Lou

I will be traveling to Columbus, OH in two weeks and have checked out car rental rates from the major companies there and found great disparities in prices. I usually almost always rent with Avis becuase of their reasonable prices and I haven't had any problems with them yet (knock on wood). I rented once with Alamo in Burbank and despite some sales effort by the clerk (none of which happened at Avis) the rental went well. However, since then I have heard a lot of people complain about Alamo and how they "threaten" you to accept CDW and other insurance and sell you upgrades otherwise they give you a bad car and are nasty to you.
Alamo is about $50 less for a week in Columbus but does anyone know what this franchise is like and if they will let me drive the car into Canada? Do I need anything special to go into Canada and if I tell them I will, are they going to not rent me a car if I don't purchase their extra insurance?
Lou

Lara

With Alamo, it seems to be variable, depending on city and office. I've had some very good luck with them in some places, heard horror stories elsewhere. I'd stand firm on the the CDW, and DO post here if you have a bad experience!

Louis

I have rented with Alamo from time to time depending on prices. I have always gotten what I want although the locations are not as convenient and once I had to talk to the manager in Honolulu However, you are always more certain of your situation with Hertz or Avis. Also, I don't always trust rates on the internet. Often I book by phone where I can explore with the agent price discount options and ask questions about restrictions - taxes and other extras that are not always disclosed such as airport fees etc. Don't forget that the restrictions regarding other drivers varies between companies and locations. In New York state the law says that your wife can drive without an extra fee. Thus I suggest you talk to Alamo direct with your questions and I have even have gone so far as to call the pickup location if I am looking for something out of the ordinary. Otherwise, I would stay with Avis. The additonal $7/day is not that big of a deal.

Anthony

I travel a great deal and almost always rent fromAlmo, since the almost consistently have the best rates. Having said that, though, the reason many people seem to have problems with Alamo is due to that fact that almost alll of their US airport locations are off - premise, which means you must take a shuttle bus to the rental place. As long as you leave enough time when returning your car, it is not an issue. But many, many people seem to a major problem with off premise locations. I don't understand why, since in many cities, all of the car rental agencies are off - premise. Anyway, the second thing is that in some Alamo locations there are long lines,probably due to the fact that they have the lowest prices. That's why I signed up for their frequwnt renters program, Quicksilver, and can use the preferred lines.
As with anything, you have to determine what is more important to you; saving money with the possibillity of longer lines, or going with nother company that has higher prices, but cannot always promise better service.

As to prices and reservations, I always use Alamo's web site, and print out my confirmation. I have not had a problem in the 10 yrs I've been using them, they have never 'lost' a reservation ofmine. I travel for pleasure about 5/6 wks a year, renting at least 5/8 times a yr with them.
Lastly, i must admit that about 7 yrs ago they wereVERY pushy about customers upgrading toa better(and more expensive car), even to the point that I wasgoing to be given a free upgrade since they were out of smaller cars, and they still tried to make me agree to pay for a more expensive car. Thankfully, they no longer have pressure tactics like that anymore.

Frank

Check with the insurance agent who is providing you with insurance for your personal car. Tell the agent you will be going on vacation and renting a car. Ask the agent if your personal policy will cover the rental car. My insurance covers rental cars in this situation and therefore I never sign up for any coverage that the rental agencies try to sell you.

livebyjkf

Hi Lou:
Be very Hesitant with Alamo. Ft Lauderdale, 1 hour wait on line, two clerks, not very pleasant, did not have the size car I wanted, wanted me to pay for an upgrade, made a stink, manager came over, a compromise, how about a convertible at no additional charge, deal, car broke down, call their assistance line, told me to get a local person to repair it and they would reinburse me, another stink made, car rescued about three hours later, given another car at three AM in Airport, tried to talk to someone when dropping car off, no one available but a guy with his feet up on a desk unwilling to move and inquire if he could be of any assistance, when I got home I had been billed for the upgrade for the convertible, ended up getting my credit card to get the money back for me. Never again! I'll pay the extra money at Hertz!

topper

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