Alamo Rental Company

[LaraW]

I'm making a reservation for a rental car for our MI trip in 2 weeks, and it looks like Alamo is going to be my best deal, pricewise.

I have never rented from them before - any comments from anyone? We're just going to probably get a mid-size sedan and will be bringing our own carseats.

[LakeMartinGal]

We have rented from Alamo a couple of times, and found them to be reliable. We have mostly rented vans from them, both in Hawaii and in St. Thomas, so I'll assume they are also reliable in the contiguous states!:)

[Natasha]

Hi Lara,

I've used Alamo quite a few times for business, and have not had any problems with them.

Natasha

[Beth]

I have rented from them. They are fine -- a little less glitz than Hertz or Avis, but with those two and NAtional they probably comprise the largest car rental companies. Alamo is not always on the airport property, so you may have to take a bus over to the rental site. My experience has been you save some money but you may spend a little more time. If time is tight coming or going, check to see if they are located with the other car rental spots on airport property or whether you will have to shuttle over to them.

[cangoss]

All of the car rental places at Detroit Metro airport are off-property, but I think Alamo is about as far away as you can get. My dad used to park there and we thought it was called Alamo because it was so far from the airport it was like going to Texas:D

[LaraW]

LOL, Candace! That's funny.

Well, as it turns out, DH gets a discount through his AIA membership, but Alamo is not one of the companies so we may get as good or a better deal on a car through one of those...without actually having to go to Texas ;)

[Valerie226]

Just read a horror story about some people who rented from Alamo. This was in yesterday's paper from a "consumer troubleshooter" column.
Seems this couple rented a car from Alamo for 10 days but returned 3 days earlier than planned because of a death in the family caused them to shorten their vacation. when they got their bill, charges had been tripled over what they'd been quoted because of the early return. the troubleshooter said there'd been a change in Alamo's return policy allowing them to do that although it seems to make no sense at all! He was able to get the charges returned to what had been quoted earlier and suggested they should have explained the reason for the early return and maybe (?)avoided this hassle. He did not mention whether other rental companies have similar policies, and I don't know myself.

I used to rent cars ALL the time and can't imagine this. there are a MILLION reasons why one might be returning a car early and I would be careful about renting from any company who is going to ding you big time for this. I would at least ask about this.