piotrek21

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, and have a question for you. I'm traveling to Denver this week for a ski vacation. We arrive in DEN on Sat. afternoon and I managed to score a great deal on a minivan from Enterprise. There are three of us traveling and I would really prefer to have an SUV rather than a minivan.

So my question is, how does the hierarchy work on bigger cars? I know for sedans it's compact<intermediate<full-size, but is SUV above or below minivan on the upgrade scale? What are the chances of the agent being willing to put me in an SUV for a minivan price?

Also what cars does Enterprise have at DEN anyway?

Thanks so much for your help!!

kxc262

First, DEN shares the location with National. The service here is exceptionally great from start to finish, and perhaps one of the top Enterprise locations I rented from. I picked up my car at the Holiday Inn Tower to avoid rental car taxes, and they have SUVs there too. However, I noticed rates at DEN were cheaper on some days ($15 per day for full size? That is a steal)

Anyways, here is the Enterprise list.
http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/showVehicles.do

I booked a LCAR at the Holiday Tower, which allowed me to choose any car I wanted.

However, DEN does not have LCARs. The airport location has not ordered them yet. They would give you an alternative, which I managed to land a Dodge Durango (PGAR) or Premium Crossover.

Going back to your questions, when I went to Enterprise at DEN airport to swap my car, they were fully stocked with SUV/Minivans. I believe SUV would be a higher tier than minivans because they have a lot of minivans all the time so you would get your car. Most likely, they would make you pay for an upgrade.

From what I remember when I rented in late Jan, there were a lot of SUVs. They had about 10 QX70s ready to go, and in the load lots of Suburbans ready to roll out. Very happy to find the Durango. If you are looking to get the Grand Cherokee Limited, they are rare.

Hope that helps! Renting from DEN was one of my best rental car experiences so far.

fish7777

Hi Piotrek21,

I'm also a new member and first time poster. Do you mind me asking how you got a great deal with Enterprise at DEN? I'm having a hard time getting a good price for a full-size rental in mid-May.

Thanks for your help!

kxc262

I would suggest renting from the Holiday Inn Tower.
There is an airport shuttle that runs from DEN to the hotel (free shuttle) and by renting at the Holiday Inn, you avoid paying airport taxes.

They do compete for the airport business and will price match DEN Enterprise FYI.

piotrek21

Thanks for the replies!

I was originally looking at the Holiday Inn location, but my flight gets in on 4:30 on Saturday and Enterprise list the hours for that location as 9-12noon on Sat. But, I agree that that location has much better prices.

The rate I got is $201/week ($288 all included) for a minivan, which I consider a steal. It was the cheapest car period, and it doesn't hurt that it's a big car too. I was just looking around about a month to 1.5 months beforehand and that's what the prices were. I did nothing special.

Thanks for answering my question regarding the upgrade. Like I said a minivan isn't bad, but if I can get like a Durango that would be better. I'll ask at the airport and report back with what they said.

kxc262

No problem. FWIW, I was at the DEN on a Saturday around 11AM and they were fully stocked with SUVs. I'm sure that carried over into the afternoon because most business people returned their cars on Thurs/Fridays.

You should be able to get a Suburban easily. From what it looked like, they had about 20+ brand new ones ready to be tagged and go about 1 month ago.

fish7777

Thanks for the information. I just checked with them and they're closed on Sunday's, which is the day I arrive.

I appreciate your help.

piotrek21

Great information.

I'm not really looking for a Suburban though. That's way too big, there is only 3 of us going. If I can get like a Durango, Explorer or like a Santa Fe that would be ideal.

Denverbounding

I go into Denver all the time, preferred rental is National, but brandmates Enterprise and Alamo are also standard fare for me.

YMMV, but you most likely will NOT get any sort of SUV for "free" if you rent a minivan. This time of year in particular, the counter agents "push" (not too much, but they do push) "would you like the extra traction an SUV can provide in the event of winter weather." At a hefty uptick in price, of course.

It works quite well on the folks from California, Arizona, etc. On me, not so much....

So, if you want an SUV you can almost certainly upgrade at the counter, but you are likely to get a better price if you reserve an SUV in advance.

Again, YMMV

piotrek21

I could see this. I'm from CT, so I'm quite familiar with driving in winter weather. Albeit on snow tires. I was just under the impression that minivans were higher up on the totem pole than some SUVs. We'll see what happens at the airport.

Now I just though of something else. My flight theoretically arrives at 4:15pm tomorrow. I booked a car for 4:30pm. With the weather and baggage pick up I'll probably be late. How late can I be for my reservation to still be valid? Should I give the location a ring and inform them of my possibly late arrival?

kxc262

If you are a few hours late, I would call. A few minutes, you should be okay.

You return the car when you pick it up too, which is nice. So say you get there at 5PM, you return it at 5PM. That has been my experience with Enterprise.

Also, do take pictures of the car with damages. They do the golf-ball size thing (damages smaller than that can be ignored and counted as wear and tear). Some people had terrible experience with damage charges.