upgrade with tavel agent or airport (alamo)

[kizzy212]

i have car included in hoilday but we are really stressing the car isnt gonna be big enough for cases. we are planning on taking two large cases, and one small. 2 adults 2 children plus hand lagguage.

the book states it will hold 2 large 1 small.

so we would like to up-grade, would it be cheaper to do this with travel agent or wait till we get to airport...?

 

[florida sun]

Kizzy
Im sorry I dont know the answer to your question, but just bumping this up for you, to see if anybody can help.

Can anybody advise please??

 

[kizzy212]

thanks florida sun,

i have been told that the reps on the counter at car hire place try to get you to ungrade and offer you deals.
is this true.????

for a midsize car my travel agents want £25 per day up-grade.

again any advice

 

[kristieuk]

Sorry that I can't offer some definitive advice, but we are planning to wait until we get to FL to upgrade our car - from previous experience, they are desperate to get you upgrade at the counter, and you are far more likely to be able to negotiate a better price. However, we don't actually need a bigger car, just want one, so we do have the advantage of being able to turn an upgrade down.

It just sounds so expensive to upgrade beforehand - through BA holidays, a limited upgrade of 3 classes or so was over £400 for our 3 week holiday. We upgraded to Club World for our return trip home for not that much more, and it just seems so much more worth it.

 

[Amyrlin]

I think it depends on who you have booked with. The price of £25 a day to upgrade sounds extortionate. When we were there the first tme I upgraded from a full size to an 8 seater and it cost me equal to £120 for two weeks with Dollar. It was meant to be a good deal, I later found out that had I done this before I went it would only have been an extra £60.

I think, if it were me, I would call Alamo, and ask them what they will offer you for an upgrade when you get there, That will be sthier starting pioint and they may or may not negitate on that when you get there. However, if you are looking at going from intermdiate to full size I doubt it would be £25 a day! I think I would also check with the TA, as that sounds very very high.


Kizzy who are you going with, that would give us an idea of the cpompany they wil use and the costs, usually, but not always, it is better to upgrade here.

 

[kizzy212]

we are going with thomson and they use car hire alamo. in bochure they state we will need mid size. which holds the four of us travelling however only 2 large cases. my children are 1 and 9. we normal take three case and one little one.

the bochure states to up-grade to full-size is £25.50 per car per day. we have already paid £280 for the fully inclusive car hire.

i think we are going to wait till we arrive...

 

[disneyholic family]

we are going with thomson and they use car hire alamo. in bochure they state we will need mid size. which holds the four of us travelling however only 2 large cases. my children are 1 and 9. we normal take three case and one little one.

the bochure states to up-grade to full-size is £25.50 per car per day. we have already paid £280 for the fully inclusive car hire.

i think we are going to wait till we arrive...

£25.50/day sounds outrageously expensive to me....i would wait and see what happens at the alamo counter in florida.....if they don't try to push an upgrade on you, then you can also ask how much an upgrade will cost...
but first wait for them to push it on you...
i can't imagine that it's £25.50 /day....

 

[JohnnySharp2]

£25.50/day sounds outrageously expensive to me....i would wait and see what happens at the alamo counter in florida.....if they don't try to push an upgrade on you, then you can also ask how much an upgrade will cost...
but first wait for them to push it on you...
i can't imagine that it's £25.50 /day....

I would be surprised if it was $25 a day never mind £25 - that sounds very steep to me too.

 

[squitty]

£25 sounds very expensive to me also.

In December 03 we went from a Intermediate to a 4X4 with alamo for $10 per day including all taxes.
DH didnt take any notice of the upgrade offer last Dec as we'd booked the car we wanted anyway

 

[Amyrlin]

I would def wait, no way wil it be £25 a day to upgrade when you are out there, more like someowher between $11 - $18 a day I wepould think, but no way £25 a day, tat is a real rip off.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Car rental companies always offer upgrades, irrespective of whether you actually need one or not, Dollar always ask me anyway , I usually just politely say no.

The prices for upgrading when you get there are not too bad at all, however, they seem to increase more when you get to an F4 (full size) upwards.
Which is what we have booked for this year.

In addition with fuel costs rising economy may be worth bearing in mind, we usually rent a mini-van which is shown as approx. 19 mpg, however, an F4 is 24 mpg. which when you are travelling a fair bit - we have a trip to Miami on our August holiday - can make a big difference.

If you are upgrading when you get there, I would make sure you have a good idea which car you feel you need, it is very easy after a long flight to just upgrade to a much higher spec. car that could end up costing you a fortune.

 

[maria & rossi]

have you thought about trying to book with another company here in the uk. airline network are usually ok price wise and i think they use dollor. You would have to see if your present booking will cost your to cancel. sometimes if its booked as a package they may not charge to just canx car hire. You need to way up the difference to see if it's worth it, but at least you'll know you've got what you want before you get there.

maria

 

[Hilary]

If you're only considering upgrading because you're worried the trunk space will be too small, you could always wait until you get the allocated car and then upgrade only if you find you can't fit everything in.

We've never needed to do this, but it's always something that crops up in conversation with the rental clerk - they try to get you to upgrade, you politely decline, they offer you a decent rate, you decline again, they say you might find the trunk a little small, you say you'll take a chance try the luggage, they say go ahead but come back if you need something a bit bigger.

Of course, if you do go back to upgrade they know they've got a captive audience as it means you've tried the luggage space and decided you have to upgrade, so I don't know whether they'd still find a decent upgrade rate!

Good luck

 

[patdavies]

£25/day to upgrade is ridiculous.

Airline Newwork (using Dollar) are offering a premium of 7 seater minivan for £25/day in August - never mind upgrade. A full size is coming up at £19/day (£268 for 2 weeks). An intermediate comes up at £ 250 for 2 weeks

The problem with Thomson, like most inclusive packages, is that they rip you off on the insurances to add to their profit line.

If you can, I would suggest that you cancel the car with Thomson and re-book directly and independently with someone like Airline Network

 

[kizzy212]

thank you all for your help and advice. i have showed all your posts to my partner and we are going to wait till we check in and see what they offer.

he sends his thanks tooo. what would i do without you all. i have been four times and i am still asking advice.

 

[Nitram64]

In the past ive upgraded to a 7 seater people carrier for 14 days $170 one year $210 another year.This was with dollar though but i would imagine there all similar.They always seem to have deals on certain cars so i would wait and see.Why not check the upgade prices at the desk and make a note of them before you check whether the car your allocated is big enough.

 

[Amyrlin]

I think I may have found somethng intresting for you.

On the Alamo site, a full size car, includng all insrances for 1 driver over 25 comes to $619 for two week. If qwe take an exchange rate of 1.7 then this equates to £26 a day. THis is not the Upgrade price, but the total proce for the full size car. You can have a look at www.alamo.com

Could it be they are quoting you the full price, and not the difference between the mid size car and the full size car? Whatever they are doing, at least it shows it will be nowhere near that cost for an upgrade.

 

[TraceyL]

Our upgrade (before travelling) from full size to 7 seater cost £135 for 16 days (less than £8.50 per day) - £25 a day seems waaay too much !

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I think Terri has probably found the answer in the previous post.