Hello there. Some were wanting to know how it went for our family as we rented a car at the Tampa airport through the UK company uscarhire.co.uk. Just wanted to let you know that everything went fine. Prior to and just after booking through the company I had a couple questions. I emailed and received a response in less than 24 hours both times. We chose an intermediate with a free upgrade if available. For Canadians renting through this company, your only option is through Budget. The price was $238 USD for 8 days during spring break and that included the car and every imaginable insurance, additional drivers, and unlimited mileage. The price quoted is the same no matter where in Florida you pick up the car. You go through the booking procedure and then designate your pick-up spot later in the process. This quote was about 10 days prior to our trip. After booking, we received a confirmation/receipt right away and the actual voucher which we were to take to the rental counter was emailed to us within 24 hours.
Pick-up at Budget was easy. Budget had all the information in their system already. They told us there was no free upgrade available as they were limited in their cars. This didn't surprise me and we had booked the size we felt we needed and considered any upgrade to be icing on the cake. There was no upsell or pressure. It was offered to us to prepay a tank of gas and not worry about returning the car full, but we declined this offer. We were given a Toyota Prius (a hybrid). This car looks for all the world smaller than the standard Pontiac G6 which is the typical intermediate and it has a hatchback trunk. They told us that this was all they had and we'd have to downgrade to a two-door to get anything else. We stuck with the Prius. Drove over 700 miles (not km, but miles) on $30 gas total.
After our trip, I emailed uscarhire to confirm with them that the Prius is in fact an intermediate. They weren't aware that it was even in the fleet so they contacted Budget to find out. Budget told them that they have been added as part of the "street fleet" and that they are actually an upgrade from the intermediate. UScarehire just emailed me back today on this. The Prius might be an upgrade in car type, but they are definitely not an upgrade in size and the lady at the counter definitely said there was no upgrade available. Whether or not it is an intermediate, or an upgrade, or whatever, lies squarely on the plate of Budget. Uscarhire has nothing to do with what car falls into what category so I don't consider it to be any sort of problem with them. Just be aware that you could get this car if you book an intermediate. No problem with the car, but people might not realize it doesn't have a separate, enclosed trunk.
I would definitely book with uscarhire.co.uk again. Their customer service is very, very good and the price was decent compared to anything else we could find. Hope this helps someone!
Pick-up at Budget was easy. Budget had all the information in their system already. They told us there was no free upgrade available as they were limited in their cars. This didn't surprise me and we had booked the size we felt we needed and considered any upgrade to be icing on the cake. There was no upsell or pressure. It was offered to us to prepay a tank of gas and not worry about returning the car full, but we declined this offer. We were given a Toyota Prius (a hybrid). This car looks for all the world smaller than the standard Pontiac G6 which is the typical intermediate and it has a hatchback trunk. They told us that this was all they had and we'd have to downgrade to a two-door to get anything else. We stuck with the Prius. Drove over 700 miles (not km, but miles) on $30 gas total.
After our trip, I emailed uscarhire to confirm with them that the Prius is in fact an intermediate. They weren't aware that it was even in the fleet so they contacted Budget to find out. Budget told them that they have been added as part of the "street fleet" and that they are actually an upgrade from the intermediate. UScarehire just emailed me back today on this. The Prius might be an upgrade in car type, but they are definitely not an upgrade in size and the lady at the counter definitely said there was no upgrade available. Whether or not it is an intermediate, or an upgrade, or whatever, lies squarely on the plate of Budget. Uscarhire has nothing to do with what car falls into what category so I don't consider it to be any sort of problem with them. Just be aware that you could get this car if you book an intermediate. No problem with the car, but people might not realize it doesn't have a separate, enclosed trunk.
I would definitely book with uscarhire.co.uk again. Their customer service is very, very good and the price was decent compared to anything else we could find. Hope this helps someone!
