Sanford Rental Car

[Hawkeye314]

Hi All --

just booked my family's trip to DW for 8/23 - 9/1 and are flying into Sanford. Arrive late on Saturday night (9:30 PM). Our ressies at All-Star Sports start Sunday so we hoped to rent a car and stay somewhere in the DD area.

Having trouble with rental car prices. First, most of the sites are closed at Sanford at that time of night. I called National/Alamo and they said if I book reservation online, do it for a 6:00 arrival and then call them and they'll have someone stay late to give us our car. Do you think I can count on that?

In addition, rental car prices seem very high. More than $300 a week for a full-size. Any ideas? We would like to keep the car for the full week to give us some off-property dining options. But, if costs contain us, we will rent the car one-way and drop-off at the Dolphin.

Any ideas to help us get the full week?

Thanks.

 

[MulanMom]

Sanford's a nice airport to fly into and depart from, but sometimes it's small details like this that can present difficulties. If I were you, I'd also call Dollar. They are located at the airport as well. The standard operating hours usually have the rental sites closing at around 5pm, but there are times where the counters will stay open when a late flight is due to arrive.

Years ago we arrived at Sanford about 10-11pm at night and the Alamo desk was open. When we've returned cars after 5pm, we've had to follow certain drop-off procedures, which you may want to clarify at the time you pick up your car.

As for higher prices for rentals, I try to use codes/coupons/association memberships to get the cheapest rate possible. A lot of times, about 60-30 days out, special promotions are run that reduce the cost. Mousesavers.com is a good website for monitoring rental car codes for travel to WDW.

HTH!

 

[Hawkeye314]

Thanks for the ides. I've been using every possible code, coupon, etc.

I guess I'll keep trying. Do you think I can trust national/Alamo to stay open for me?

 

[MulanMom]

I just received an email from Dollar regarding some rental specials running through 8/27. If you would like me to forward the mailing to you, please PM me. The special is a full size for $189.99 and minivan for $199.99. If you go to the Dollar website and click on their specials, it'll probably show there. Be sure to enter in your correct arrival/pick up times and see what it says. Then follow-up with a phone call to Dollar to be sure they'll stay open.

As for whether or not you can trust Alamo to be open, I'd say yes. It seems to be matter of course for the airport concessions (in terminal) to remain open on nights when a flight is leaving late, when their usual closing time is about 5pm. I haven't been a late arrival to Sanford in a very long time, and back in '98 they did remain open. I can't see how they would not stay open if they told you they would. Perhaps if you called the Sanford location directly, it would put your mind at ease.

good luck! Hope the Dollar promo helps you out!