours - I'm sure they'll be happy to have the car back.

 

[holyrita]

car rentals are different since Covid. Be careful that your contract does not charge an early drop off fee. We were charged by Avis $10 an hour for dropping off a car a few hours early at MCO when we changed a flight due to bad weather predictions for that evening. Did not realize it till we saw the CC bill the next month. Some charge by the day, others by the hour.

When was this? I've returned a ton of rentals through Avis many hours early (as recently as last month) and have never seen a change to my bill from doing so. Wondering if I've just been getting lucky!

 

[EACarlson]

When was this? I've returned a ton of rentals through Avis many hours early (as recently as last month) and have never seen a change to my bill from doing so. Wondering if I've just been getting lucky!

Similar question. I've never been charged unless the rate had something goofy like it was weeklong and returned in three days.
Generally, if the booking window remains the same there won't be any additional charges. Usually it is three hours, then a day, then after three days it goes to a week.

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

Similar question. I've never been charged unless the rate had something goofy like it was weeklong and returned in three days.
Generally, if the booking window remains the same there won't be any additional charges. Usually it is three hours, then a day, then after three days it goes to a week.

Always check your confirmation email that you get after you return the vehicle and see if it matches the prepaid offer that you made when you booked the reservation. We were charged for picking it up 50 minutes late. As I looked back on my emails and records, this was done 2 other times and I did not notice it until recently. We always prepaid since we got stuck with no cars during the pandemic and have seen other people with reservations recently not get a vehicle.

 

[holyrita]

Always check your confirmation email that you get after you return the vehicle and see if it matches the prepaid offer that you made when you booked the reservation. We were charged for picking it up 50 minutes late. As I looked back on my emails and records, this was done 2 other times and I did not notice it until recently. We always prepaid since we got stuck with no cars during the pandemic and have seen other people with reservations recently not get a vehicle.

I always confirm I was charged what we were quoted when we made the reservation or I'd be on the phone immediately with the car rental company- I had to do that once with Budget when they charged us for gas even though we returned it with a full tank.

Still, have never been charged for returning early or picking up late. Maybe because we don't do pre-pay but instead pay at pickup/drop-off? Maybe because we add our flight info to our reservation? Who knows at this point

 

[nolatravelgirl]

I am not a fan of waiting on hotel shuttles as they may or may not be full or running very regularly. I would make sure to fill up the night before and you may also want to drop off your party with all the luggage and then just have one person return the car so you aren't dealing with bags at the rental return area.