What car rental company should I use

I am going to be renting a car for my trip to Lv in March and I currently have a reservation with avis for a convertible mustang(I'm a car nut). But after reading many reviews about the level of service received from people I am in doubts about using them.

The amount of bad reviews for the car rental location on Gillespie street have got me wanting to avoid that as well so I really would appreciate anyone's recent experiences of car rental in vegas along with any recommendations.

Stu

 

Allow me to put in a good word for National... I rent from them once, sometimes twice a month at the Rental center on Gillespie and LOVE them. They're not the cheapest and to be fair, business pays for my rental.

Bad reviews for the location at Gillespie? I'm assuming you're referring to Avis and not the center in general. I'm a fan of the way the center works... the shuttle buses are large and frequent. Things seem to roll along just fine.

 

Thanks for that I'll look into them. As regard bad reviews about the car centre they all seem to revolve around huge lines to be served. Mainly avis and dollar though.

 

The "low-cost" companies seem to be the ones with the lines, which makes sense as I'm guessing they attract more of the casual traveler. When you do decide, I'd sure do whatever you can on-line to fill out things, possible join a frequent rental club from your selected vendor. Though I note that you're from oversees and I'm just guessing that might mean a little extra scrutinization for you.

 

I always BID on car rentals. And most times get them for about half of what I'd pay if I rented directly. Heck I'll stand in line for 15 minutes if I can save $100 bucks. BTW taht would make my time worth $400 per hour.

 

+1 Always sign up for the frequent rental club since it saves you a lot of time and you might get an "upgrade". I never trust the "low-cost" companies since they are known to screw some people over some charges.

Personally, I always stick with the larger, full-service companies... Hertz and National.

 

I agree with lotso-bear. I had a reservation with Firefly for my upcoming trip on the 15th but changed to Enterprise as I've never had a single problem with Enterprise and just felt better going with them. I hope the Vegas Enterprise has the self-service kiosks. Makes everything so easy.

 

Thanks to all for the info and advice I will look into the frequent rental clubs. Unfortunalty enterprise don't list a mustang as a potential rent a car which shouldn't be important but it really is to. I'll have a look at hertz as I've not tried them.

Thanks chaps

 

I almost always rent from Dollar with never a problem. No wait in line if you sign up on line as other have said. You don't even talk to anyone. Just walk downstairs look for your name on the electronic board for car location. Get in all the paper work is in there. Do your inspection etc. and check out at guard house. I'm usually out of there in 10 min.

I don't do lines well on vacation.

TomTWI

 

I worked for Avis for nearly 10 years, in Kansas City and Minneapolis. That being said, I have used Alamo and EZ everytime I am in Vegas. Cost is main factor, not service. The kiosk at Alamo was awesome the one time I used it. I got a new (3000 miles on it) Chrysler 300 last feb for 6 days for $134 after tax, which is one of the best deal I have ever seen on a rental car, anywhere. If you go with EZ, there is usually a long line, but saving a ton of money makes it worth it

 

At the McCarran Rental Car Facility...we always use Alamo via the Kiosk and prepay.
At home we always use Avis (we are 1st Class members)

 

We always rent from Alamo on our Vegas trips, as we get the best prices from them, among the major rental companies. The best prices from Alamo seem to come out about 40 to 50 days before our arrival dates ... and the Alamo rental web-page allows for easy cancellations and re-bookings.

There are always discount codes available for various Alamo or Southwest promos, plus Southwest typically has an active code for bonus Rapid Reward points. 600 RR points is the standard award, but on our last four rentals, we used a code that gave us 2400 RR points on each one.

 

I just checked on carRentals.com after reading about it on here and the price I got seems to good to be true. Both prices below are hiring the vehicle from Alamo one through carRentals.com and the second one is a quote directly from Alamo.com
Please read the comparison below and let me know if you think it's genuine.

Car to hire - dodge charger or similar
Rental company - Alamo
Rental period - 7 days
CarRental.com price - Included in rate $292.29
.Unlimited mileage
.Airport fee
.Tax
Collision damage waiver (CDW)
.Collision damage waiver (CDW) No Excess
.Breakdown assistance
.Third party liability protection (TP)
.Theft waiver (TW)

Alamo.com
Dodge charger
7 day hire
Not sure what's included as the breakdown is not very good
Total hire cost $404.22

Any thoughts greatly appreciated on this please including what a dodge charger is like to drive as we don't even see the base models over here in the uk.

 

I know some cops that lost their Crown Vics and got issued Chargers and didn't like the low roof line getting in and out, so if you are tall you may not like that. Them saying Charger is an example, and not a guarantee on what you will get. More than likely you will have a ton of choices.

 

Hey Stu, I use Alamo when I am there. Go on line and sign up for deals and you will save. Become a Alamo member. Never had any problems with the service. I left my phone in the car one time and went back for it...they found it and returned it to me..So happy...
Good luck

 

If you get a compact car now I think your price will be around 250 but like I said, you need to sign up and see deals. Don't wait to long the price will climb the closer it gets to the time you need to rent.

 

hertz

Hertz has treated us royally lately with quick service if you join the GOLD membership program. Prior to that we did well with Thrifty but then Thrifty seemed to get too bare bones and the customer service not as good.

keep checking rates change drastically!
check from your AAA site or if you belong to Sam's or Costco-they have discounts as do the airline sites-good luck!

 

Hey Now!!!!

I've used Alamo 6 times- gotta love the kiosk. Never any problems, plenty of codes out there, and you can stack them. Just got back from 10 days, standard car, $316 out the door. Over Christmas and New Years.

 

I am also from the UK, just booked my car rental through dollar UK, a PCAR (Premium Ford crown vic, Nissan maxima, Chrysler 300) £ 205 for the week all inclusive, fully insured, CDW,SLI,taxes, initial tank of fuel etc etc.
Some rental companys make you pay up front for your 1st tank and return empty, last time this cost me $69 + tax!! so it is worth the £30 premium, I think they call it a platinum rental.
I am picking up from their Swenson St location (Near UNLV) drop off at airport rental facility, as I,m not renting from my 1st arrival in town. I have done this a couple of times previously, in and out in 10 minutes, no queues.
Rent the best car you can afford, you,ll find a premium car is only about £4 or £5 a day more than a full size/ standard car. I have had various upgrades with dollar and thrifty (now the same company I believe) had a suburban, a mustang, and a dodge challenger previously!!
Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for all the posts on this. I've tried alamo but I can't find a mustang on there site and the only company that do them on the cheap is avis at a total cost of £255 for my entire stay.

How did you find the mustang? Was it what you were expecting or was it a little disappointing.