National - Renting a luxury cars! What to expect!

Hey guys just like the title says what to expect when i rent a luxury from national? What kinda car do they offer and what are some of the require paperworks( proof of insurance,etc) i have to bring? Ill be pickin the car from john wayne airport here in santa ana, california

Are you under 25? (apologies if this is not the case but the way your post is worded leads me to this conclusion).

I believe there is a restriction from National for rentals of Luxury to under 25 - I may be wrong though.

For "regular" rentals of Luxury (over 25), there is no paperwork that you need to bring with you. SNA isn't a real big location so choices could be limited and they may scrutinize your credentials more closely.

Hopefully someone with better information will be by to give you a more thorough answer.

You can expect anything from a BMW 3 series to Lincolns. Nothing too outrageous.

The under 25 restriction varies based on which contract ID you're using. In fact with the regular emerald club ID I don't believe you can rent much more than compact-full size.

The Car & Driver codes waive fees and allow access to all vehicles, though it may be more risky to do this at a counter service location.

This is of course all moot if the OP is over 25.

At a small airport like that, luxury is more likely to be "take your pick of our lot" than any one particular car.

Im over 25 and am an EC .. The reason im asking was because this is the first time im gonna be renting a luxury and was told by a co worker that rental company might require some extra paperworks! I was hoping to rent a cadillac cts but from the response i got so far i definetly shouldnt be gettin my hopes up

Im over 25 and am an EC .. The reason im asking was because this is the first time im gonna be renting a luxury and was told by a co worker that rental company might require some extra paperworks! I was hoping to rent a cadillac cts but from the response i got so far i definetly shouldnt be gettin my hopes up

Your chance of getting a CTS is slim to none. Very few of those are still in the National fleet.

You might consider simply calling up the SNA location to ask them what cars they stock in the luxury category. Their location is small due to limited space at SNA, but I think they stock quite a large number of cars as they go through them quite quickly.

I can report that the selection for Luxury in SFO is horrible. In the Luxury aisle sat a Nissan Altima. This was at 7am on a Wednesday morning.

After some complaining (Executive Elite, reservation 2 months old, blah blah blah), they came up with a stripped down Lincoln.

I ended up taking an Explorer that had more creature comforts than the Lincoln did.

Added info - the gal at the SF O'Farrell station told me she usually sees Chrysler 300s as Luxury.

If you are given a 300 with a Luxury reservation, I would have a word with the manager and/or contact corporate customer service and ask for compensation. A 300 is a premium and is a downgrade.

Im over 25 and am an EC .. The reason im asking was because this is the first time im gonna be renting a luxury and was told by a co worker that rental company might require some extra paperworks! I was hoping to rent a cadillac cts but from the response i got so far i definetly shouldnt be gettin my hopes up

I think your coworker might be talking about "exotic" car rentals, which do generally require added paperwork.

In chain car rental-speak, "luxury" generally just means "not standard".

I'm EE and have been renting from luxury from socal locations a lot in the last year.

Usually get a base G37. Last week I had a G37X which was a little better.

I think your coworker might be talking about "exotic" car rentals, which do generally require added paperwork.

In chain car rental-speak, "luxury" generally just means "not standard".

If you dig through terms and conditions on the website, they actually do claim that you might need to provide a couple of other pieces of info for doing a luxury rental. Ah, here's the page:
https://nationalcar.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2176/kw/luxury

Now, that said, I've never once been asked to provide any of the info.

I've seen similar terms for luxury rentals on other vendors also, so it's pretty standard. But again, I don't know that I've ever seen it enforced in my limited experience. (I often do luxury through National myself for my few rentals a year, simply because the rate I use the difference isn't that bad. I'm a little surprised that people are saying the CTS is disappearing, seems like that would be a natural fit for the category, and is actually what I ended up with last week for my rental, although it was a pretty base trim line.)

I have rented lux from National many times and never been asked for proof of airline arrival. I always thought that whole proof of a flight thing was a relic of yesteryear.

But...from the wording of Ambon21's posts, it sounds like he/she is local to SoCal. That could trigger a request for proof of insurance per the policy stated on their website.

I used to rent all the time in my home city and never had any issue when doing so at a first-tier agency. But at third-tier agencies, I'd get all sorts of hassle... I hope this doesn't happen at National at SNA, but who knows... Can't hurt to carry proof of insurance. Goes without saying that you'll need a credit card - not a debit card.