7 seat SUV - Alamo

[parthiban]

Just got back from Orlando where I had a seven seat SUV booked and as I arrived at xmas they clearly had run out of their own cars as I ended up with a Jeep Commander from Enterprise. This car was awful, it was a 2008 car with 40k on the clock and clearly not well maintained as it felt really beaten up. The car developed a fault with the key after I had it for a day so I took it back and thankfully some of the Alamo cars had come back and they swapped it for a brand new 2009 Tahoe with just 500 miles on the clock!

This was a fantastic car, absolutely colossal, leather seats (it was actually an 8 seater), climate control, bose sound, the lot!

For future reference, am I allowed to refuse a car if it's not from Alamo, or do I have to take whatever they give me as long as it's the type of vehicle I reserved? Obviously if they don't have anything else I have no options but in that case can I take what they give and swap it as soon as one of their cars comes in? It's just that the Jeep didn't feel safe at all, other than the dodgy key, the brakes squealed badly and it didn't feel comfortable on the road.

They actually had a brand new suburban waiting when I landed which they tried to make me upgrade to - I would have if the rate was decent but they wanted me to pay an extra $150 per day which they tried to argue was a great deal!

[roger]

Sorry to hear about that. Alamo are generally very good and only allocate cars based on actual availabilty. Perhaps (as happened last year) some of the fleet was stuck in the North of the USA due to snow, as they move fleet around to meet the Christmas demand in Orlando.

Alamo / Enterprise / National are all the same company, so they often do allocate cars from one of the other fleets, and that is fine if the car is OK. Obviously in your cars they were struggling so didn't give you a very good alternative. If any car is allocated that you are not happy with (in terms of safety or wrong car group) you are at liberty to refuse it.

[parthiban]

Thanks for your reply Roger, I knew National were the same company but didn't know Enterprise were the same too. Odd how Enterprise clearly hang on to their cars a lot longer though, as all the Alamo cars I've ever had have always been quite new with under 10k on the clock.

Given the snow though it's understandable that they couldn't get cars to Orlando.

[canarypam]

We have often refused cars and apart from once when they didn't have anything else available they have always changed them.

[jimiansville]

Sorry to hear you encountered problems with the hire car.

I have always found Alamo to be very helpful and understanding if there is a problem with a vehicle. On our last trip we booked a 7 seater from Alamo and were offered an upgrade to a Suburban at a cost of $120 per week. I refused and said a Tahoe would be fine. When we got to the parking lot we refused the Tahoe as the rear seats were very badly stained. We were given a Suburban at no extra cost and had it for the first three weeks of our stay. I then made another booking for a 7 seater for the next two weeks of the holiday Thinking it would be a Tahoe which we like. When we went to swap the cars I was given another Suburban without asking and at no extra cost. What I didn't know was that it had a bad oil leak which we discovered the next morning. I took it back and was upgraded to an Escalade which was fantastic!

I have always found Alamo to be very understanding on the few ocassions when I have encountered problems with cars. Having said that, 99% of the time there are no problems at all.

[parthiban]

Have to agree Alamo service is great which is why I use them every time. Even when I took back the commander, there wasn't even a single quibble, just said sorry and handed me the keys to the Tahoe (weren't even bothered that I had used over half of the fuel in the commander).

It's just annoying to have to go back mid-holiday but wasn't a major inconvenience, although your experience sounds brilliant Jim but I can't believe the difference between how much they were trying to charge to upgrade me to a suburban!

[randyj]

Alamo is usually pretty good when we were down march of 2009 we got our 7 seater van we thought was fine till we took it to our villa we realized that the seat belt was broken and looked like someone threw a can of soda pop around and things were sticky, we called them to let them know. they told us to return it and they gave us a vehicle of our choice, we did not bring our kids down on this trip so we took a hummer which was very nice and enjoyed it for our vacation, but not kid friendly. we again booked a 7 seater for our return trip for march 2010.

[jimiansville]

The Suburban is essentially a long wheelbase version of the Tahoe with an interior which is almost identical but with loads of extra room inside. The Tahoe is actually nicer to drive as the Suburban is a bit sluggish due to the extra weight.

The $150 per day to upgrade appears very high. It may be that the agent got mixed up and actually meant to say the $150 upgrade fee was per week rather than per day.

[Tonish]

We booked a Tahoe this time with Alamo but I was offered an upgrade to a Suburban on arrival (at extra cost). I took the offer - interestingly I was earwigging on all the conversations on either side of me at the counter and they were trying to talk everyone into an upgrade to a Suburban, regardless of what they had originally booked.

Initially I kept saying no and they kept reducing the price until I said yes. I have to say, I would go for it again - lots of room and very comfortable. Mrs T didn't like it, she thought it looked too gangsta!

[Carla]

Have Alamo stopped allowing you to choose your own vehicle from the ones in your grade at Orlando?

[parthiban]

Hi Tonish, how much did you get the upgrade for in the end? That's interesting that they were trying to upgrade everyone - although going on what was said above how the suburban is just a long wheelbase Tahoe it doesn't really seem much of an upgrade (only really if you need more boot space)

Yes they do still let you choose your own car, but at xmas they never seem to have 7 seat suvs around and I've always had to wait for them to get me one from somewhere.