National - What would you do? (DEN rental question for this weekend)

Myself, mom, and aunt (3 ladies) are traveling to Denver/RMNP area this weekend and I am unsure what to do with my rental car situation. My husband thinks I should get an SUV to ensure that I feel safe driving in the mountains (plus I drive a Murano at home and might have a hard time driving a regular car now!!) I have exec status w/National so I have a mid-size reserved for $190 and I know that I can just "choose anything from the exec aisle" although this will be my first time taking advantage of this status. Arriving around 8:30 a.m. in Denver, do you think there will be any SUV's available for me? I checked the Cars at DEN thread and it seemed like that facility is hit-or-miss with the amount of SUV's they have but I was hoping since we get in early on Friday morning we might get lucky.

My other option is a reservation w/Alamo for an SUV for $279. This is for a mid-size like a Ford Escape.

Should i just pay the extra $90 and go with the guaranteed SUV, or take my chances? I know there's no way to say with any certainty that I *will* get an SUV at the Exec Aisle, but what would you do in my situation?

I am also wondering, since Alamo and National are owned by the same company (right?) would me having an SUV reserved w/Alamo mean that National would definitely have SUV's? Or do they have their own pool of cars to choose from.

My other option is a reservation w/Alamo for an SUV for $279. This is for a mid-size like a Ford Escape.

Should i just pay the extra $90 and go with the guaranteed SUV, or take my chances? I know there's no way to say with any certainty that I *will* get an SUV at the Exec Aisle, but what would you do in my situation?


IMHO, expecting an SUV from Exec Select on a winter weekend from an airport that serves a lot of ski areas is going to lead to disappointment.

IMHO, expecting an SUV from Exec Select on a winter weekend from an airport that serves a lot of ski areas is going to lead to disappointment.

That's kind of what I thought. Personally I think I'll be fine with a full size car as long as the weather is fine, which it looks like it will be (knock on wood). I just hate paying more money than I have to, especially since I volunteered to take care of the rental car! :)

President's Day weekend is a big ski weekend...my guess is that they'll need the SUV's for people with confirmed reservations.

Even when I was out there this past summer, the ES had 50+ cars and zero SUV's. It had tons of big cars and lots of front-wheel drive cars that would do fine to RMNP, but no SUV's. I selected a Volvo that handled great all the way up to Beaver Creek, although obviously I wasn't taking it offroad or into snowy conditions.

Your safety won't be any different either way. Not between an Escape and some sort of other car, driving on normal roads up to RMNP. (And you wouldn't go offroading in either one!)

I'd probably just grab an ES car. I bet that Volvo would do well even if you run into some moderate snowfall during your drive. Perhaps even better than the little SUV's.

I have exec status w/National so I have a mid-size reserved for $190 and I know that I can just "choose anything from the exec aisle" although this will be my first time taking advantage of this status.

From program terms:
"All the benefits of Emerald Club, PLUS Executive Selection:
Counter bypass area with Fullsize or larger vehicles.
Requires a fullsize reservation, but you pay the Midsize rate."

Ron.

From program terms:
"All the benefits of Emerald Club, PLUS Executive Selection:
Counter bypass area with Fullsize or larger vehicles.
Requires a fullsize reservation, but you pay the Midsize rate."

Ron.

That's right, I do have a full-size reserved. I just got confused with all of the terminology.

I always click on Midsize when I make a reservation. My printout always says Executive Selection.

I assume I'm paying the midsize rate...e.g., it's the same thing as if I'd clicked on full-size. (?)

The only time an exit guard asked me a question was when I booked a compact rate with an upgrade coupon. I did this a couple times and she said "I'm deleting the coupon because you're ES and don't need it, but from now on you need to book the midsize rate." I said "But isn't this effectively the same thing?" In the computer, it wasn't. The coupon was only saving me about a dollar a day so I stopped doing it and always click on Midsize now - and I make sure my printout says Exec Select as the service level.

One thing to note as well is that the SUV's that Alamo/National/ERAC have are not guaranteed to have 4WD. In fact, the majority of what I have seen lately are FWD. At that point, the advantage of one in heavy snow would be quite minimal.

I can't recall ever getting a 4x4 SUV from a rental agency.

I imagine in Denver you might be able to book a 4x4 as a specialty car. But whenever I've received any kind of SUV on an Emerald/Exec Aisle, it's been FWD. The generic midsize SUV aisle at most Alamos would probably be full of the small FWD models (Escapes and such).

I have seen many 4x4 SUVs from National. Many of the Jeeps are 4wd, also got a pathfinder that was 4wd a few weeks ago.

I can't recall ever getting a 4x4 SUV from a rental agency.

I imagine in Denver you might be able to book a 4x4 as a specialty car. But whenever I've received any kind of SUV on an Emerald/Exec Aisle, it's been FWD. The generic midsize SUV aisle at most Alamos would probably be full of the small FWD models (Escapes and such).

Really? Most of the SUVs I've rented from National have been FFAR or SFARs, or FGARs with AWD.

I rented from National in Denver MLK weekend and I don't remember seeing a single SUV in either aisle. If you get a full size car obviously don't pick something like a Dodge Charger that would be rear wheel drive.

Also, make sure you take note of any possibly damage when you pick it up, that location tried to charge me for preexisting damage that I reported to them at the gate leaving and the guy didn't put it in the system. Thankfully I also took pictures of the damage to have proof.

YMMV but...

I live in Denver and I rent from National at DIA at least once a month so I can hit the auctions and bring home the loot. I generally pick up vehicle on Saturday or Sunday morning. I am interested in a pickup. Ideally a 4x4. I have yet to be disappointed, HOWEVER, lately I've had to pop into the counter area to request one because they aren't kept in executive area. They confirm my status and send me out to the truck area where I take my pick.

I haven't taken notice of the SUVs lately, but I have to imagine there is at least a shot.

Myself, mom, and aunt (3 ladies) are traveling to Denver/RMNP area this weekend and I am unsure what to do with my rental car situation. My husband thinks I should get an SUV to ensure that I feel safe driving in the mountains (plus I drive a Murano at home and might have a hard time driving a regular car now!!) I have exec status w/National so I have a mid-size reserved for $190 and I know that I can just "choose anything from the exec aisle" although this will be my first time taking advantage of this status. Arriving around 8:30 a.m. in Denver, do you think there will be any SUV's available for me? I checked the Cars at DEN thread and it seemed like that facility is hit-or-miss with the amount of SUV's they have but I was hoping since we get in early on Friday morning we might get lucky.

My other option is a reservation w/Alamo for an SUV for $279. This is for a mid-size like a Ford Escape.

Should i just pay the extra $90 and go with the guaranteed SUV, or take my chances? I know there's no way to say with any certainty that I *will* get an SUV at the Exec Aisle, but what would you do in my situation?

I am also wondering, since Alamo and National are owned by the same company (right?) would me having an SUV reserved w/Alamo mean that National would definitely have SUV's? Or do they have their own pool of cars to choose from.

The pool of cars for Alamo/National/Enterprise (if applicable) are the same. They aren't very careful with their inventory in these situations though. If you are executive, you'll probably be able to get a pickup truck some some SUVs, but they will not let you out the gate with a 4WD unless you reserved some type of SUV. With that being said, I've had good luck taking any SUV within the SUV category as an executive elite, which is virtually indistinguishable based on my experience (as far as on-the-lot treatment is concerned).

Best bet for you-- reserve mid-size, drive off in a ford flex AWD.

The pool of cars for Alamo/National/Enterprise (if applicable) are the same. They aren't very careful with their inventory in these situations though. If you are executive, you'll probably be able to get a pickup truck some some SUVs, but they will not let you out the gate with a 4WD unless you reserved some type of SUV. With that being said, I've had good luck taking any SUV within the SUV category as an executive elite, which is virtually indistinguishable based on my experience (as far as on-the-lot treatment is concerned).

Best bet for you-- reserve mid-size, drive off in a ford flex AWD.

I have gotten AWD quite often without an SUV reservation. I am ES, if there is an AWD in the ES, I take it and get the midsize rate with a full size reservation. It happened at PHL just two weeks ago.

Just wanted to follow-up with what I ended up doing for our trip. I decided to keep *both* the National and Alamo reservations. They were both scheduled for 9:00 pick up, and figured we'd be there around 8:45, so if I saw something I liked at National I could then go on my phone and cancel the Alamo reservation before 9:00. Well, National didn't have any SUVs, but I did see a few Altimas, so after assessing whether one would fit all of our luggage (it did), I decided to save the $90 and go with it. Before I left the lot I went on my phone and tried to cancel my Alamo reservation - no dice. Something about it being the same day of the reservation. So I ask the very helpful Exec Club rep (whose name I unfortunately didn't get) what I should do, and he says, "oh don't worry, just tell them when you pull out and they'll cancel the Alamo reservation for you."

So pulling out I get this guy, Mohammed, who was a real jerk and gave me nothing but attitude. I nicely asked if he could cancel my reservation for Alamo and he said he could not do that. I explained that the executive club rep said that he could, and he goes, "I don't have to lie to you." Broken English, I realize, but I snottily responded "well I understand you don't HAVE to lie to me, but that doesn't mean that you're not!" Since I didn't have th EC guy's name, I couldn't tell him who it was that told me he could cancel, so Mohammed told me to go back in the lot and figure out who it was that told me that and then come back. Grrrr... .... I was upset and frustrated, so I just left and figured that I'd take care of it later when I got to the hotel.

Anyway, it ended up not mattering, since I didn't get charged anything for the Alamo reservation (which is what I thought would happen, but one can never be too sure).

Thanks for all of the advice in this thread.

Just to clarify, is it possible to cancel a national res from your phone on the lot, or does it lock you out just before the pickup time?

Just to clarify, is it possible to cancel a national res from your phone on the lot, or does it lock you out just before the pickup time?

Reservations you don't use automatically drop off after 24 hours along with any coupon(s) you may have used in the reservation. To be safe, I usually stagger my reservations within 30 minutes of each other. So my midsize is usually earlier, the premium/lux/whatever one later.

Reservations you don't use automatically drop off after 24 hours along with any coupon(s) you may have used in the reservation. To be safe, I usually stagger my reservations within 30 minutes of each other. So my midsize is usually earlier, the premium/lux/whatever one later.

This is a good tip to keep in mind. Thanks!

To be clear, does this mean that if I want to book a backup SUV/minivan reservation in case there is none in EC/ES, I should book that SUV/minivan reservation 30minutes or more after my regular fullsize reservation? And, if so, does that mean the fullsize reservation will be the one that gets used at the checkout, even if I haven't cancelled the SUV/minivan reservation?