March 2022 Car Rental Thread

[emilymad]

Did they note have car/space ready when you went to garage? Or other issues necessitating the visit to the booth?

They made everyone go to the booth. Lots of confusion with only one person working.

 

[emilymad]

How have Avis lines been? Better than Budget?

 

[thebs19]

They made everyone go to the booth. Lots of confusion with only one person working.

Ugh, I called earlier this week to confirm procedures at MCO, and they assured me it would still work the way it is supposed to (car/spot should be listed when I get to garage), but I presume they are just reading the same stock information they put out on website. Damn.

 

[emilymad]

Ugh, I called earlier this week to confirm procedures at MCO, and they assured me it would still work the way it is supposed to (car/spot should be listed when I get to garage), but I presume they are just reading the same stock information they put out on website. Damn.

Maybe I just got a bad day and it is usually better? I hope so.

 

[tlg588]

Well this hasn't gone well. Rates did not go down as my trip date got closer. Lowest I found (except for UT) was $416 on 2/8 and they have moved up ever since. Current rates for a fullsize or intermediate are over $800 per week

 

[EACarlson]

Current rates for a fullsize or intermediate are over $800 per week

No they're not. I just looked and for a rental starting tomorrow rates start at $550. For a rental starting a week from tomorrow it's $408. I just rebooked a rental I have starting Sunday at BNA that dropped 40% a week ago compared to what it was 6 weeks ago when I initially booked.

 

[tlg588]

No they're not. I just looked and for a rental starting tomorrow rates start at $550. For a rental starting a week from tomorrow it's $408. I just rebooked a rental I have starting Sunday at BNA that dropped 40% a week ago compared to what it was 6 weeks ago when I initially booked.

I'm not lying. What site did you check? And I'm looking at MCO not BNA. Also, I only look at rental car companies that belong to Hertz, Avis, or Enterprise and include the total cost (taxes and fees) in my post.
When I checked Autoslash yesterday 3/10/22 Hertz was the cheapest with an intermediate for $857.47. This morning they are down some, Thrifty through Autoslash has an intermediate for $551.55. lowest intermediate on Costco is $631. These are much higher that the $416 I got on 2/8. I checked rates almost daily and they have trended up since 2/8. Again, I am checking MCO, and I think most people on this board are also.

 

[EACarlson]

I'm not lying. What site did you check? And I'm looking at MCO not BNA. Also, I only look at rental car companies that belong to Hertz, Avis, or Enterprise and include the total cost (taxes and fees) in my post.
When I checked Autoslash yesterday 3/10/22 Hertz was the cheapest with an intermediate for $857.47. This morning they are down some, Thrifty through Autoslash has an intermediate for $551.55. lowest intermediate on Costco is $631. These are much higher that the $416 I got on 2/8. I checked rates almost daily and they have trended up since 2/8. Again, I am checking MCO, and I think most people on this board are also.
View attachment 653497

I was looking through Autoslash at MCO. Unless the difference was the frequent flyer programs, occasionally I've seen Delta FF rates better than anything else. My rates weren't AAA, AARP or Costco.

 

[Westerner]

I'm 99% sure that what UCT is doing is in violation of their CDP with Budget. What is going to happen is that Budget is going to cancel the CDP and all customers that are using that CDP will be retotaled using whatever rates are in effect at the time. Here is a thread from last June when it happened to customers that were using the Mousesavers employee CDP that Mousesavers gave out to all of it's newsletter subsribers. https://www.disboards.com/threads/rental-car-price-raised-and-not-notified.3843170/
Post #61 explains exactly what happened to Mousesavers and what can certainly happen to UCT with Budget.

I don’t think the Hertz/Mousesavers situation is comparable at all. Hertz was bankrupt, Budget isn’t. UT is a travel agency, Mousesavers isn’t. And UT offers similarly low rates at multiple rental car companies. Sorry, not buying the FUD.

 

[tlg588]

I was looking through Autoslash at MCO. Unless the difference was the frequent flyer programs, occasionally I've seen Delta FF rates better than anything else. My rates weren't AAA, AARP or Costco.

i always check all FF programs. My rates were for 3/12 - 3/19

 

[tlg588]

I hope someone who is using the UCT code can tell us if it worked out for them. My trip isn't until the 19th.

I picked up today using UTC code through Avis with no problems. The Budget lines where very long, out into the isle way. There was no line at the Avis counter. I did see a fairly long line at the Avis booth in the garage.

Is a Prius considered a Standard size?

 

[emilymad]

I picked up today using UTC code through Avis with no problems. The Budget lines where very long, out into the isle way. There was no line at the Avis counter. I did see a fairly long line at the Avis booth in the garage.

Is a Prius considered a Standard size?

Good to know there was no lines.

 

[tlg588]

I picked up today using UTC code through Avis with no problems. The Budget lines where very long, out into the isle way. There was no line at the Avis counter. I did see a fairly long line at the Avis booth in the garage.

Is a Prius considered a Standard size?

I picked up at about 6pm

 

[thebs19]

Maybe I just got a bad day and it is usually better? I hope so.

Just as an update, I picked up THursday night. Our flight was delayed (supposed to be 8:30 pickup, actually got to garage around 10). Looked quickly inside and all desks/lines were empty and minimal in garage. I walked right up to Fastbreak book as my name was not in the board (tho many others were) and took all of 30 seconds to get my space number. Couldn't have been easier/quicker.

Everything else about my travel down (and back) was a disaster (thanks to Frontier) but Budget actually was very easy.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Just as an update, I picked up THursday night. Our flight was delayed (supposed to be 8:30 pickup, actually got to garage around 10). Looked quickly inside and all desks/lines were empty and minimal in garage. I walked right up to Fastbreak book as my name was not in the board (tho many others were) and took all of 30 seconds to get my space number. Couldn't have been easier/quicker.

Everything else about my travel down (and back) was a disaster (thanks to Frontier) but Budget actually was very easy.

Was this 10 pm or 10 am? Thanks for the update.

 

[ranlet]

Landed today (10:43 am). Got to Avis counter in Terminal B with UCT deal no one in line. Done in 10 minutes. Picked up visitors pass toll tag in terminal A. Hour after landing we were in car with checked luggage in trunk on our way to AoA.

Budget was at least 20 deep

 

[wdwstar]

Arrived last Thursday at 8:40 am, hurried off the plane and down to Budget counter, I was the 3rd one in line. By the time I was next in line there was at least 20 or so people behind me. The Budget customer service agent was trying to up sell me on everything, when I decline, agent gave me a lecture and questioned why I declined. I understand that they have to ask about insurance, but not necessary to lecture me and ask me what I’m going to do if something happens. Then the agent was pressing hard on a toll pass even when I told her I have a toll pass, still wouldn’t except i declined, she was still going on lecturing me on it. The full size car was a Toyota Camrey, the outside was dirty, brown leaves imprints all over the car, one tire pressure was reading 12 pounds, the exit booth agent said the tire looked fine, clearly was not low, probably a bad sensor.

 

[ashleyrm]

Arrived last Thursday at 8:40 am, hurried off the plane and down to Budget counter, I was the 3rd one in line. By the time I was next in line there was at least 20 or so people behind me. The Budget customer service agent was trying to up sell me on everything, when I decline, agent gave me a lecture and questioned why I declined. I understand that they have to ask about insurance, but not necessary to lecture me and ask me what I’m going to do if something happens. Then the agent was pressing hard on a toll pass even when I told her I have a toll pass, still wouldn’t except i declined, she was still going on lecturing me on it. The full size car was a Toyota Camrey, the outside was dirty, brown leaves imprints all over the car, one tire pressure was reading 12 pounds, the exit booth agent said the tire looked fine, clearly was not low, probably a bad sensor.

I’ve had similar experiences with Budget, but not that bad! I shut down the upsell stuff before they even get a chance to start. Can’t believe they pushed so hard on the toll pass. I had a oil change light on and they told me that the sensor wasn’t reset when they changed the oil. Also, a Camry is considered full size which is ridiculous. Got one with National last month.

Budget seems to have all the “cheap” deals and I guess it’s starting to show.

 

[lfracas1]

I did not find a thread for March yet and wanted to share my experience

I've been keeping an eye out for movement in the exorbitantly high car rental rates for our spring break, the last full week in March. $70/day for an economy rental from Budget or AVIS was bananas!

Today was the first time in at least two weeks that I ran some searches. Many companies and and third party sites remain high but have come down a bit. UCT however has now loaded great discounts if you qualify for their car rental rates due to a previous ticket purchase. I just got an economy car from AVIS, March 12-28 for $30/day. In addition to saving money, AVIS will allow me to link a UCT reservation to my account so I can go straight to the garage.

Now if only the airlines would lower their prices for March

Has anyone looked into ride services from Tampa airport vs. car rental?

 

[disneyfan123]

Glad I checked into this thread and read all about the issues with Budget. Cancelled my UT ressie with them and switched to Avis!