View Full Version : car rental usa or uk
casperdje
08-07-2002, 22:10
read the various messages on rental which are very helpful can anyone clarify whether we can book car hire via alamo or others in the uk prior to departure to save time, or book a fly drive inclusive with the carrier we go with ,or wait until arrival at orlando airport
or taxi from airport and arrange local car hire from the villa.
we willbe getting a 7 seater type carrier 4 adults 2 teens
we live near manchester airport and hope to fly direct or stopover april 2003 for 3 weeks and would like to arrange car hire at the same time as flight now
thanks for any suggestions
Hi casperdje
I think you'll find it is much less expensive to arrange car rental in UK before you go as many companies offer inclusive rental. If you arrange it as a fly/drive you will find you have lots of taxes and insurances to pay on arrival or that your flights will be more expensive. If you arrange it direct with the car rental company, the taxes and insurances come into it again and can add a considerable amount to the car rental fee.
I think you'll find a car rental facility on the forum if you go to the home page and click the link.
Blott
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
09-07-2002, 01:25
I'd second what Blott says. We personally would not ever go to Florida without arranging all inclusive car hire before we leave the UK. We normally go for the Gold option as this includes extra drivers (you can take it in turns driving back from restaurants for example).
You'll still find the car hire agents at Orlando airport try and get you to upgrade (can be costly) but at least you will know that whatever they try and throw at you you will have paid for everything so should be able to just get the keys from them and drive off.
There is nothing worse after a 9.5 hour flight than someone trying to tell you need a bigger car!
John & Sarah Rooke
www.floridadreamvilla.co.uk
www.orlandovillas.com
www.park-tickets.com
www.orlando-guide.info
I would agree about renting from here - it's usually much cheaper. Even the expert Florida Pete says it's cheaper to rent from here. We use worldwide (phone 0870 027 5700) and have always found them the cheapest. They use Dollar.
Fiona
I would just add Dollar (along with Hertz and National) are situ on the airport - much handier than being bussed to an off-airport depot to pick up your car.
Enjoy
Ian
orlandobabe
10-07-2002, 16:59
I use worldwide too-but John's americars was much cheaper than my quote.
Orlandobabe
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
10-07-2002, 17:57
I'd agree with Ian - the first time we rented off Alamo at Orlando International we thought they were taking us to the Daytona Beach compund on the bus as it seemed to take ages (what doesn't after a whole day travelling).
Much quicker to pick up on airport.
John & Sarah Rooke
www.floridadreamvilla.co.uk
www.orlandovillas.com
www.park-tickets.com
www.orlando-guide.info
No one has mentioned the OV link to carhire is it not worth trying?
Jeff & Dallas Myers
3 Bed Crescent Lakes
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
10-07-2002, 21:34
Good point Jeff!
The link is www.orlandovillas.com/car_hire.asp - their rates are very competitive!
John & Sarah Rooke
www.floridadreamvilla.co.uk
www.orlandovillas.com
www.park-tickets.com
www.orlando-guide.info
caroline
10-07-2002, 21:35
I have today received a quote for them for a convertible for 14 nights in October/November £544 for the gold rate, however I actually asked for 16 nights so I'm not sure if this is correct! Will let you know when I get another reply
Caroline
quote:I think you'll find a car rental facility on the forum if you go to the home page and click the link.
I mentioned it! :)
Blott
Cheapest quote I have at the moment is with WW who are quoting 690.60 for a luxury 4dr with gold option for 3 wks.
Fiona
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
10-07-2002, 22:29
Americars did us a 7 seater with Gold option for £213 per week in April. Got a similar rate for our visit in November.
John & Sarah Rooke
www.floridadreamvilla.co.uk
www.orlandovillas.com
www.park-tickets.com
www.orlando-guide.info
Americars quoted me 698!
Fiona
florida4sun
23-07-2002, 21:56
Jhn,
it talkes 5 minutes. I follow the buses when doing a meet and greet. I currently use doillar but find Alamo much better with the guests. No hard sell and far quicker check in.
The dollar counter staff are so annoying. They use scare tactics and hard sell to bully folks into paying more money.
If there is a small queue it takes for ever to get your car. With Alamo you can pre register online.
However dollars car park is very handy for collecting poeple from the airport:)
martin
quote:
I'd agree with Ian - the first time we rented off Alamo at Orlando International we thought they were taking us to the Daytona Beach compund on the bus as it seemed to take ages (what doesn't after a whole day travelling).
Much quicker to pick up on airport.
John & Sarah Rooke
www.floridadreamvilla.co.uk
www.orlandovillas.com
www.park-tickets.com
www.orlando-guide.info
Me too Martin. Am usually in and out of Alamo, while all those little Virgins etc. are still queuing at the Dollar desk!! Service is always very speedy and efficient.
It certainly doesn't pay to rent from Dollar when Virgin have just landed two jumbo jets within a short time of each other.
Edited by - Margot on 23/07/2002 18:47:31
hilary.colwood
23-07-2002, 23:52
We have booked a car with Hertz for next March.
I understand that Hertz is away from the Airport - can anybody enlighten me.
Thanks
Hilary
We have used Hertz in the past Hilary - just a short and efficient bus ride to their off-airport site, and equally efficient service and no queues when you get there.
Barry
caroline
24-07-2002, 11:57
We've aslo used Hertz - bus transfer was OK, we did have to wait quite a while, but their map is the best we've ever found!! really detailed and clear, compared to most of the others we've tried!
Caroline
Hi, first post, so forgive me if this is not a good price.
www.dollar.com do a 2 week mini van rental for $499 if you use the discount code KISS. Could save a few pounds.
Cheers
andrew
Actually it is cheaper if you use code FVG as it works out at $439 for 2 weeks then!
I use Autos Abroad www.autosabroad.com
their inc. packages seem v.competitive but pick up is from Dollar, and yes I was stuck in a queue for an hour with all those "virgins"
waiting for our car to be delivered. I think next time I might ask to pick up at Dollar depot in Mccoy Rd or Ill try some of the sites shown on here
Liz
Nigel Edwards
07-08-2002, 02:45
What is this code FGV? and what does it mean.
thanks
florida4sun
07-08-2002, 18:09
Be careful, this rate does not nclude tax, insurance, airport fee, tyre and battery tax or Insurance. It would work out far more expensive when all these things are added
It is always cheaper to get pay up front for your car hire in the UK. Unless you carry North American car insurance.
Martin
quote:
Hi, first post, so forgive me if this is not a good price.
www.dollar.com do a 2 week mini van rental for $499 if you use the discount code KISS. Could save a few pounds.
Cheers
andrew
Precious
29-08-2002, 17:43
Hi Guys,
I use priceline.co.uk and bid for a car, just got a deal of an economy car for £105 for a week. It's with Alamo and for the last couple of times I've been I had an upgrade free of charge.
I would echo many comments on this forum. Book a fully inclusive package from the UK, use an airport based rental firm (ie not Alamo) - we always use Dollar. I find www.airline-network.co.uk provide good prices and are very efficient, so give them a try.
David Preece
Hi Precious,
Thanks for the tip on www.priceline.co.uk I have just booked at the same £105 rate with Alamo, pickup at Tampa.
Jeff & Dallas Myers
3 Bed Crescent Lakes
www.harmonyvillaorlando.com
Jancis Shepherd
31-08-2002, 20:32
As we rent our villa we have negotiated a rate with Dollar where we can pass on 15% discount to our guests.
Dollar are on site at the airport and we provide a pre paid voucher to enable guests to be driving away without delay.
Many of the other rental companies are off site and from our experience it can take well over 1 hour to complete the transfer and paperwork.
For a brochure call Jancis on 01628 484477
Jancis@tshepherd.fsnet.co.uk
Jancis Shepherd
01-09-2002, 14:06
Has anyone used Americars for car hire? I am unable to find a website for them but have heard they do very competitive rates, what is the service like?
Hi
We always use Americars, have never found anyone cheaper. I don't think they have a web site (unless anyone knows any different) but their phone number is 01424 814100
We always have the gold rate (up to 3 drivers and full tank petrol)
compact £133 per week
int car £185 per week
7 seater £215 per week
these are the rates I have paid this year.
I have found them very helpful, I have always had the car from dollar, either sanford, orlando or miami
I have even phoned them whilst in Florida when we decided to extend our stay, I did it over the phone hassle free and they just stopped the extra payment from the card I had already used.
regards
debbie
Debbie
http://www.floridacarhire.com do an intermediate (midsize) car for £178 pw with gold option via Dollar but their other cars (compact and 7 seater, etc) are dearer than Americars.
Blott
denisemahy
02-09-2002, 16:49
We use Alamo and find the courtesy bus at Orlando Int quick and easy to use. We pre-register before we leave the UK and on our last trip we had collected the keys and were driving away within 15 mins!!! No long queues or hassle about upgrading either. At Sandford, of course, its airport pick up anyway.
We also recommend booking in the UK. We find it much cheaper and we know exactly what we have booked.
We use www.villadream.com/carhire
We use www.drivetothesun.com where I have found that they are much cheaper and the insurance is fully inclusive. They use Alamo but you can specifically ask for Dollar (in airport)
Have tried a few of the suggestions - so far Americars and Autosabroad seem the cheapest for inc. package on intermediate size car.
Liz
We use Skycars tel no 0870 7897789.
In Jan we had a full size with Alamo gold cover at Sanford for £365 for 2 weeks. A couple of years ago at Orlando they used Budget.
Chris
Andy & Arlene
12-09-2002, 02:58
We have just had a quote from both Direct Car Hire and Americars of £310 for 2 weeks - intermediate 4 door with all insurances etc.
Arlene
Haven't heard of Direct Car Hire Arlene, do you have a contact number? Thanks
Sandra
I've used Americars.
The last time I used them I was pannicking like hell. Cause no paperwork came through. Had nothing to prove I had ordered a rental car. Could'nt get through to them by phone. Kept getting a fax tone. In the end I managed to fax them. Got no reply till the day before I was due to fly out. They faxed me details. I had no fax so had to take fax at work. Luckily I was at work. Otherwise I would have had to find the nearest fax place and hang around with precious little time.
Hope that was rare experience, but not being a gambler haven't tried them since. Last time I used ThomasCook.com Good rates. However, we booked 2 cars for 2 legs of our journey. Info for 1st leg turned up. None for 2nd leg. But at least we could get through to them by phone. Got booking No. and everything was OK at the other end.
Lesson - whomever you choose, book way in advance if you can. (We weren't able to book way in advance).
Andy & Arlene
13-09-2002, 02:39
Direct Car Hire - 0870 444 6677
Americars - 01424 814100
Direct Cars will also beat any price. So if you get other quotes, go back to them and they'll beat it.
Arlene
Hi
Last time I booked a car through americars, they told me they were the same company as direct cars, both quotes were the same, only difference is americars don't do last minute, ie next day and direct cars do.
Debbie
Rates do vary a lot in my experience according to when you go. I've just booked Paul's car for October via skycars- one week intermediate with full cover for £159 compared with in Feb for £175.
What I found interesting was it was £6 cheaperto book over the phone than on the net. There was a sentence saying 'these prices are only valid for internet bookings', I'd always assumed that meant it was the best price available!
Chris
I have been looking for "Gold" car hire Intermediate 2dr (always book and pay for 2dr, 99% of time given 4dr). Direct cars were dearer than Americars. Americars wanted £158 for 7 nights in Nov which I thought was v.good, but I need car for 8 nights - cost £200, thought the extra day charge was a bit steep. Bit peeved with Autos Abroad
the price on their website less the £24 disc is less than the price they quote over the phone!
Liz
Andy & Arlene
21-09-2002, 02:58
It is always more expensive when you are adding extra days above the week. Last year we went for 3 weeks and one day, and the quotes we were getting for the one day extra was round about £44. They don't seem to do pro rata. Although in the end I haggled with the guy and we paid £505 for 22 days and up to 4 drivers in an intermediate 4 door.
Arlene
That's a good point Arlene. Last time, we had three days over a convenient week period and we found it was cheaper to pay for an extra week than it was for the days individually! It always pays to ask...!
Blott
Edited by - blott on 20/09/2002 23:10:38
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
28-09-2002, 01:41
We flew with Virgin last week and rented a car from Dollar.
The Virgin Holidays (VH) people were no problem as there is a completely seperate desk for them so the main Dollar desk is quiet. When you go into the basement of the multi-storey car park across the road to pick up your car there is a seperate VH desk so they all queue up there and you sail to the front of the queue at the normal Dollar desk - great :D:D:D
Glad it went so well for you John, but I suspect not so good for those Virgin Holiday's clients. I have a renter who works for Virgin and has got a great flight deal from them, but part of the deal was he had to have their car hire. I have already warned him that there are often delays getting the car.:(
Does anyone have any really clear directions for driving from Orlando International to the 192 that I could send this renter? Apparently he is not very good at navigating and often gets lost.
florida4sun
28-09-2002, 18:03
Here are some directions for you to Allamanda Grace just insert the last bit to the house and any 24 hour emergency numbers.
Directions from Orlando International.
Please note that all signs and turns are very obvious, it is not easy to miss any.
Follow the airport ring road toward exit sign 528 West Orlando and Tampa (ignore signs on ring road to Kissimmee 417).
Follow 528, also known as Beeline Expressway West, through two toll booths (.75c and .50c).
Take second exit (exit no. 3) sign posted John Young Parkway (this comes up on you quickly).
Follow exit ramp and turn left onto John Parkway (South - please note South) - this is a busy junction, but there is plenty of room in the middle of the road to do it in two moves.
From here on you simply drive in a straight line for between 20 and 30 minutes until you reach Vine Street (the 192.).
Go over the 192 and follow until you reach Poinciana Boulevard (ignore sign for Poinciana at the lights of Pleasant Hill Road - you need the next set).
Make a left onto Poinciana Boulevard and follow for 3 to 4 minutes until you see Crescent Lakes on the right. Turn into Crescent Lakes and follow until you reach Allamanda Grace on the right.
Conact Info: 407 XXX XXXX (emergencies only between the hours of )