ElmhurstNick

Arriving late Monday night in the middle of a big convention... the driver told both me (EE) and the guy next to me (EA) to take whatever from whatever part of the EA/ES we liked.

One of the more interesting selections, as they were pretty close to out of cars.

- Two Beatles,
- Two mid-size sedans,
- Two minivans (looked like Dodge/Chrysler), and
- Two Expeditions (the only vehicles in the ES).

I really didn't NEED an Expedition, but I took one of them. The only drawback was the $18 of gas for 86 miles of driving....

When I returned it today at 3pm, the EA looked much more normal. I couldn't get a detailed look, but the EA looked like a variety full-size sedans (Camry, Impala, etc.) and some mini-vans. The ES still looked pretty barren, a sedan and a couple of mid-size SUVs - but cars were being returned at a furious pace.

MilesMonster

Arrived on a Thursday morning a few weeks ago. There was the Emerald Aisle, and then they had other cars arranged by rental classes.

The EA was down to a few cars:

1 Dodge Charger
1 Chevy Malibu
1 Dodge Caravan
1 Dodge Avenger

I reserved a premium, so the shuttle driver continued on to that section for me, which contained:

1 black Chrysler 300 Touring; and
1 black Chrysler 300 Touring

Guess which one I picked?


Anyway, there were some Tahoes and Cadillac CTS's in the line of cars to be washed behind the office.

pinniped

Arrived Saturday night, 9PM, Sept 18.

ZERO cars!!

After a few minutes, one Dodge Charger was brought around. There were 2-3 other people all yelling at the agent, demanding their specific car type. I got into the Dodge and got out of Dodge before anyone else could decide that they wanted it.

Pretty frustrating that DAL had zero cars in the middle of a weekend, but even more frustrating that this agency, like so many others, seems to have no playbook whatsoever for the "out of cars" situation. The bus driver seemed unaware, the counter agent had no answers - total unpreparedness.

When I returned the car at DFW the following day, that location was so packed with cars I could hardly get mine onto the lot. Did all those cars come back Sunday morning, or should DFW have been sending cars across to DAL during Saturday evening? I don't know, and I doubt National knows either given the lack of situational ownership shown by the DAL employees.

peteropny

LOL - Get out of Dodge in a Dodge

On a serious note - this is pretty bad - DAL isn't exactly an obscure franchise location with a very limited number of cars.

MisterOX

Was just there Friday, EA nothing spectactular, Kias, Impalas, and a couple of Fusions.

Executive had some Kias, Impalas, and more Kias

pinniped

This past Saturday night. I was expecting a barren lot (again) but instead found both aisles fully stocked.

Exec: tons of SUV's - American and Korean makes. A couple Dodge Chargers. Lots of selection, but nothing unique and nothing with a high-end trim.

Aisle: many GM's - Impalas, Malibus. A couple of smaller SUVs, a Jeep and the littler Dodge SUV. Several sat radio cars. 1 maroon Camry that I almost didn't see...

The bus driver seemed to think that the Cowboys game is what caused the car shortage the previous weekend. That's disturbing: it's not like NFL schedules aren't published way in advance and there are 7 more regular-season home games in Dallas. You'd think they'd figure out how to balance the car supply based on their historical Cowboys-related travel demand. (It's not like this is the first year in the new stadium - last year I could understand a surprisingly-high demand since the new stadium is bigger than the old one.) DFW did not appear to have a car shortage.

pinniped

Today...I arrived one bus too late. As we were pulling up, an Audi A6 was pulling out of Exec Select.

Nothing else of interest...I'm in my usual Chrysller 300 that I seem to always get from this station.

Last week, however, was an exception: there was a Honda Accord on the regular EA. ^ Unfortunately it had no XM so I had to listen to local sportstalk all weekend. Other than listening to delusional Longhorn Fan, it was a great car.

openflync

I think there is quite a bit of 1 way DAL->DFW traffic (I being one of those comming in on LUV to connect to internatinal departures the following day) so that any sporting event tends to screw up the balance and leave the DAL lot empty.

yivek

Monday morning around 7ish at DAL

ES:
1 Hyundai Genesis
A bunch of Dodge Chargers
I think there was a Dodge Journey there too

EA:
I didn't even look at the aisle after the Genesis caught my eye.

I took the Genesis and am loving it, I hope I get it again.

Stripes13

Thanks for the update, will be there within the first couple weeks of March, will come back with a report.

pinniped

Question about DAL: do any of you other DAL regulars know what's behind the big price increases at National in the coming weeks?

Typical market rates, weekends with no unusual discount codes, range between $18 and $22 per day for a midsize at the recognizable national agencies. National is jumping to about a 50% (!) premium above that, if not more. Alamo is not and even National's traditional competitor, Hertz, is not. This holds true on most April and May weekends.

For my next 5-6 rentals, I'm switching to Budget for the 5k HH per rental and $12.50 in "Budget Bucks" per rental. After April 30th, I'm unsure of where to rent...I guess I'll watch the Alamo, Budget, and Hertz promotions since National doesn't tend to run partner promos on 2-day rentals. I've always enjoyed National and have traditionally paid a 10-15% premium over market to rent Exec Aisle. But I won't pay 50%...I simply don't log enough miles in the cars to justify that premium.

Just wondering if there's any specific reason behind it... Maybe they're just keeping their supply tight at DAL and people really love Exec Select that much?

Stripes13

Picked up from DAL for the first time Fri morning about 10am... slim pickins, 3 Kia SUVs with 3 row seating in EE and a lone impala in EA. Dropped off this morning about the same time. Every combination of Impala/Malibus imaginable in EA with a better variety of Kia SUVs, Jeeps, a single buick lacerne(sp?) and even a couple Lincoln Town Cars scattered in EE.

pinniped

A white Lucerne? I dropped it off there yesterday...

My Friday night pickins' were a bunch of big SUV's, a Town Car, and a couple 300's. I jumped in the Lucerne because I'd never driven one. I'm not a Buick guy at all but this thing had some power and was a nice ride overall. Leathered up, nice sound system...not bad.

The Jeep and Ford SUVs are nice too but I feel like it's overkill to take one of those when it's just me and my carryon bag, driving less than 100 miles on my usual 2 day rental.

Stripes13

Haha, small world, yeah it was a while Lucerne. I think the SUVs are overkill for just me and 700 miles a weekend... Hoping for better luck in SAT this weekend.

pinniped

Two SUV's that I will jump in every time I see them on the Exec Aisle: Ford Edge and GMC Acadia. I'm not really an SUV guy, nor am I really a Ford/GM/Chrysler guy, but as rentals go these two are fun and usually loaded quite well.

But more often than not, I see the big Explorers and Jeeps...I'm sure those are nice too but they just seem...I don't know...too big...