National - OUCH! Drop Charge $250!

No-This is not a typing error!

I have been searching for months for a reasonable rate in Sept. for a rental from ELM to BTV for an 8 day fly drive. The flights are already fixed. I have a 2 free day from JFK to ELM but for the life of me can't get a rental with National anywhere near the price quoted (and booked with Avis) of $295 for the ELM - BTV rental. The lowest I have found is still $617 with National's drop charge in at that rate.

I really don't wish to go with the Avis reservation - and would be prepared to pay National a little more than the Avis quote. But the drop charge of $250 compared to Avis's $50 is eye watering.

Any suggestions welcome.

Which National site are you using? .com or .co.uk? Might want to play around with it to see if there's a difference.

Which National site are you using? .com or .co.uk? Might want to play around with it to see if there's a difference.

Yes - good idea - Except UK site does not acknowledge my Emerald Club status, and insists on including CDW (which I don't need). I have cover for this in my very expensive Amex travel insurance.

This quote is using US site and entering United Kingdom in the "which country are you from?" box.

I have even phoned the ELM branch to see if I could do better - but they just said that they had to "go through the computer".

Thanks for the reply though. Maybe someone here from National can help?

Is the mileage the same for Avis and National? All of my 1-ways on Avis have included 0 miles so I had to pay $0.40 for each mile driven.

My national 1-way rentals always had unlimited mileage.

..just something to think about b/c the first Avis mileage charge really shocked me. I no longer do 1-way rentals with Avis.

You might be able to do better with multiple rentals, using free rental days for just the days that you'll be driving one way. I recently did this and saved a ton.

Over the course of four days, I was driving from BWI to NJ to NYC. To do a one-way four day rental from BWI to NYC, it was hundreds of dollars. I broke it up into three separate rentals: a one-day one-way from BWI to NJ (about $5 as a free day), a two-day in NJ (about $100), and a one-day one-way from NJ to NYC (about $5 as a free day).

No-This is not a typing error!

I have been searching for months for a reasonable rate in Sept. for a rental from ELM to BTV for an 8 day fly drive. The flights are already fixed. I have a 2 free day from JFK to ELM but for the life of me can't get a rental with National anywhere near the price quoted (and booked with Avis) of $295 for the ELM - BTV rental. The lowest I have found is still $617 with National's drop charge in at that rate.

I really don't wish to go with the Avis reservation - and would be prepared to pay National a little more than the Avis quote. But the drop charge of $250 compared to Avis's $50 is eye watering.

Any suggestions welcome.

Part of the reason is that Burlington is a franchise location. As a result if a corporate car gets there it needs to be picked up and cant be used by the franchisee and vice versa. It is not uncommon to have high drop charges between corporate to franchise locations and vice versa. I know from a customer standpoint it can be difficult to know/understand this. In some cases it is cheaper to do a one way across the country than it is to do a one way, lets say, a couple hours away. Hope that explains why.

Is the mileage the same for Avis and National? All of my 1-ways on Avis have included 0 miles so I had to pay $0.40 for each mile driven.

My national 1-way rentals always had unlimited mileage.

..just something to think about b/c the first Avis mileage charge really shocked me. I no longer do 1-way rentals with Avis.

Mileage is the same for both quotes - that is unlimited miles.

You might be able to do better with multiple rentals, using free rental days for just the days that you'll be driving one way. I recently did this and saved a ton.

Over the course of four days, I was driving from BWI to NJ to NYC. To do a one-way four day rental from BWI to NYC, it was hundreds of dollars. I broke it up into three separate rentals: a one-day one-way from BWI to NJ (about $5 as a free day), a two-day in NJ (about $100), and a one-day one-way from NJ to NYC (about $5 as a free day).

Thanks for the suggestion - but for us it is not practical. We like to just drive until we see somewhere we fancy stopping. We do have a vague idea of our route, but no set times (except to the departure airport).

Part of the reason is that Burlington is a franchise location. As a result if a corporate car gets there it needs to be picked up and cant be used by the franchisee and vice versa. It is not uncommon to have high drop charges between corporate to franchise locations and vice versa. I know from a customer standpoint it can be difficult to know/understand this. In some cases it is cheaper to do a one way across the country than it is to do a one way, lets say, a couple hours away. Hope that explains why.

Ahh now I begin to understand!! Thanks very much for the information. For future reference - is there anyway we can find out which are franchise locations? If so, infuture I will check before booking any flights.

Thanks again, Rentalguy. Just sorry not to be able to stay with National this time.

Wow when i saw this i registered immediately so I could get some assurance myself!!

i'm planning a trip to california.. drive SF city-LAX (9 days)and drop it there in Jan.

I tried 3 random companies... national and bduget were 900+!!!

then came avis.. i made 2 reservations but the quotes were as follows
292USD (coupon K199060-hope this works but i'm not too sure?) and 412 (A597100-a special on avis itself for visitors comin into US, so this is my backup and should be quite safe? Some can assure me? heh)

either way.. both are still MUCH cheaper than what nat/bud quoted me.

Could it be due to such a reason like michael said? A fran/corporate thing?

Avis didn't quote any drop charges so I'm a lil afraid that come collection/return i'll be handed a bill that'll stun me to hell!! We're 3 students on a road trip and our pockets ain't deep enough to handle something like that!!


some assurance would be oh so kind!!

Wow when i saw this i registered immediately so I could get some assurance myself!!

i'm planning a trip to california.. drive SF city-LAX (9 days)and drop it there in Jan.

I tried 3 random companies... national and bduget were 900+!!!

then came avis.. i made 2 reservations but the quotes were as follows
292USD (coupon K199060-hope this works but i'm not too sure?) and 412 (A597100-a special on avis itself for visitors comin into US, so this is my backup and should be quite safe? Some can assure me? heh)

either way.. both are still MUCH cheaper than what nat/bud quoted me.

Could it be due to such a reason like michael said? A fran/corporate thing?

Avis didn't quote any drop charges so I'm a lil afraid that come collection/return i'll be handed a bill that'll stun me to hell!! We're 3 students on a road trip and our pockets ain't deep enough to handle something like that!!


some assurance would be oh so kind!!


I would double check your Avis reservation to make sure it's unlimited mileage. My guess would be that the higher rates had unlimited mileage, but the low Avis rate probably doesn't and you'll have a mileage charge of between $0.30-$0.40/mi which would add up pretty quickly on a 9 day SF-LAX drive. It's doubtful that either location is a franchisee because both markets are large, franchisees are typically in smaller markets where it might not make financial sense for the company to operate the location, but they still want market presence.

well.. it does say on my reservation slip that it's "mileage- Unlimited"

the 292 USD offers a pontiac G6 or similar.. is that a good car? I'd prob get that or perhaps something else?

I made that 2 reservations with avis, as well as 1 with hertz.

the hertz cost me 371 USD and unlimited mileage as well as no drop charge.
And they offer a mazda 6 or similar.

So.. pontiac of mazda.. hmmm suggestions?

But i guess the main consideration is that hertz provides loss/damage waiver included in the quote but avis didn't.
Should I then just go with hertz as my first choice, that 80USD seems reasonable for some assurance.
then the avis shall be my backup?

well.. it does say on my reservation slip that it's "mileage- Unlimited"

the 292 USD offers a pontiac G6 or similar.. is that a good car? I'd prob get that or perhaps something else?

I made that 2 reservations with avis, as well as 1 with hertz.

the hertz cost me 371 USD and unlimited mileage as well as no drop charge.
And they offer a mazda 6 or similar.

So.. pontiac of mazda.. hmmm suggestions?

But i guess the main consideration is that hertz provides loss/damage waiver included in the quote but avis didn't.
Should I then just go with hertz as my first choice, that 80USD seems reasonable for some assurance.
then the avis shall be my backup?

Try setting your location as:

Palo Alto - El Camino Real (SFOS06)
4218 El Camino Real
Palo Alto Intown
Palo Alto , CA 94306
US
Friday, January 15, 2010
12:00 PM

Dropoff:
Los Angeles Intl Arpt (LAXT01)
9020 Aviation Blvd
Inglewood , CA 90301
US
Sunday, January 24, 2010
12:00 PM

That's still close to SFO. I got the following rate:
Base Rate - Premium (USD)
(1) Time & Distance ($250.00/Week) $250.00
(2) Extra - Time & Distance ($35.71/Day) $71.42
Discount ($38.57)
Contract ID 5007125
Inclusive Rate Items
Guaranteed Base Rate Included
Unlimited Miles Included
For information on coverage products, ex:Loss Damage Waiver(LDW) click here
Subtotal $282.85

Ron.

For some reason, National/Alamo does not tell customers which locations are corporate and which ones are franchises. All the other companies do. Hertz, Avis, and Budget say, "Location Type: Corporate," for almost everywhere, most rural hinterlands included. A few places, like one or two spots in Wyoming and Montana, say "Location Type: Independent Licensee." Like National/Alamo, Dollar/Thrifty has a hybrid corporate and franchise system. But the website will tell you which ones are which because the system usually won't allow one-way rentals between franchises or between corporate stores and franchises. So, National, what's the big secret?

Try setting your location as:

Palo Alto - El Camino Real (SFOS06)
4218 El Camino Real
Palo Alto Intown
Palo Alto , CA 94306
US
Friday, January 15, 2010
12:00 PM

Dropoff:
Los Angeles Intl Arpt (LAXT01)
9020 Aviation Blvd
Inglewood , CA 90301
US
Sunday, January 24, 2010
12:00 PM

That's still close to SFO. I got the following rate:
Base Rate - Premium (USD)
(1) Time & Distance ($250.00/Week) $250.00
(2) Extra - Time & Distance ($35.71/Day) $71.42
Discount ($38.57)
Contract ID 5007125
Inclusive Rate Items
Guaranteed Base Rate Included
Unlimited Miles Included
For information on coverage products, ex:Loss Damage Waiver(LDW) click here
Subtotal $282.85

Ron.


it's weird... there's no such location code for the palo alto (SFOS06) and LAX (LAXT01)

the only location codes I got were

LAX and PA1 althought the PA1 and the SFOS06 share the same exact address..

and the charges were like 500USD for the compact class!

dates and time i input as you told me.. hmmm.. have I been scammed? :(