Currently have essentially same price/same car rental at both Avis and Budget at MCO later this month. I signed up for both “frequent” driver programs. Is one company easier to use at MCO than the other? Shorter lines or perhaps go directly to car?
BTW if anyone has rental ressie thru Costco, my quotes had dropped over $30 when I checked today.
Avoid Budget at MCO if you can. The line is always really long when we walk by, doesn’t matter what time day or night. Alamo is my preference at MCO, as you can skip all lines and just go straight to the parking lot where they allow you to choose any car in the category you booked (must go to Alamo website and check in, then choose straight to car and print out the paperwork). I book through Costco all the time, they give you a Costco # and an Alamo #, you need the Alamo # to set this up). Alamo is worth a bit more since time is money. You might save an hours worth of time with Alamo.
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100%
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Avis and Budget are the exact same company under the branding. ABG Inc= Avis, Budget, Payless, & Zipcar. Under the hood they are all using the same systems and processes so if you don’t like one of them, avoid the others. (I used to work for Zipcar)
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Yes Alamo is the one we used a few years ago, but right now their prices are quoting quite a bit higher than the others for my time period.
The old adage applies: you get what you pay for.
Best of luck - it’s tough out there for rentals right now!
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Do either of you know if with Alamo you can go straight to your car (without waiting at the desk) the first time you use Alamo? I recently found out that with Avis and Hertz, even with their preferred member programs, the first rental requires a trip to the counter (and after the first time, then you can skip the counter lines and go directly to the lot).
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My possibly unhelpful response since it is a different company, but FWIW:
I had the same question when I first used National last year (I have the highest status through my Amex Platinum.)
I had no problem just picking up in the lot even on first rental. I just provided all the info in the app and attached my Sapphire card to charge it to beforehand.
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I’m sorry, I don’t know for sure.
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This is helpful. Thank you. My credit card offers Emerald Club Executive Level membership with National. I’m going to look into whether this will allow me to skip the line on the first rental.
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No problem. I will look into it. Thought I would ask here first in case you knew.
I’m not sure. I’ve been an Alamo member for a long time now
Even though National seems to come in high on cost, if you stalk them you can get closer to the other rental company $ and do cancel / rebooks.
I LOVE the National Exec aisle, have scored some great cars there for the price of a full size:
Couple of Durangos (including 1 Sport model that was zippy), Audi Quattro (Full length sun roof!), a fun Jeep.
Plus, with the high Elite status 5 rentals = free day, which shaves some cost off eventually.
(Just watch out with Jeeps with a pickup truck back if you use credit card insurance:
I realized after I grabbed that one that my Sapphire card’s primary insurance specifically excludes rental cars with open backs.)
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I believe it should, and that’s even with just their lowest club level. It’s been quite a few years since I joined National because of work, and I only remember going to a desk one time with them, but that was in a tiny airport, and that was the only way to check out there. Every place else I’ve gone, I go straight to the garage and pick out my car. They also seem to have nicer/newer/cleaner cars than other places, at least from what I’ve experienced.