mk1

Needed to grab a car, but unfortunately, I waited to long to book and DCA is sold out. Any advice on Union Station? I booked the standard full size, but this will be my first time with counter service. From what I've searched through the forums, it seems like they will give me a couple choices of cars.

So, has anyone been to Union Station lately and can give me a little info on what to expect?

Tuneman1984

No chance you're going to hit Elite status before that rental?

drzoidberg

So what happens if a location is sold out and you're an Elite member? Do they cancel some other poor sap's reservation and give it to you instead?

What are the requirements for making Elite?

NVM: Emerald Club Executive Elite 25+ rentals a year, or 85+ rental days

mk1

Hah...that bad, eh. I won't be able to hit elite status by tomorrow (and would be within 24 hours anyway).

Tuneman1984

No idea what they do, but they give an Elite up to a fullsize car with minimum 24 hours notice. Chances are when they say "sold out" it doesn't mean there was one car left and it just got booked. They probably have a minimum "float" and then block off online so they don't get a ton of bookings at once. Oh and even if you booked fullsize last minute, chances are they'll just give you whatever they have.

s3n

So I get the fact that elites can always book a car with 24 hours notice, but what happens when a location is oversold and they have no cars available, despite the fact that you have a reservation (ala Seinfeld)? This has happened to me a couple of times in the past two years, such that I never pick up a week-end car at my downtown location on a Friday night anymore. Do they make sure that they always have a car set aside for elite reservations?

mk1

Well they've decided to take reservations again, so I'm back to renting from DCA. Wonder if they had many no shows or if more cars were brought in.

drzoidberg

Well, in the hopes of keeping this a Union Station thread, please post your Union Station car inventories here...

Tuneman1984

That's a good question. I think at a big enough airport there will always be enough one-way drops and early returns to rarely bottom out. I don't know National's official policy but I imagine they try to keep it as close to but not at zero availability as they can.

For smaller locations, I know the one time I used my elite status for a booking was in Banff, Alberta last year. We needed a car to get all our stuff back to Calgary and all the rental outlets were long sold out (right in between Christmas and New Year's). I got a fullsize at my regular corporate rate and got a Magnum AWD that was tagged from Calgary. So there's potential that the car was brought in specifically for my booking.

ElmhurstNick

Bumping an old thread - we're going to be renting using a couple of free days (not 1-2-Free coupon days) in July for a one-way rental to PHL. [Renting from DCA will be very inconvenient, as our hotel is about two blocks away from Union Station, and DCA's ES is nothing to write home about.] Right now, the Fullsize/Standard SUVs are 50% more expensive than the Premium vehicles before the free days are applied. As with DCA/BWI, there is no "Luxury" category available - at those two locations, they just call them all "Speciality"

Since Union Station is not an ES/EA location, what should I really expect to be there on a summer Sunday morning? Realistically, I'd take a Charger if necessary, but I'd prefer a V70, an Avalon, or a TrailBlazer.

rentalguy

Availablility is based on vehicles on the ground, booked reservations and scheduled returns. Then, depending on the location the system is set to book 15% over your available fleet to compensate for "NO SHOWS" or cancellations, which inevitably occur. This is usually sufficient to ensure everyone gets a car without having tons of cars left over, although the fleet mix may be off. To answer your question, if someone has to get "bumped", it will be a non E/C member (even though they potentially could have booked weeks ago and the EE booked it with 24hrs notice and over rode the system sell out). We try to avoid bumping anyone but it does happen on occassion. The same people that usually complain they had to wait for a car, are the same ones that keep their car rental longer than originally booked and never bother to call the location so they can extend it. That's when a location usually runs into problems, when the scheduled returns dont return as scheduled, and dont call to extend.

Hope that helps.

s3n

heh. I forgot I asked this. Thanks for the info! It's great to have you on board here.

roder

I'm a relatively new National Renter (only been renting with them since November), however I have already achieved top-tier status due to many frequent rentals.

Most of my experience with National has been out of the EWR location, which in general has been fantastic. Friendly agents, managers come and greet you upon returning the car, and they are extremely efficient.

I wish I could say the same for the Union Station Location. Quite possibly the worst rental car experience I have ever had. The people are so rude, nasty, and just generally unhappy. I rented a car from them last week and when I asked what car options they had available (No Emerald Aisle); the guy at the counter responded "You don't have any options- you are getting a Mitsubishi Galant" Of course, after trekking to the lot they had a completely full lot with much nicer Midsize and Fullsize options. When I asked the agent if I could switch he said I would have to speak to the person at the counter; a 5-10 minute walk away. He called down and said he would upgrade me to a Premium for 35 more a day. Frustrated and not wanting to argue further, I took the Galant, which of course only had 3/4 a tank of gas, and in general was the POS I was expecting it to be.

Returning the car this morning was equally unpleasant. There was no handheld return service, so you have to return at the counter, where I was met by another equally unfriendly agent who spoke no more than two words to me-- didn't thank me for my business, ask how the car was, etc.

Overall an extremely disappointing experience, and next time I will be taking my business two counters down to Avis, where I have received far better service and recognition of my status as a President's Club member.

Shame on you National-- you need better quality control at this station.

hotelfanatic

From another thread, there seem to be no EA here. And customer service was a negative. I guess I have to go back to DCA for my pick even thought most of the EA cars have high miles on them. At least their tank is full.

troydwhite

I would suggest writing a letter to National CS.

I had a string of bad luck renting from HPN about 2 years ago: dirty, smokey cars; cars w/ 1/2 tank of gas; rude attendants... you know the drill.

I got a personal call from a woman at headquarters who said she was aware of the problem and were working to correct it.

She then threw 5 free rental days into my account.

Sure enough, HPN is now one of the best run locations you'll find. Haven't had a problem since, and the staff is super-helpful and attentive.

Of course, YMMV, maybe nothing will change at Union Station, but it's worth a try.