sizzler12

Yeah, highest I,ve ever seen from them they're usually well below 10k. To be fair it was clean & only one tiny mark on a passage door.

sizzler12

So today we hit 41,000 which is when the service is due & still another 8 day's left on the rental. As we were stopping the night in Charlotte, we decided to call at the airport rentals.

We arrived at about 7.30, spoke to a clerk in the parking lot, he asked what car we had & straight away said to swap. It only took a couple of minutes before another guy came & said that he would bring a impala round. As I know the still run old shapes, I asked if it is the new shape & he said it would be.

So a few minutes later and a new impala arrives, there was no rushing us to empty the 300. They did struggle doing the swap over paperwork. But that's just technology for you.

The impala is better speced than the 300, reversing camera, lane detection & looks like working sat nav but have not tried yet

We pulled in next to national & there lot seemed pretty well full with a good mix.

All in another good experience with alamo.

photog72

Anyone have any National 2016 coupon codes they could please PM me? I know there are a few out there. I can't seem to find them on teh googles.

dwbf11

The Entertainment Book is like $10. If you use the coupon for a free weekend day once you've already paid for the entire book.

photog72

Thanks. I'll find someone locally who I can buy it from.

dwbf11

I bought mine online - it's really easy.

Commodore246

I have executive status through my amex plat card. I'm wanting to book with national and wondering if I book through a third party site (such as Chase's Ultimate Rewards site), will I be able to take advantage of the executive benefits--either the "free" upgrade or Executive Aisle?

In other words, say I book a full-size rental through the Chase site, can I get a premium car or use the executive aisle? Or do I have to book directly through National?

AutoSlash

If Chase offers a place to enter in your Emerald number then the answer is yes. If they do not, then you'll have to call National after booking to get your number applied (if they are even able to do it). Failing that, you could stop at the rental counter and have them apply your Emerald number at that time. In any case, you should still be able to take advantage of your status. It's just a matter of when you are able to get your Emerald number attached to the reservation.

Commodore246

Thanks for the quick reply. It looks like Chase has a place to enter the Emerald number. Now the question is...do I book a mid-size through Chase and go for emerald/exec aisle? Or book the premium to guarantee one of those? (If I book premium via Chase/other third party I won't get the discounted rate though, right? I'm guessing I'd have to book through national to get the free upgrade)

leops1984

Completely new to National (and renting cars in the US, period). How much room is there to negotiate rates for upgrades at the counter?

I'm renting at TUS, which is a non-aisle location. I'd be happy with a compact, but obviously I would like to get an upgrade to something nicer (within reason). Everywhere I've read it says "book the cheapest rate and negotiate at the counter if you want an upgrade", but I don't know if the same applies to National.

So, should I book the compact category and try an upgrade to negotiate at rental time: is there any benefit to booking a midsize (or nicer) at a counter location? Would be picking it up fairly early on a Friday morning.

For what it's worth, I did sign up for Emerald Club and use a contract code (which the legacy site would add to my booking anyway) for renters who live in Asia renting a car in the US. That contract includes the CDW, which I would need to get anyway.

jackal

In my experience (across all rental brands, not just National), rental sales agents usually don't ever settle for less than $5 a day for an upgrade. Most of the time, reserved in advance, to change to a larger car class is much less than $5/day--more like $1-2/day. For example, a test booking I just did at MCO for next week shows an economy for $225/wk, a compact for $232/wk, a midsize for $246/wk, a standard for $260/wk, and a fullsize for $274/wk. That's $2/day difference for each car class.

OTOH, a counter upgrade of less than $5/day is not even worth the rental agent's time. Figure that the agent is on a 10% commission tier (could be more, could be less, depends on the company, location, and agent's performance)--at $14/wk, a one-class upgrade just earned the agent a whopping $1.40. That's a rounding error in the agent's commission check. $5/day is the bare minimum I've ever seen/negotiated with a rental agent at a rental company/location that doesn't really push sales; rental counter sales consulting firms recommend even higher numbers as minimums.

The sweet spot for counter upgrades is not in compact-to-midsize rates; it's in those places where an advance upgrade might be overpriced. For example, in my above MCO rental, upgrading from a compact car to a luxury car would cause the rate to jump from $232/wk to $420/wk--a jump of $188, or $27/day. If you can negotiate with the counter agent to get it for $15/day (not at all unlikely), then you're money ahead. Or, if you're in a fullsize for $274/wk and want a Premium SUV (Suburban) for $716/wk, there's a very good chance you can negotiate that to much less than the $63/day difference reserved in advance (you might be able to get it for $30-40/day).

When rental agents are used to and seeking big double-digit numbers for daily upgrades, you can see why a $2/day upgrade is not even worth it for them.

That all said, here's some general advice for upgrades: the biggest key to getting a good price on an upgrade is to look just interested enough in the bigger vehicle to let the agent know you're open but to give the impression that price is a major road-block. Phrases like, "I wouldn't mind driving something a little nicer, but I can't afford to pay any more than my current price," etc., work to give the agent that impression. When the agent names a (high) price, a look of surprise/panic, followed by a refusal based on price--"Yikes--I do like the Buick, but I can't spend nearly that much"--should make the rental agent adjust his/her pricing to something much more palatable. After that, you can even try something like, "That's still a bit too much--is there any way you can drop it down with a AAA[/Costco/airline/hotel/whatever] discount?" (the type of discount doesn't matter--it just gives the rental agent the further impression that you're very price sensitive and also gives them a convenient excuse to drop the price even more without looking like he/she is just setting the price arbitrarily, which he/she is). You can even maybe say something like, "I'm really looking for like a maximum of a couple dollars a day," and the rental agent might then counter with something between $5-10, which you might accept if the upgrade is worth it. Just some general advice from years of experience on both sides of the counter.

leops1984

jackal - thanks for the advice! For a compact my three-day rental costs $260. (Blame the CDW.) Going to a Premium would up the cost to $386. Since it's a $42 a day jump, I should try for something in the $15-20 a day range? (Would the fact that I'm on a relatively high per-day rate help or hurt, or is that something the agent would even see?

jackal

The agent probably won't care about your reserved rate, but managers do care--I've often gotten a quote from an agent of a $25-35/day difference, but then when I checked with a manager, they commented, "Oh, you're on a pretty high rate already--we can do $10/day."

It's all very fluid and nothing is guaranteed, but everything is worth a try.

humansoul

Tried a Google search and also looked in the FAQs, but couldn't find any info on it. I am a National Exec member but have an Alamo rental coming up. Would my Exec privileges work with that contract (ie. Pick from the ES aisle, free upgrade, etc).

Second question was would my Alamo rental quality for the Rent-rent reward?

Thanks in advance!

dwbf11