Rental cars availability at MCO after hurricanes

[moreisgood]

Has anyone heard if reservations are being honored for rental cars at MCO right now? I have a car reserved for tomorrow night, but it seems that no reservations are available, and I worry that my reserved car won't be there. Some companies have electric cars available ONLY.

 

[katallo]

I am curious as well. I certainly hope they would notify you if the reservation will not be honored prior to arriving. As far as an EV, I doubt they can force one on you. Which company are you using?

 

[_19disnA]

I would call the renting location if you can find a direct dial number on the rental company website. After a major event like a hurricane, there are probably a number of factors that could impact what is available and how things are being handled. (i.e. did they have any flooding, were any of their cars in inventory damaged, are cars being kept longer then originally planned?, etc.) We can all make guesses about what might happen but doubt that really means anything unless you can communicate directly with the rental location.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would say that, unless written into the booking terms on line or however you booked, the rental company cannot satisfy your reservation with an electric car or a standard shift car you did not want.

But they could satisfy your reservation with an exotic car such as a convertible or a van or a pickup that your credit card rental benefits might not cover. To protect yourself from possibly garganuan liabilities from an accident you should select the rental company coverage if your own insurance or credit card does not extend to that rental.

 

[Mle8308]

As long as you didn't reserve a "managers choice" vehicle, you should not get an EV - unless specifically requested.

 

[Lewisc]

Renters, faced with flight cancellations, might have driven home.

Agencies may be short cars. Suppose your choice is an electric car or waiting an unknown time for a car return?

 

[MICKIMINI]

I did something I swore I would never do again. I rented and paid in advance for a cadillac stx (I think) next week through aaa.com and the car rental agency is hertz.com. It was only $450 and since I paid for it I would say they have to provide that or better. I do have travel insurance. I did it due to hurricane season and through aaa.com which will give me another way to fight (along with CC company) if there is any issue.

 

[moreisgood]

I am curious as well. I certainly hope they would notify you if the reservation will not be honored prior to arriving. As far as an EV, I doubt they can force one on you. Which company are you using?

My curiosity is that I would really like to hear from anyone who picked up a reserved car in the last few days.
I have a car reserved with Fox, which often has bad reviews, but I have rented with them several time at MCO and once at LAX, and I have had great experiences, so far. They price is great, the shuttles run fast, and you don't wait in line for several hours, which often happens with the on site rental companies at MCO.

 

[curse reversed]

Has anyone heard if reservations are being honored for rental cars at MCO right now? I have a car reserved for tomorrow night, but it seems that no reservations are available, and I worry that my reserved car won't be there. Some companies have electric cars available ONLY.

Just out of curiosity why are you so against getting an electric car?

 

[moreisgood]

Just out of curiosity why are you so against getting an electric car?

I never said I was against electric cars. I just noted that when I searched for rentals, that was all that was showing up.

 

[_19disnA]

There are some recent threads about renting electric vehicles. It can be a challenge to find a compatible/available/working charging station. It might be in an area that flooded and is out of order or somewhere that still has no power. Then there is the issue of time to recharge. Not anything I would want to deal with on vacation. Clearly there are far fewer places to recharge an EV compared to the number of gas stations.

 

[moreisgood]

My curiosity is that I would really like to hear from anyone who picked up a reserved car in the last few days.
I have a car reserved with Fox, which often has bad reviews, but I have rented with them several time at MCO and once at LAX, and I have had great experiences, so far. They price is great, the shuttles run fast, and you don't wait in line for several hours, which often happens with the on site rental companies at MCO.

Has anyone heard if reservations are being honored for rental cars at MCO right now? I have a car reserved for tomorrow night, but it seems that no reservations are available, and I worry that my reserved car won't be there. Some companies have electric cars available ONLY.

Update: the Car Rental situation was as I suspected. When I arrived to pick up my rental car, it was pretty much a one car in one car out situation. they did say that they had just gotten a car in and that I needed to wait a little while while they checked it cleaned it and washed it. After about 15 minutes, I asked how we were doing and they said the car wasn’t ready yet, but they would give me whichever car was ready without any upgrade charges. Then the guy made a side joke about “unless you want a minivan. “ I was happy to take a minivan so he immediately handed me the keys. When I went out on the light there were no cars except for three minivans. I have never seen a lot that empty in my life. It seems that a lot of people drove cars out of the area for the hurricane and they were not stocked up in the week following.

 

[moreisgood]

Final update - on Sunday Oct 21st, I returned my car, and there were tons of people waiting for cars to be returned so they could pick up their rentals. This was at Fox, which is a shuttle ride away. At the onsite airport rental agencies, NO ONE was in line waiting to pick up a car, likely because they had no cars available. My guess is that this situation will probably continue for another week or so.

 

[bdrex28]

There are some recent threads about renting electric vehicles. It can be a challenge to find a compatible/available/working charging station. It might be in an area that flooded and is out of order or somewhere that still has no power. Then there is the issue of time to recharge. Not anything I would want to deal with on vacation. Clearly there are far fewer places to recharge an EV compared to the number of gas stations.

100% this.

I would have zero problem with a Hybrid (I think it's much better than pure EV anyway...) but on vacation I don't want to deal with finding a charging station. Not to mention different EVs have different ranges and that is also something I wouldn't want to mess with.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Thanks for the update. I just booked a backup car for MCO. It is $150 more but I'll pay it if necessary and perhaps travel insurance might cover it? Either way, better than hanging around at MCO!

 

[katallo]

I’ll try to remember to update this week. I had a car booked at Hertz. They sent me an email for an upgrade but when I tried to do it, they said they had no cars available. That made me nervous so I canceled Hertz and booked with Alamo.

 

[bdrex28]

I’ll try to remember to update this week. I had a car booked at Hertz. They sent me an email for an upgrade but when I tried to do it, they said they had no cars available. That made me nervous so I canceled Hertz and booked with Alamo.

I like Alamo better at MCO anyway.

 

[Pinnochio]

Has anyone heard if reservations are being honored for rental cars at MCO right now? I have a car reserved for tomorrow night, but it seems that no reservations are available, and I worry that my reserved car won't be there. Some companies have electric cars available ONLY.

I picked up my SUV at Dollar on 10/12 with no problem whatsoever....seems like they had a bunch too.....the price also dropped from $574 to $333 when i checked the website two days before so i modified and got the lower rate.....woohoo...

 

[katallo]

For on-site rentals there did not seem to be a problem. When we arrived Alamo was a little low on standard aisle but we were upgraded to a luxury. So, that was very nice. They had plenty of SUV’s.