What happens if I don't pick up vehicle I have a reservation for?

[AmyM]

Considering making a reservation for a rental from National EA. What happens if I don't pick the vehicle up? Is there a charge?

 

[jlewisinsyr]

No, if you don't pick up the car, you won't be charged. Only a few agencies have contract wording supporting a fee for not picking up your reservation and not for all classes of cars, usually just specialty rentals like Hertz Prestige.

 

[andymattmom]

Considering making a reservation for a rental from National EA. What happens if I don't pick the vehicle up? Is there a charge?

As a common courtesy you should cancel the reservation. If everyone did this there could be a shortage of cars and rates increase.

 

[dioxide45]

As a common courtesy you should cancel the reservation. If everyone did this there could be a shortage of cars and rates increase.

Not necessarily. Rental agencies know there will be no shows, they build this in to their pricing. Cancelling one reservation won't make prices drop.

 

[TagsMissy]

Personally I think it's pretty low to reserve with no intention to pick up a vehicle.

 

[skiingfast]

Not necessarily. Rental agencies know there will be no shows, they build this in to their pricing. Cancelling one reservation won't make prices drop.

No shows because of travel difficulties and don't care to shows are not the same thing. If they built it into their business model they would oversell their cars often and run out. Not as common an occurence as airlines overselling thier seats.

 

[dioxide45]

No shows because of travel difficulties and don't care to shows are not the same thing. If they built it into their business model they would oversell their cars often and run out. Not as common an occurence as airlines overselling thier seats.

You are making an assumption of the OP. They never said there was no intent to pick up the vehicle. You are better to book a car if you even think you may need it. It could be rather expensive to just show up at the counter without a reservation. You don't know their intent of the OP. Rental agencies use a lot of historical data just as airlines do to estimate no shows. It doesn't matter why the no show, the rental company doesn't know why a no show happened. To them a no show because of travel difficulties is no different than someone who reserved 10 cars and didn't show up. It is still a no show.

 

[dioxide45]

Personally I think it's pretty low to reserve with no intention to pick up a vehicle.

This is not what the OP said. You have no idea what their intention was.

 

[andymattmom]

Not necessarily. Rental agencies know there will be no shows, they build this in to their pricing. Cancelling one reservation won't make prices drop.

What if more people did this....reserved cars and didn't have the courtesy to cancel when the rebook a lower price or needed to cancel. Then the company shows no cars available to someone who really needs a car. In Orlando and other popular tourist places it could make a huge difference. It takes a couple minutes to log-on and cancel a reservation. It is rude not to cancel when you know you aren't picking up.

 

[VAN]

For my last couple of bookings, I have received reminder e-mails from National 1) reminding me of my reservation and 2) asking me to cancel it if I no longer need it.

I don't believe there is a monetary penalty; however, they are trying to run a business, others may need a car, etc. -- it is just common courtesy to call and/or cancel your reservation as soon as you find you don't need it ... for whatever reason.

 

[AmyM]

Wow...didn't realize I would be causing such a debate...sorry I have friends that will be in FL at the time and may or may not be able to get away from their meetings when my flight arrives. I was thinking of renting a car anyways when I was down there, just not on day one. I thought if I at least had a reservation, I would be safe if they are unavailable. I really won't know until landing if they were able to get away or not. I thought I was asking a simple question. Once again, sorry for the unintentional debate

 

[TagsMissy]

You will need to make a decision then rent a car and have it available or take your chances and not risk it... imagine if everybody did this... rented a car "just in case" for their benefit and didn't cancel... there are only so many vehicles available and you are holding back stock for someone who has the full intention to use it. It's common sense actually.

 

[Brian Noble]

Reserve the car. If you end up not needing it, call and cancel as soon as you know. Even if it is on the same day, that's okay. You have a reasonable expectation of needing it, and I'm sure will do your best to find out earlier rather than later, and to call as soon as you know one way or the other.

The agency policies are written to enable this when it is needed. They allow for expected no-shows by overbooking, just like airlines do, and just like the Disney restaurants do---at least, those without a no-show penalty. As long as the historical no-show rate doesn't change drastically, they will be able to accurately predict demand.

If the no-show rate becomes unpredictable, or the degree of overbooking gets to be so large as to be risky, then the rental agencies will begin applying some sort of no-show penalty. A few might also do it for tighter yeild management. But, in the grand scheme of things, a few leisure travelers with uncertain plans are a drop in the bucket compared to the business travelers who routinely change plans late in the game.

 

[dioxide45]

Make the reservation. If you need it, you have it. If you don't just don't pick it up. You won't be the first to do this, and you cetainly won't be the last. You not picking up the car will not all of a sudden cause the rest of the people in the world to do the same.

 

[Disneyadore]

Make the reservation. If you need it, you have it. If you don't just don't pick it up. You won't be the first to do this, and you cetainly won't be the last. You not picking up the car will not all of a sudden cause the rest of the people in the world to do the same.

Just like all those who make different reservations for dinner in WDW for the same time and day because they don't know witch park they will visit.
Its pretty low to do so and I'm sure the car rentals will very soon start making you pay upfront.
For outer states visitors they already do, its just a matter of time and mis using until this policy will also affect US citizens.

 

[winterman]

Not necessarily. Rental agencies know there will be no shows, they build this in to their pricing. Cancelling one reservation won't make prices drop.

That may be but it is still common courtesy. DH makes several car reservations during the course of planning our trips. As soon as he books a better deal, he cancels the old one. Its not that difficult.

 

[Brian Noble]

Just like all those who make different reservations for dinner in WDW for the same time and day because they don't know witch park they will visit.

I respectfully disagree. The OP has a good chance of needing the car. It sounds more likely than not. This is no different than making one dinner reservation that you think you are going to go to, but if something comes up you might not---you might do this on your arrival day, for example. If your plane is on time, you'll be there. If something goes wrong with your flight, you'd call and cancel so someone else can have it.

The "double booking" equivalent in the car rental world is booking two different cars: one Emerald Aisle reservation (which guarantees a midsize, but sometimes has larger cars), and another with another agency that is more expensive, but guarantees the larger car. DISers (both here and especially on the Budget Board) used to recommend this strategy, though it has fallen out of favor since ME came along and made the whole trip free.

The OP seems like a reasonable person who has a legitimate expectation of needing a car, and who will make a good faith effort to cancel if and when they find out they won't need the car. This is exactly the sort of situation these policies are written for.