will there be rental cars left after frances?

[tuckerkeys]

pardon my wondering, with everything going on i know this may seem like a silly question but this is just something i am considering just incase we need to postpone our trip...

i'm just wondering now, with everything going on this weekend and the potential for no food, gas, power & damage etc etc..... i am due to arrive at MCO on friday evening (sept 10), and have a rental car with dollar reserved. Since people are leaving in droves both by car and air, do you think there will be any cars left by the 10th of sept? will they all be gone, or maybe none with gas? what do you think? how was it w/ charlie?

 

[Annette_VA]

I've been wondering the same thing. We arrive on the 10th as well & are renting from National. I'm hoping they'll have cars available!

 

[3for Me]

I think it really just depends on how big of a hit the area takes. I can assure you it will be no piece of cake for these people to get these cars back and some will just take them back to their home town as a means of escaping FL.

This happened to someone I know with Charley and the rental co. let her return the car to our hometown as opposed to the place of origin with no penalty due to the hurricane.

I wish I had a better answer, but at this time, you don't even know if the roads will be passable to drive by Friday.

It is really just a wait and see sort of thing.

 

[frannn]

I hope everything, for the resident's sake and ours, works out just fine. I heard on the weather channel that it is down to a category 2, but that it could easily pick up & be back up to a 3 by the time it hits.

 

[Rhonda922]

I hear that people who waited until the last minute and couldn't get a flight out of Florida just took rental cars and drove them home. I don't know how the agencies in FL get the cars back.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

We went to WDW for Thanksgiving, 2001.

We arrived late in the evening on Thanksgiving and went to National to pick up the van for which we had a confirmed reservation.

I had only booked it two weeks before.

When we got to the National counter, we were about 3rd in line with 1 person working.

It quickly became apparent they didn't have any vans.

When it was finally our turn, they wanted to give us two sub-compacts instead and we could come back later for our van.

I refused and insisted on the midsize that a man had just returned. I would not even wait for it to be cleaned. We just checked for damage and gas and took off. It was after midnight.

When I finally was able to speak with a manager after we returned, she told me that after 9/11 most of their cars were driven all over the country and hadn't made it back yet. However, the computer continued to book reservations for vehicles they didn't have.

Be careful!

Sorry this post was so long.

 

[safetymom]

Cat 3 is 111 mile an hour winds. The winds are currently 110 so it doesn't have far to go to be a Cat 3.

 

[PlutoPony]

With Charley, it seemed that some rental car companies were in better shape than others as far as availability of vehicles. That may have been the "luck of the draw" rather than a reflection of a specific company's policies, preparedness, etc. We arrived Sunday a.m. (Charley hit Friday nite) and had NO problems at Hertz - seemed to have plenty of cars and very little visible damage to their place at that time (altho we saw lots of damage all around them). Other people reported different experiences at other rental companies - but I don't remember specifics. I had the same concern about whether there'd be a car for us, and called the Hertz counter directly at MCO on Saturday evening (before we were to arrive). Got the number by calling their 800 #. They reassured me that they were in good shape and had plenty of cars. So you might want to do that before you leave if you're still concerned. But I wouldn't call much before you leave as things will be changing rapidly (hopefully improving) after the storm clears out and you'll want the best info possible....
Beth