Glad it worked out for you but that's the worst. Shouldn't have to argue to get what you reserved. If you have time on the return trip might be worth asking to speak to the manager or GM on duty and let them know. National's big brand push right now is customer service (since they won the JD Power award last year) and sounds like it was lacking in spades on your res.

The manager was the one who talked to me! I don't understand why if he was willing to pull a MB from enterprise he wouldn't have just offered the equivalent BMWs that were right in front of us, but I digress.

I imagine that they may have been out of actual LCARs.. Something phishy was going on with pricing for this weekend and for a number of days Premium was cheaper than mid or Fullsize. I'm guessing a lot of execs caught this and booked luxury at the premium rate putting a run on their inventory.

It is funny because last time I was here with a luxury res they had lots of actual LCARs but the greeter offered me a BMW 3 series in PS as an option without me so much as requesting it. (I declined it then.) I should have been more upfront with the manager and requested the K900 they had there.. That thing looks sweet!

Saturday, September 6, 2014 5:00 pm
 

ES: Equinoxes, Captivas and Voyagers as far as the eye could see. A few Sorrentos, Santa Fes and Chargers thrown in for good measure. The aisle was completely full. I ended up taking a Ford Explorer Limited with 5K miles.

This location used to frustrate me as all the vehicles are parked with the back side facing the aisle and the hatch/trunk open. For me, makes it difficult to identify makes and models that way. At first i started pulling hatches down and/or looking through at the steering wheel. Then I started looking for the backup sensors on the bumpers instead. What an easy way to narrow down the selection to higher trim models. Ended up with leather, working Sirius, backup camera and a panorama sunroof.

I have had...

Altima's
Maxima's
Mustang's
Camero's

And a bunch of other cars I wouldn't consider at this location. I am a big fan of the Maxima's myself. But I find that they frequently don't have bluetooth, backup cams, or moonroof

Slim pickins' at the Aisles today - an Elantra, new Sonata (taken as I walked up), Prius, Malibu, small SUVs.

As I walked around, another new Sonata pulled up and I grabbed it - it's my car of choice nowadays given the dependable XM trial, good handling and excellent gas mileage. Of course once I sat down, a Cadillac was brought to the aisle - first one I've seen in ages at any location. I could have taken it, I had lots of time to do so before anyone saw it, but for some reason I just decided to keep my Sonata and be happy.

Of course a lady drove past it in her Malibu, slammed on the brakes, pulled into the nearest spot, and bolted over to grab the Cadillac, and off she went....you'd think she found a winning lotto ticket on the ground.

I'm surprised they didn't fill the aisles with their "luxury" enclaves! Lol..

It seems they have a lot of BMW 3's here now as I noticed more parked up front when I returned mine on Sunday. Still curious about how that Mustang GT 5.0 gets doled out...

Picked up a brand new (only 250 miles on the clock) equinox 2015 at the EA. LT with rear camara and working sirius. Me happy.
Also saw a a few other newer cars like a beetle.

Saturday ~2 pm

LCAR reservation, ER-LUX had
- MKZ 3.7
- BMW 328i
- Enclave
- MKX
- Can't remember last one

I wish I could tell you what was on the EA, ES... but this is the first time I've been to a location that has the trunks all popped open, which made it extremely difficult to identify models/trims. I don't know how you live with it! I already have a hard time selecting a car with all the trunks closed and models easily identifiable to begin with. :p

In any case, I felt like something different, so I took a scratched up red Camaro LT coupe from the upgrade section, 12xxx miles.

Can I just say holy cow, what a trek it is to and from the airport, then to and from the car rental facility! It felt like it took forever to get anywhere. :eek:

I picked up a BMW 328i on Sunday and there were several of them. The only option in the Luxury section. It was nice to drive around, but had the base trim without any options.

Maybe a result of recalls/maintenance as of late, but I've noticed a decline in variety and quantity of cars in the ES in the last two months or so. I've been seeing a lot more minivans and small SUVs than before, and for the last four weeks in a row, the EA/ES were both out of cars on Mondays and required a wait for whatever was available.

Anyway, this time around I found a new-generation ('15) Camry in the ES, so it looks like these are starting to trickle in.

As I was loading my bags though, a '15 Mustang pulled into the PS aisle as well, so I switched to that instead. :D

Still haven't seen the elusive 5-Series and 7-Series though...

With the distance from the terminals and how slow the shuttles can be, I've asked for and gotten a lift to the terminal in my rental by having a word with the manager. A $20 to the employee and the additional toll in/out charge to the airport was well worth it.

Last week at DFW on Monday night (around 6P), ES was pretty well stocked. I ended up with an Explorer Limited. There was also a Fusion Titanium, Edge Limited, a whole bunch of Minivans, a couple of FS Ram Pickups, and your usual array of sedans (nothing spectacular stood out except for the Fusion).

However, an hour later a colleague of mine showed up to an empty lot, and a queue of 30 people. When his turn came, they brought forward a low mile SRX. He definitely got the better car. And he's only EC (I'm an EE).

FYI, looks like DFW has gotten a Maserati Ghibli too -- it's not one of the "official" locations in the promotion though. No tag, but the Emerald agent mentioned they were asking $200/day (versus the standard $100/day tags at the other participating National locations).

Set to pick up a car here on Friday. I noticed that the PCAR rate is $17 more than FCAR/ICAR for a 5 day rental. With this said, would it be worth it to go head with the PCAR res? Or is ER-PCAR so bare bones it would just make sense to stick with FCAR rate?

I usually see Maximas, Tauruses and 300s (and the occasional non-Hemi 300C) in ER-PCAR, although I always pick up on Sundays/Mondays.

That said, if there is nothing interesting in ER-PCAR, you could always ask for the rate to be lowered to ICAR if you take something from EA/ES. Or make two reservations and cancel one, depending on the selection...