Rented from Alamo over the weekend, great rate of just $15.95 per day. At pickup, the agent told us to be sure and return on time, there is no longer a "24 hour policy" in effect. She explained that this means if you book your car to pickup at 7pm and return at 3pm, you need to bring it back by 3pm or it's late. (It used to be that you were not late until 24 hours had passed).
She told us that there is a 29 minute grace period for returns, but didn't tell us what the "late charge" is. I was a little shocked when I looked at my rental agreement. If you return the car late, the charge is $87 PER HOUR ! After 3 hours the rate goes up to $255 PER DAY!

I'm glad that we did not have a change of plans or meet any bad traffic on the way to the car rental return, that would have been an expensive half hour!

Wow, that's incredible - I don't know how they can get away with that! Thanks for the warning.

Why not book to pick up at 7 and return at 6:30? Would that cause a problem if you returned at 3:30 or 4pm, or would it cost any more than the $15.95 for the day you've already spent?

I currently have an Alamo rental care in NC and just read rental paperwork after reading this thread - no mention of above policy in my rental agreement

Of course they can get away with that - it's in the agreement you sign but never read when you pick up the car.

I had a similar but different problem with Alamo a few years ago. My plane was delayed arriving by more than 1hr, and Alamo said my reservation & rate expired 1hr after my scheduled pickup time. They "went out of their way" to rent me a smokey sub-compact for a "low rate" but if I'd wanted the same car I had reserved it would have been more than twice the cost. Their comment was "you should have called to change your reservation."

That's the last time I ever rented from Alamo.

gail....just curious....what is the charge for "extra hour" and for "extra day" listed on your rental agreement?

tracy, it sounds like you were very lucky to get such an honest agent when you picked up the car. I wonder how many people never realize what the "late fees" are until they turn in the car?

I wonder how many people never realize what the "late fees" are until they turn in the car?

Every time I've turned in a car more than 30 minutes late I've just been charged for an extra day, which seemed fair enough.

Having a hard time believing "After 3 hours the rate goes up to $255 PER DAY!"

Where exactly was this?

Here's a warning from THREE YEARS AGO:

http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2...grace-periods/

Here's a warning from THREE YEARS AGO

Paul, most of the companies quoted on that site say they charge an hourly rate if you are late (grace period ranging from 0 to 59 minutes on most of them). Once the hourly rate exceeds the daily rate then you are charged an extra day, which has been my experience.

This is a far cry from being charged an extra $87/hr or $255/day on a $16/day rental, unless of course the normal day rate was this high and the cheapie rate a special limited time case.

Here's a typical quote from Avis from the site you linked to:

"Beyond the 29-minute period, an hourly rate will apply until it equals the rate for an additional day"

have rented from national/alamo for years om and off and have NEVER Heard of a 24 hour grace period.

I have my rental agreement from Alamo 6 inches from mt laptop. I picked up car at 10 AM Friday, telling them I would return it at 7:30 PM Sunday - and was charged $15.17/day or 45.51 - plus taxes/fees so total expected was $58.80. It says maximum time of rental allowed is 4 days.

Extra time is listed as $6.06/hour or $18.17/day. It is right here in front of me - not disputing what your rental agreement says since it is not in front of me - and I have no idea what happens after 4 days (since I am only keeping it for 2 1/2 days I amnot concerned) - but I signed and initialed this rental agreement from Alamo in NC this Friday.

I have gotten such outstanding service from each these companies that I needed to chime in. We were in Vegas on 9/11 and I took the rental car from Alamo and drove home to NY (we didn't notify them because I knew they'd say no. That wasn't an option, we'd deal with it after we got home). They let me drop it off here and didn't charge any extra. They were very kind.

In Croatia the National (no longer doing business in Croatia) customer service was great when our luggage was lost. We changed our reservation and they charged us the same rate even though it was one of those super-special, really cheap rates that can't be modified. They went above and beyond for us.

I will be sure to read the contract before I sign our next agreement with them, but I will use them in the future.

Hmmmm. Yet another reason I don't like to rent cars and will do anything to avoid doing so.

Unless it's not an option (and sometimes of course it isn't), I always stick to public transportation -- and almost always with acceptable results.

Some states have better laws than others to protect the consumer. Some states don't allow more than $9 per day (or something like that) to be charged for collision waiver. Some states require that all charges and possible late charges be stated on the reservation quote etc etc . The jacket of the car rental agreement says all the rules, and then "this and that" for nevada, "this and that" only for New York, etc etc. That jacket is longer than the healthcare bill.