Best time to pick up for maximum selection?
 

I have a minivan reserved with Avis for the end of June through the first week in July (Thursday before the holiday week) at an airport location.

Today I had another reservation for a mid-size car at the same location, so I wanted to check out their selection of minivans and see what I'd potentially get a few weeks from now. We went in at about 1pm, and they actually had no minivans in at all and a small selection of cars and maybe one or two Suburbans.

Would anyone have a suggestion as to the best time to pick up my rental for the maximum selection? I know it's hard to predict, but is it better to go as soon as they open for first pick at what they have, or is it better to go later in the day and hope that their returns for the day give me a greater selection?

Since it's the Thursday before a holiday weekend, my guess would be that it's better to go as soon as they open vs later in the day, because by then they might not even have any minivans at all!

Any opinions?

Thanks in advance for any advice. :)

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

As with most things in life, I'd have to say "it depends." If you're renting at a place that's business-traveler heavy (think larger cities that aren't vacation destinations... IAH, PHL, LAX, Chicago, etc), you're probably best to get there later on Thursday after lots of business travelers have had the chance to return cars. If you're going somewhere that's vacation-friendly (LAS, MCO, etc), my logic would be that you're best to get there as early as possible on a Thursday before anyone else comes and claims what you might want.

Don't forget that a reservation isn't a guarantee that they'll have what you reserved! It's very possible that they could "upgrade" you into a 7-passenger SUV instead of a van, if they're sold out. Or they could just deny you when you show up. If it were me and I *needed* a minivan, I'd have reservations at 3 places and go to the cheapest when you arrive. If they're out, then work your way up the chain of companies 'til you find one with what you've reserved. It's kinda crummy to do this and throw off their fleet management, but it's also very crummy that they "know how to
take the reservation, [they] just don't know how to *hold* the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them." (Seinfeld)