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Alamo Informative - It pays to ask questions - Rental Car
Rental Car
I rented a car from Alamo for my trip to Alabama. I usually choose Alamo for my road trips because they offer very attractive weekly rates, unlimited mileage and the driving area is the entire Continental United States and Canada. I book under my corporate contract in order to get all the insurance coverages and additional drivers at no cost. I use googled Alamo Coupon codes and prepay to save an additional 10 percent. (Alamo has a very fair cancellation policy) I also have a butt load of Alamo upgrade coupons courtesy of our corporate travel office. Overall I'm always satisfied with Alamo.
This last trip I got a mid sized Saturn (free upgrade) for a base rate of $143.10 a week minus a 20 dollar internet coupon minus 10 percent prepay discount which comes to about 111 bucks a week plus 16 bucks in taxes. Since the Alamo in OKC is off airport I get to forgo those nasty Airport surcharges. Anyway all in all sweet deal.
So time passes and I'm having such a blast in Alabama catching miniature catfish and enjoying the locals that I decide to delay my return. I see by the Alamo rental agreement that extra days will be billed at $89 dollars a day. I'm gonna be three days late so with taxes that comes out to about $300. This does not please me in the least. Holy cow that's more than double my weekly rate. So I did what every good consumer should do and called the Alamo reservation line in order to find a more favorable and reasonable solution to my problem.
I asked the Alamo guy if I could get billed the weekly rate instead of the daily rate for the additional three days. He said 'No sir'. I asked him if the daily rate was negotiable. He said 'No sir'. I see on the rental agreement that I can extend the rental up to 28 days so I asked him if I could extend the rental by a week at the $143.10 base weekly rate. He said 'Yes Sir'. Cool. I asked him if I extended my rental by a week but turned the car in four days early would I still get the weekly rate. He said 'No sir, you have to keep the car at least five additional days to qualify for the weekly rate'. Okay, Gotcha. Extend by rental by a week at the weekly rate which he did.
Bottom line is by reading the rental agreement and asking the right questions I was able to save about 150 buck by merely keeping the car an additional two days. I don't understand the logic of the Alamo policy but hey whatever saves me money. I actually enjoyed the car so much that I kept it for the full seven day week. It was like pennies from heaven.
This last trip I got a mid sized Saturn (free upgrade) for a base rate of $143.10 a week minus a 20 dollar internet coupon minus 10 percent prepay discount which comes to about 111 bucks a week plus 16 bucks in taxes. Since the Alamo in OKC is off airport I get to forgo those nasty Airport surcharges. Anyway all in all sweet deal.
So time passes and I'm having such a blast in Alabama catching miniature catfish and enjoying the locals that I decide to delay my return. I see by the Alamo rental agreement that extra days will be billed at $89 dollars a day. I'm gonna be three days late so with taxes that comes out to about $300. This does not please me in the least. Holy cow that's more than double my weekly rate. So I did what every good consumer should do and called the Alamo reservation line in order to find a more favorable and reasonable solution to my problem.
I asked the Alamo guy if I could get billed the weekly rate instead of the daily rate for the additional three days. He said 'No sir'. I asked him if the daily rate was negotiable. He said 'No sir'. I see on the rental agreement that I can extend the rental up to 28 days so I asked him if I could extend the rental by a week at the $143.10 base weekly rate. He said 'Yes Sir'. Cool. I asked him if I extended my rental by a week but turned the car in four days early would I still get the weekly rate. He said 'No sir, you have to keep the car at least five additional days to qualify for the weekly rate'. Okay, Gotcha. Extend by rental by a week at the weekly rate which he did.
Bottom line is by reading the rental agreement and asking the right questions I was able to save about 150 buck by merely keeping the car an additional two days. I don't understand the logic of the Alamo policy but hey whatever saves me money. I actually enjoyed the car so much that I kept it for the full seven day week. It was like pennies from heaven.
Comments:
Posted by Stew on 2009-08-10:
I'd be very interested in reading some tips and tricks from our veteran road warrior members or any other member with a good 'lesson learned' experience.
Posted by MissMarple on 2009-08-10:
I've never rented from Alamo, but it sounds like you ended up with a good deal.
Posted by knowitall2 on 2009-08-10:
Enterprise is pretty easy to work with too. Last May, we rented a car at the Long Beach Airport. I wanted to add an additional person and they needed their D/L info which I didn't have. They made it very easy for us. They called the person, received the info they needed and it was a done deal. No hassles whatsoever. They also gave us a nice car upgrade (Nissan Maxima) and the rates was great. It went very smoothly. I use them everywhere with good results.
Posted by skelly39 on 2009-08-10:
So THAT'S what happens when you read a contract. VH
Posted by Stew on 2009-08-10:
Indeed Kia. Our travel office almost always books Enterprise for us when we business travel. They are always awesome. The Enterprise at DCA greets you with an offer of a cold drink. Let me tell ya that ice cold Enterprise free diet coke always taste so good.
Posted by knowitall2 on 2009-08-10:
Free is always good, Stew! When I briefly lived in CT, I used a local Enterprise in a small town. They enjoyed my cheerfulness so much, they always gave me their one and only Saab to drive to Boston, at no extra cost. It does pay to be a nice, cheerful customer. You never know what extras or freebies they'll throw in. They told me they got plenty of irate people all the time. It was good to be me, lol. I rented from that location about 5 times.
Posted by Stew on 2009-08-10:
The ole K2 charm pays off big. Good advice. I find that 'cheerful' works in a lot of situations. As a consumer or even as a husband I'm always looking for solutions and not conflict. In my experience conflict never pays very good dividends.
Posted by knowitall2 on 2009-08-10:
No, Stew, it doesn't. It just stresses people out and what may have been a good situation suddenly turns out to be something out of a psycho flick. Who needs it!
Posted by Stew on 2009-08-10:
One tactic I've used with great success in dealing with customer service is asking the rep if they can be my hero in resolving whatever situation is at hand. Sounds silly I know but it lightens the mood and shines a positive light on the rep and their job. You'd be amazed at the lengths CSRs will go to when you acknowledge their power in resolving your issues. I do my best to make the CSR feel good and proud about their job so that I can get their best.
Posted by knowitall2 on 2009-08-10:
It does work, Stew. If only more people would chill out when they are trying to get good service, they may be very surprised at what they come away with--and maybe even a smile.
Posted by JohnInSoCal on 2009-08-10:
Good info, Stew. I don't travel often and when I do it is usually with my friend who is always traveling on business. She's asked these same questions... its good advice!
Posted by BokiBean on 2009-08-10:
You have learned well from m3c, Young Skywalker. VH.
Posted by Stew on 2009-08-10:
Thanks Boki-Wan and John.
Posted by Voutyblonde on 2009-08-11:
What troubles me is that the Alamo clerk did not offer any options other than to say "No Sir" (nothing like negative responses from the help to promote business). It was up to the consumer to wrangle information from that Alamo rep. Alamo should be training their counter reps to offer information necessary to ensure a positive experience for the customer and encourange repeat business.
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