Good Driver

Message:

Good driver, lousy typist.
Using their web page to book a car for a week in early June 2003 if I click on "Country of Residence" and select Australia, I am then informed that they are "all sold out" for those dates.
If I select USA as my country of residence, then I am able to choose whatever type of vehicle I like?
Anyone else found this?
Is this legal?

xxx

Good driver, you need to post this correction on your original message as the two message will not stay together very long and no one will know what you're referring to ("using THEIR web page..."-what web page?)

Jim

Gosh, Aussie, you still didn't tell us WHICH company is allegedly discriminating!! At any rate, I suspect they have every right to do this based on past experiences with Australians. They also do it with drivers under 25 solely based on age.

Good driver

I was using the car rental company's website. I am not too keen on posting their name as I don't know enough about laws of defamation/libel/slander but to discriminate by race/nationality surely is not on. I know additional rental charges apply to younger drivers and if Aussie drivers have that bad a reputation (well you will drive on the wrong side of the road) then an extra charge or extra insurance premium would be OK.

xxx

This sounds wonky. Are you sure the dates are sold out for Australians but not US residents? Lots of airlines, car rental companies and so forth ask for your country of residence before giving information and normally that's only so that the price will be calculated in local currency, you'll get a contact phone number in your country, etc.

I do know something about defamation, and truth is an absolute defense. So if you really used the website and got this result, it would not be defamatory to name the company and the dates and let people see for themselves.

Good driver

I just tried again - same results.
Try for yourself www.alamo.com

travellyn

Alamo doesn't have a great reputation on this forum. Try some others like Hertz (probably your best bet for having a clue), National, Budget, Thrifty, etc.

Julie

Okay, well I tried going through the process (stopping just before actually confirming a reservation) choosing Australia as country of residence and had no problems. It worked okay using both the U.S. and International reservations buttons. Of course I don't know what dates or cities you were selecting so I just entered some at random. I don't know why you would be encountering problems, but you should probably just call Alamo to make your reservation.

Jerry

I don't trust Alamo.
Cars and service are hit and miss.
To get the best rate across many different agencies, go to travelocity.com and check their car rental search engine.

Good driver

I have emailed Alamo, will post their response (if any).
If Alamo aren't recommended by this forum I probably won't book with them anyway, but I would like to see their response to my email.

GoodDriver

Response as follows:
"Thank you for your e-mail. When booking from a different country a certain
number of rentals are available to book. Once that number is reached it
will say that cars are sold out. This is because overseas renters are
booked with special rate codes that may include different things then if you
book as a US resident. I apologize for this.

I hope this clarifies any questions you may have had. If I can be of any
further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Sam

Hmmmm.
That's interesting.
Is there a reason why you needed Alamo in particular?

Good driver

No, there was no reason I needed Alamo in particular. I was trying to compare prices between dealing direct with a car hire firm in US and the prices quoted by travel agents here in Oz.

Just

Quote from Alamo: "This is because overseas renters are booked with special rate codes that may include different things then if you
book as a US resident." How does this explain why cars would be available to Americans but not Australians? Unless I'm missing something, sounds as thought they're dodging the question with a vague and somewhat pointless response.

ddd

You skipped over the most important part of the message Just Curious.
It stated that there are quotas for foreign bookings. Once the quota is reached, no more such bookings are allowed.
There may still be plenty of slots left for locals, on the other hand.