SkiBum1229

I picked up around 915pm thursday Nov 1. The EA and ES were pretty empty. The EA had an 2012 Altima Coupe, 2 2012 Malibu LT's and a few 2012 Impala LT's. ES had more Impala LT's, a Maxima, a Suzuki Grand Vatara, Kia Sorrento, 2 avalons and a 2013 Altima. I picked an 2012 Charger with 18k miles from the ES since i had a fullsize reservation, its clean and has working xm. The specialty area had a 200 convertible and an MKX. It was late (for this airport at least) and both areas were more empty than i had ever seen, but i was ok with the selection.

rosh325

Hi All,
Flying down to PBI in February and was wondering if anyone had any updates. I'm a new Emerald and using a corporate rate so I doubt I have much bargaining power. Also anyone know the gas price situation in FL and if I'm better off using pre-pay vs. gassing up myself?

Thanks!

bocastephen

Unless you can return the car with nothing more than vapors in the tank, pre-paid fuel is never a good deal as you don't receive any credit for fuel remaining in the tank at return.

As a base Emerald, PBI will not be offering you much - Malibus, Camrys, the odd small SUV or van, that's it. Exec is not much better and the nicer cars are moved to another area and provided on request to Exec Elite customers (who must prove membership).

rosh325

Thank you for the reply! I'm just in town for a wedding, not a drive to the Keys so I'm fine with a Point A to Point B so long as it's without cigarette smell/car on fire/fuel guzzler.

I have another question: I reserved using my new Emerald # but it says "service is: counter". Does that mean I do not utilizes the EA system? My school had a coupon for a 2 class upgrade so I picked compact and it upped me to standard

bocastephen

Your first Emerald rental is always counter service so they can 'swipe' the credit card that is on your profile.

rosh325

Ah that makes sense. Again, thank you!

nycatl

ES
1 x Altima
1 x Maxima
2 x Mustang
1 x Fusion
1 x Edge
1 x Avalon
1 x Patriot
2 x Malibu (New)
1 x Captiva
5 x Challenger
1 x Tucson (1.5K odo, FL plates)

EA

2 x Impala (Old)
1 x Sonata

nycatl

Slim pickings for late night at PBI...

ES/EA

1 x Impala Classic
1 x Malibu
3 x 200
1 x Avenger
1 x Escape
1 x Explorer
1 x Flex
1 x Genesis (14K odo, active SiriusXM)
1 x Sonata
1 x Camry

At the exit gate, noticed 2 300s in Premium/Luxury/VIP area

Anyone else seeing many "high" mileage vehicles (the Escape had 22K, the 'bu had 11K) - thought I was at Enterprise (or Avis)

KevinMD

20k is about the highest I have seen at National. I have seen many at Hertz with 30,40+.

zoneguy

All the cars on both the EA and ES must be under 20K. If, for whatever reason, you get a car with over 20k, your rate should automatically be changed at the exit gate from an ICAR to a CCAR.

-zoneguy

SkiBum1229

Picked up yesterday around 230. The Rental agency has been moved onto the property but I was told this is only temporary as they redo their main location. I am EA and had a full size reservation. When I was dropped off at the aisle the greeter handed me water and told me to pick from either side. EA had a Cruze LTZ, Focus SE, and Corolla LE. ES had a Jeep Patriot and a Town and Country. I told the greeter I had a full size and he said they just got real busy and cleared out most of their cars and told me to take the jeep or van. I asked about a GC Limited but was told it was reserved. I took the van as I needed something big then was hassled at the booth as they were short on vans and it should have not been on the aisle. They made me back up and go pick a car. Upon driving back the greeter said I could take the van and to go back and he would tell the agent it was ok since nothing else was available. I go back in the exit line and finally was able to leave. The van has almost 20k miles, has a replaced drivers front tire, pulls badly to the left, the air keeps cutting out and the tan leather and carpets (so nice not to have black!) were pretty dirty and stained.

bocastephen

This is not acceptable - I would call the station manager today and have them put something appropriate aside for you as an exchange, otherwise if you're south, you can exchange at FLL (do not go to the Boca Raton location).

seawolf

Sunday night 10PM

As I only had carry on, I was the first on the shuttle and the agent asked if I was emerald club. She then departed immediately to the lot. I think her original intent was to wait for more passengers. ^

Aisle is open-air and just a portable sign and person pointing out where to pick cars from. Wasn't sure if EA/ES is combined because I didn't see any Executive signage. Agent said to pick from first two rows from where bus drop off.

Saw a bunch of GM sedans/mid size SUVs/mini vans which I don't care for.
A couple of Altimas, 2015 Sonata, Ford Escape. Picked up a Santa Fe as I've never driven one before. If it wasn't for the Santa Fe, I would have took out the 2015 Sonata as I had a one from JFK 3-days ago and it was quite a pleasure to drive in sport mode.

bocastephen

Not sure if anyone noticed, but the PBI location moved from Belvedere back to the airport - and with that change, the location is much smaller than before (maybe 1/4 the size), and not only are the Emerald areas not segregated, they aren't even marked off - and staff are directing customers to take cars from wherever, so someone will a full size car reservation is going to take a full size off the aisle.

Hopefully this gets cleaned up soon - if not, the situation will need to be escalated to HQ.

ncSam

I picked up here Thursday evening. While the EA/ES weren't marked, the staff clearly informed me which row was which. EA had the normal, intermediate cars with a few Fusions and Sonatas mixed in.

ES had the following:
2x Mustang Convertible (a 2014 and a 2015)
1x Challenger
1x Santa Fe
1x Sorento
1x Camry
1x Compass
1x Ram 1500 Truck

I took the 2015 Mustang, which, to my surprise, only had 250 miles on it.