Other Car Rental Programs (ie. Alamo, Enterprise) - avoiding a rust-heap

Hi all, I'm travelling to the US this summer, and booking a 1-way rental from BOS to ORD for several weeks from Alamo (got an excellent deal from autoeurope ^ ).

Given a long-term long-distance one-way rental, I suspect they will be highly tempted to give me the keys to the oldest, squeakiest, rattling rust-heap in the yard :rolleyes: . Am I right in thinking this, and can anyone suggest a counter-strategy?

With Hertz or Avis/Budget, probably. I think Alamo allows you to choose your car from a parked row, like affiliate National, at large locations.

Don't know what your definition of a rust-heap is, but it's highly, highly unusual to find a rental car at a major agency that's been on the road for more than 2 years. Yeah, you might get one with 30,000+ miles on it but even that's the exception. And 30,000 miles doesn't make it a rust-heap if its been maintained and cleaned properly.