2OHMomof2, when I enter my trip itinerary on the autoslash site, the car drop-off location is not an option, so I can’t complete the request.
On “search for a car rental”? I was able to type a city in. It’s not an airport though.
I’m picking up the car at an airport, but returning it to a different location where only Enterprise has an office.
We were just traveling and had a good experience with National and a bad experience with Enterprise. And H thinks hey have the same parent company!
I like Autoslash too. If I don’t use Autoslash, I use Priceline.
Yep, Enterprise owns National and Alamo.
Yes, the same company owns National, Alamo and Enterprise. Our worst experiences have been with Enterprise, including our June rental. We have not had issues with Alamo nor National, but their rates were $600 higher than Enterprise, so we gave Enterprise another chance. We weren’t very pleased. Lots of things–they claimed motto have our reservation and said they were sold out, when we had a slow leak on the tire, all 3rental places nearest us for enterprise were sold out and they told us we were on our own to buy a new tire or repair because we didn’t buy the extra coverage with the rental, and they charged us for an extra hour and claimed we picked up our vehicle 1.5 hours before we even knew what car we were going to be offered! All in all, I really do NOT like using Enterprise, but sometimes have done so.
I totaled an Enterprise car once and they were surprisingly nice about it. (One of those accidents where the car just got hit the wrong way and crumpled, no one hurt. They gave me a voucher for the cab ride to pick up a replacement. No ding on my insurance, not even a deductible.) I usually find good experiences and bad ones are just a matter of the rep you deal with or the set-up in the garage. Enterprise does hire a lot of young college grads.
I used the Kayak site to book a car rental for later, chose the size car and Hertz happened to be cheapest… Have checked since then and am glad I have a booking. I can always do another since you don’t pay until you get there. Yes, rates are higher at airports- cities tack on the extra fee.
Trip planning begins with booking the flight, then the car as soon as possible. Then keep an eye on prices that may go down, or explore options.
Definitely make use of your own car insurance and be sure to read the fine print at the counter so you do not sign up for coverage you already have. Sometimes we have been given an upgrade. We have also learned how bad the cheapest cars can be. They can substitute another brand so never get your hopes up- “similar” can be a bummer.
Maybe I missed a response, but I am wondering as an earlier poster asked, What are your experiences with third party bookings?
I never book airlines or hotels through third parties - always direct. Too many problems that must be resolved through the third party, not the airline or hotel desk. Is this the same for car rentals? Or, maybe it doesn’t matter?
The rental car problems I’ve had are that the car I ordered isn’t available. We used to get free upgrades, but the last several times that’s happened, we’ve been given the option to wait a couple hours or to pay for a higher category car.
I often book hotels, tickets and car rental at Orbit or Travelocity. Never had any problems.
I’ve used 3rd party and get a confirmation back direct from the rental company- Avis, Enterprise, Dollar. From that point, ime, the 3rd party is out of the loop. Not familiar with booking via AAA, the earlier example. (My experience is AAA gives a discount code for car rental, doesn’t have their own reservations staff. Maybe the problem cited was where AAA was the travel agent?) In the more distant past, I booked Alamo via the airline. No issues. I think there was maybe a case or two where they had to put me in a bigger car, but the desk either honored the original price or it was maybe $5 more. (Frankly, I usually look for low mileage vehicles, that’s my scrap with a bigger car.)
I don’t pay online. When there’s something weird (eg, I’ll pick it up a couple of hours later,) I call the rental corp’s number or the local office, not the 3rd party.
My AAA booking was through the AAA website for a rental at the Atlanta airport. I can understand if I had been hours late, but at just over half hour, what difference does it make? I asked what the threshold was for being 'on time," but she would not give me an answer. The clerk was just being a jerk. I guess using the discount code would be the better way to go in the future.
I’ve used Hotwire for car rentals lately and have had only good experiences. Rentals were always through a reputable car rental company. Once you’re in the rental you deal with the rental company, not Hotwire. I’ve also never had issue booking through Expedia or Kayak - even when I once had to cancel a hotel last minute, Expedia just had me call the hotel directly (note there may be differences in the cancellation policies for direct vs. indirect bookings - just familiarize yourself ahead of time).
AnLmom-
Thats ridiculous. With Hertz there is an hour window (picking up and dropping off). You should complain to both the rental car co and AAA. It can sometimes take a half hour just to get from your plan to the terminal, and then another 10 min to get to the car rental place, since its no longer right in the terminal.
@jym626 I agree, it was ridiculous. The rate change didn’t amount to enough to make it worth my time to complain to anyone. The agent told me I would have to take it up with AAA. I was completely dumb-founded.
I also had issues when refueling before returning the car. The auto shut-off kicked in when the tank was only about half full. I should have realized we had used more gas than I had just pumped, but my mind was on other things at the time. It wasn’t until just before I (almost) dropped the car off that I noticed the fuel gauge. Instead of paying their outrageous price of $9.99 / gallon to fill the tank, I went back to the nearest station to fill up myself. Fortunately I was running ahead of schedule, so I had plenty of time, but I continued to have trouble getting more gas into the tank… the pump kept shutting off like it was full. I was definitely cursing Hertz after that rental experience!
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What are your experiences with third party bookings?
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My son had a serious problem with this. He booked a car at a substantial discount via a web site but when he arrived at the rental agency they either had no record of the booking or else the booking was wrong in some important way. It was a big deal because he booked a car to be turned in at a different city, from a web site that purportedly matched travelers with rental agencies needing to relocate their cars.
He came out o.k. because the rental agency negotiated a good deal with him, so he still got the car for substantially less than he would have at the regular rate – but he didn’t’ get what he had bargained for and the third-party agency gave him the runaround and would not make good on their initial offer.
But I’m wary of third-party bookings for that reason.
My Kayak rental car deal involved a direct booking with the agency (Budget), even though there apparently was a Kayak-advertised rate that was not offered on the agency web site. But following the Kayak link got me the deal, and the confirmation number is direct from the agency.
Always sign up for the car rental rewards program, and book online, which will give you lower rates. I just booked a minivan to drop off my last kid in August :(( from Enterprise. I wasnt in the rewards program, I joined and rebooked, and it knocked off $25, I’ll take it!
Did anyone try to bid on Priceline? I only used them for hotels before.
I haven’t bid on priceline but I have on hotwire and have had good experiences. I’m not sure how they differ.