You can add DFW to your list of slow Alamo places. They have an offsite office and their own bus which takes FOREVER to pick you up. I waited 1/2 an hour one week ago. Then they were even SLOWER at the counter (5 people in line, 4 people at counter with 4 agents). The only reason I went with Alamo this time was their SUV promotion. I'll stick with Avis Preferred or try my new Hertz #1 Gold.

NJDavid, re your question about National at Orlando. Yes they are on site, although when I was there last month their up close parking area was under construction (as were all on-site companies). But it was still just a short hop across the street to the parking garage where they had set up temporary digs. Very good and quick service. I don't know if this is still the case but as the "Offical Car Rental Company of Walt Disney World" they used to have a special parking section for National renters at all the Disney parks. Up close and quite a benefit. You may want to give 'em a ring and check if they still have this.

I have used Alamo a lot over the past 5 to 10 years and found their rates to be very good; however, their have been many times with long waits. Having an Alamo Corporate Gold card allowed me to bypass many of the long lines, but I still had long waits at the airport terminal while waiting of the Alamo bus/van to take me to offsite locations. Memphis was really bad with the offsite ride frequency. I have also heard of long waits from many others. Other than the long waits, I have no complaint.

WOW!!! I set off a firestorm about Alamo, and feel better that my situation and my friend's situation with ALAMO. Is there a great car
rental service?

I'm hoping that FlyerTalk will create a car
rental forum and bulletin boards to handle
this situation.

And happy BONFIRE DAY to you too Merry Flyer!!! CATMAN

From my limited experience, it's pretty tough to beat Hertz with their Gold Club #1, it's pretty hard to beat compared to Avis and Budget, but we'll have to see how they do at the airports without the canopies.

having tried out "everthing" in the last 35 flyer-years (even wrecks) - I go now for the easiest/smothest/most comfortable way which includes, by priorities:

- no standing in-line at all,
- big fleet increasing chances to really get what I ordered (includes "never-lost"-navigation-system, ski/winter-equipment),
- canopies (and the bus - if I need one - stopping as near to my reserved car as possible: baggage/skis)
- many stations (many drop-off options on one-way-rentals)
- big company (high bus frequency, employees available also on off-hours)

= Hertz#1 Gold (some years ago, and for other reasons sure I regret, that this time is past, it was only price, price, price and that ment NOT Hertz then).

My friends call me "cheap" but if I can I
tend to try out the city's mass transit system (buses, subways... occassional taxi)
to avoid the rent a car mess if I can.

You get to meet some interesting people on
mass transit, which often is faster then driving the car.

I am also met by the people I need to see on
trips, because my first ever business trip
to Dallas I made a wrong turn, started driving and ended up going towards Houston instead of Fort Worth (It was a mess!!!)

I've Become a pro at navigating the buses, subways, shuttle buses, etc. And I get to avoid the ALAMO counter!!! CATMAN

Alamo LHR ... no, no, no, no, no .....oh sooooooooo slowwwwww. Get it? Never again, my wife and I waited for an hour ... 80 year old terminals and computer system .... they messed up our rate. On returning, waited 50 minutes in line and then was charged for an EXTRA DAY for being two minutes "late". They could not adjust the charge as it had already been "sent to the maninframe" ... I nearly died of laughter at that one. Still have not received credit from Alas er Alamo (charge incurred in July). I sometimes wonder if we the battle was named after the car rental company???

Alamo overcharged me on my credit card. I noticed the overcharge as I was walking away from the counter, so I went back and requested a credit. The agent cancelled the original charge and then made a new credit charge for the sum of the adjusted amount.

I get my statement and I see 2 charges from Alamo...the 1st charge was never cancelled. I called Alamo customer service and was told to wait 2 billing periods for the credit to appear...never appeared. Now my 60 days are up so I might have trouble disputing the charge.

Looks like I will have to write letters in order to get money back. All this for a $15 mistake. :(

Speaking of credit card charges ... I used Hertz #1 Gold service for the first time in Detroit a few months ago (during the NW strike) and everything went great ... except that it took Hertz a full month to send me a receipt (it was an early morning return) and charge my credit card!

Okay, I know I said positive things about Alamo in my previous post in this column but now I will add a negative.

Last week, I spent the weekend at a corporate function at the Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colorado. The weather turned wet with mixed snow and rain on Sunday when I returned my rental Chevy Blazer to DEN while driving through Vail Pass (I-70) at 11,000 feet, the truck got covered with dirt (oh my!). The check-in guy told me that Alamo would charge me $35 for special cleaning because of the dirt. I told him that if he charged me the $35, I would contest the billing with Diners Club as I had no intention of paying $35 for Alamo to run the truck through their automated car wash. He said that it wasn't worth the hassle and decided not to add the $35. So, I got my way. Keep in mind that it wasn't like I was four-wheeling through back country dirt roads and coated the truck in mud; this was simply a 3 hour drive on the interstate!

I guess some people don't have to watch their expense accounts so closely and Alamo will gladly add some margin if they can.

I wonder if Alamo is reading these postings
and cares to makes a rebuttal. It seems
Alamo's getting a big "PAWS DOWN" from us!

Mileage Addict: Alamo is ridiciulous to try to charge you 35 dollars for cleaning when they should have known there was bad weather
and cars are not going to looking showroom
new. (Just try riding around NYC streets after a snowstorm!)

Speaking of Alamo... our company is leaning
towards making it our primary car rental firm. I told the folks to reconsider and if they doubt me, read these postings! CATMAN

Catman, if you are renting with Alamo get a QuickSilver card (or have your company get you one if they insist on your renting Alamo). This will really cut down on the long waits. Alamo is not bad in my experience, my main complaint with them is that they eliminated their True Blue program. At that time they even sent me a letter saying that while other airlines are cutting down on airline miles they are continuing to offer 500 miles. But soon after they too cut down on airline miles. Now my feeling is that car rental programs which offer points towards car rental (Hertz, Budget) are better.

Well, I guess Conde Naste Traveler magazine agrees with us. Hertz was rated the top car rental agency, Avis #2, National #3 and Alamo was #10.

Well, despite the mostly negative comments here, I've decided I'm going to give Alamo a shot? Why you ask?

Well, for Christmas my girlfriend and I are visiting my mother and family, who live in the mountains of Western NC, but to save a significant amount of money we're flying into Knoxville, TN and driving to her house. Needless to say, that's a lot of mountain driving in late December, so I decided a four wheel drive sport utility might not be such a bad idea. The problem is Budget wants $100/day and Avis and Hertz are sold out, so I just checked Alamo, and it's less than $140 for a three day rental, which is not too bad at all in my book.

So, I got out my Delta Gold Medallion coupon book and called and got my free QuickSilver membership.

For anyone else who may be renting from them, you can get a *FREE* Quicksilver membership it looks like just by signing up on Alamo's website, just go to:

http://www.goalamo.com/quicksilver/qs-agrmt.htm