Can you change cars at another NAT (exec) location?
 

If I rent a midsize car at a smaller station (hundreds of dollars cheaper) that does not have an Exec aisle, can I switch for an Exec aisle selection at a larger station that does?

I am thinking of picking up at Eau Claire, Wis, or Rochester, MN and switching at MSP.

Anyone know about this?

Some locations don't like it. I know EWR is one, unless the car is mechanical

You may have luck, but an ICAR rental at a non-aisle location will not technically be an Aisle-eligible reservation and when you swap they may force you to take another ICAR. If the price difference is minimal, you may want to go ahead and book FCAR/PCAR/etc from the original location.

And for an exec, the FCAR should be the same price as ICAR.

I don't think EAU or RST are franchisees, which are the other thing that could complicate a swap.

And PCAR the same as FCAR, which usually means a negligible ~$1-$5/day difference ($1 in the case of my corp rate)... for this reason I almost always book PCAR, even at aisle locations and even if I take something from the aisle instead.

In my past experience, I have rented from an non-aisle location and swapped at airports. YMMV of course.

Have you swapped ICAR for EA/ES selection, or just like-for-like car class? I'm sure plenty of locations will allow for ICAR-to-EA/ES swaps but some may not and would be within the rental terms not do so.

Yes I book midsize - take whatever from the non-aisle location and just head right over to SJC to swap for a PCAR on the aisle.

SJC doesn't have issues with it, even with brand new cars because the cars float between Enterprise too or head right back to OAK for a cleaning. It's weird but I think the cars have movement flexibility in the Bay Area without impacting inventory too much.

Depends on the agent.

I swapped twice before at EWR. Not a problem and was done professionally.

EWR gives me a hard time but PHL doesn't. PHL is usually overflowing with cars

Ymmv. First swap at EWR was straight forward. Second time the agent insist on giving me the same class on contract instead of letting me pick off ES/EA.

JFK Didn't allow it though they allowed a friend to get another car but not from the aisle.

It is allowed, but is by no means a consistently handled request.

PHL (airport) will specifically refuse if you bring them a car from PHL 30th St (train station). They've had issues in the past with local long-term renters abusing the system, so they've ruined it for the rest of us. The manager was quite firm on this the one and only time I tried. It seemed like they would accommodate swaps from other locations, just not 30th St.

On a separate occasion, I was able to swap a car from SNA at SAN because the check engine light had come on. The agent in the booth, however, screwed up the res and failed to property check the second car out. When I arrived back at SNA later in the week, they had no record that I still had one of their cars. I had to deal with CS to get the billing all sorted out after the fact (not difficult, just a minor inconvenience), but I have to wonder what how bad the headaches would have been had I gotten in an accident, etc. with no record of an active rental. In theory, the car could have been listed as stolen.

I'll add my experience... And it is one that has historically been 50/50, without really any consistency even at the same location. What I have seen, however, is that the more "Aisle-y" the airport is, meaning, if it only has aisle cars and no true "reserved" parking spots, then the more likely they'll say "ok, grab a car in the aisle and have a good day" because thats pretty much their only inventory option... All the keys are in the cars. With that said, ORD is what I would consider "aisle-y" but there was a time the counter rep said "ok, go pick a sedan and bring back the keys so I can swap." Naturally, I ignored the word sedan and brought her keys to an Explorer Ltd. She apologized and asked me to get keys for a Camry or Altima instead. No more than 3 weeks prior at the same counter, another rep didn't even blink an eye with my full size Charger swapping out for a Grand Cherokee.

So again, as others say, this is definitely a YMMV thing. I'd wager that the rule book says you may only swap for the exact class car reserved, and anything outside of that is just a helpful rep at work. I base this on an experience picking up a car at New Haven, swapping out in Hartford. Despite Hartford having a full aisle lot, there was apparently only one Sonata they could swap me into.

If anything, I would guess the rental load for the upcoming day would also affect the request.