Rental Car Selection Question

[farmgirl]

Hi I got a question. Last year on our trip to WDW we rented from the airport and found that the selections for the midsize suv's were slim pickings. We picked ours up at 3 pm and ended up having to drive it back it was smoked in ALOT and I have asthma so we could not handle it. We requested non smoking but as I said they did not have much of anything so they up sold us to athis smoked in full size SUV which they made us pay for, so when we returned it we did get a midsize SUV but still had to pay the higher price. Anyways after being very frustrated this year we decided to go with Alamo. I was wondering has anyone notice if there is a time a day when there is better selections for renting a car. For example do you find a better selection when you are there in the morning or is afternoon and evening more stocked up? Or is is basically the same? Thank you in advance.

 

[tkldisney]

I've never had any problems with finding a car using Alamo. I would use the kiosk's next to Alamo's counter to check in. Quick and easy and no long lines. Then when you walk out to select your car you go the the row with the type you selected. All the signs say National/Alamo and you can pick from either. They are the same company.

If you did not use a coupon when making your reservation, you can checkin online, then after you collect your luggage, go straight to the garage and pick out your car. Then hand the agent in the booth your DL, CC & the card that's in the car. (you have to give agent this info no matter how you check in)

 

[farmgirl]

I've never had any problems with finding a car using Alamo. I would use the kiosk's next to Alamo's counter to check in. Quick and easy and no long lines. Then when you walk out to select your car you go the the row with the type you selected. All the signs say National/Alamo and you can pick from either. They are the same company.

If you did not use a coupon when making your reservation, you can checkin online, then after you collect your luggage, go straight to the garage and pick out your car. Then hand the agent in the booth your DL, CC & the card that's in the car. (you have to give agent this info no matter how you check in)

Thank you for all the info. i was wondering how the online check in worked and the kiosks. So when you use either of them you don't have to pick your car then? You will get to take a look at them first? Thank you again. I appreciate the help! :wave:

 

[Rob562]

As the other poster said, at Orlando you check in either at the desk or the kiosk, get your paperwork, and then walk out to the garage. There, they have rows labeled by car size and type. So if you rented a Compact, you look for the row marked "Compact" and choose any car parked in that row.

The only issue I had with getting a Mid-Size SUV through Alamo I believe has been rectified... Originally, they just had a generic "SUV" parking area, and it wasn't clear which ones were Full-Size SUVs and which were Mid-Size. (It may have been that they had only recently introduced a distinction between the two sizes of SUV)
I believe they have since changed the signs and created separate "Mid-Size" and "Full-Size" SUV parking areas.


-Rob