When will Alamo come back down to earth? And advice for Avis renters through UCT?

[Mrs~Incredible]

We’ve used Alamo for years and love the pick your car and skip the counter program. Never had any issues. Prices are still astronomical so we just booked a prepaid car with a Avis through UCT, but I’m nervous.

We arrive at MCO at 6:00 pm on a Saturday in early Nov. Might be crowded. Might be low inventory.

I’ve been reading a lot of threads and it sounds like we should go to a local Avis near us at home to link our wizard # with our reservation, have them verify our license etc and then we can possibly do their version of skip the counter and possibly pre-select our car via the app when we land.

Does this sound about right?
Any advice?

Just trying to avoid headaches at the airport.
Thanks!!

 

[Klismania]

I can't tell you anything about Avis, but I can commiserate with you about the astronomical rental car prices for Alamo this year. In the past I've ALWAYS (let me repeat that...ALWAYS) rented a car. Mostly with Enterprise but more recently with Alamo my last few visits. I LOVE renting with Alamo!

Unfortunately, this year's trip will be my first ever using a town car service with a grocery stop.

I just couldn't justify $540 (plus another $100 to park at my cabin) when I could be paying $185 instead. Yeah, I'll have to get used to not having as much freedom to go off property, but for a $450 savings, I can Uber if I have to and still be saving money.

Hope you can link your wizard # to Avis.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Alamo has been such a bummer! We are actually driving from Massachusetts for our upcoming Christmas trip because the flights are obviously high and with the added cost of an expensive rental car- it finally came down to realizing driving is just more feasible.

Have you looked into National or Hertz? I think they have a skip the line feature but you may need to pay to be a 'member' to access that. If their rental prices are cheaper than Alamo it may be worth looking into, though I think in general Hertz is also high.

 

[mzozzietj]

If you already have an Avis preferred account you can login to the app. Then if you pull up the reservation you can edit just to add your flight info. If you try to link to your Avis account direct the price may change so don’t try that. I’ve added flight info when already logged in and have been able to go right to the garage on our last two trips. If you don’t have an existing account you will likely need to go to the counter to give your license and credit card the first time

 

[DaviVascaino]

No matter which rental car company you use, it is a **** show. Low inventory, high demand, higher prices. Several people I know have rented cars prior to arrival just to find out they have no vehicles available. Have a back up plan just in case