Alamo Rent A Car

I booked online for $ 78. At the kiosk I was handed a contract for over $ 200 and I showed them my booking off my phone and they told me they d added some insurance which was mandatory and I refused it. They tried very hard to get me to pay more money arguing that their gas was cheaper than outside gas etc and I was adamant that I would not pay more than my online booking. They couldn’t figure out how to change the booking back to what I had booked so they had to get a manager and start all over. It took 35 mins at the counter which was painful since I had taken a red eye flight and I was traveling with a toddler and an infant. It seemed very unnecessary. Once I got the car it was fine and drop off was straight forward. I should have checked in online. Apparently the system at their counter is separate from the online system so you avoid many errors by checking in online.

OK, Alamo really helped us after a flight from NY that had been delayed 4 times. We got in at 11:30pm, and were so exhausted and achy. Our rental had originally been through Enterprise, but when we got there, we saw an empty place — they had closed at 11 PM. This was crap on top of crap. We just wanted to get our damn car and go to our hotel for some sleep!
We decided to hit up Alamo next door, since they were still open. We were all prepared to put down money for another rental but when we mentioned having booked something previously with Enterprise, the girl was so sweet, telling us that we can still go downstairs and get our car, that our rental will be honored. Maybe we were stupid, tired, or a combo of both, but that thought had never occurred to us! And good thing she told us – we got an excellent rate for our week long rental, but if we got a new one right then and there, it would be $ 70 a day — nearly triple what we paid for per day originally!
Once we got down to the cars, we were a bit confused because they didn’t tell us any specific person to go to. Eventually, we decided to hit up the Alamo stand and right away with minimal explanation the woman knew what to do and started helping us. She was quick, efficient, and friendly, realizing we were tired and needed her to explain things a couple times over before we fully understood everything. She didn’t have an attitude or roll her eyes impatiently. We go through the usual here: asking if we wanted insurance, wanted to have a prepaid full tank, $ 10 extra a day for another driver other than the one who booked. From there we were told to pick any Compact car in the lot; keys would be inside.
At that point, I felt a little more awake — it’s always a giddy feeling being able to choose a car to drive, even if it’s for a rental. Or maybe that’s just me and my odd ways? The Nissan I wanted was locked and we were too tired — and the line was too long at this point — to ask someone for the keys, so we opted for the Kia forte right next to it. Inside was clean, smelled perfectly fine, no strains or grease or dust, and within a minute we were on our way. Simple and smooth sailing!
Our second encounter was when we were leaving the rental station and the woman was so sweet! I have only drive one car my entire life — my integra that I had first gotten in high school, over a decade ago, and I wasn’t used to the newer cars and their instant brakes. So I awkwardly braked/​drove/​braked/​drove over to the exit, and she and I shared a laugh over it when I commented on how great those brakes were! She checked our gas tank and saw that it was slightly under the Full marker, and told us to bring it back at half a tank. Then she sent us on our way, very cheerful.
Then onto the return: super easy to read the signs, not as confusing as I had anticipated. I felt like the returns at LAX were way more complicated and I was kind of dreading that. Not the case here! Pull into the lane, and they wave their phones or some kind of device so you know where to go. After that, the guy quickly walks around, does a fast check of everything, does some scanning business, and tells us we are good to go! Very seamless and hassle free. They all have some personality here — the guy told us where to go to get back up to the bus shuttle, and told us to have a good day.
They also have DIY stations here, to avoid any lines.
Overall, it was subtle and small kindness and pleasant chatter that made all the difference in this particular experience for us. Thanks, Alamo!

Alamo actually has some of the lowest prices if you book through COSTCO’s online travel. I really enjoy how Sea-Tac’s cat retrieval process. First of all, you get to choose your car in the model of car you chose. For instance, I had a full-​size car and so I could choose from a bunch. It’s best to order in the morning since there seems to have more car selection at that time.
On another occasion when I came in from my red eye flight and I had a standard SUV on reservation and there was only one left. I was expecting a RAV4 but I got a Pathfinder (much larger and had third row seating).
My only con here is that the line moves slow but on the plus side if you already reserved you can do online check-​in to go straight to the car port or you can use their kiosk! Just make sure your Driver’s license and CC is current. Fairly simple and you can bypass the insurance and extras, if you please, with the push of a touch screen button.
The first time I came to the car rental port, there is a free shuttle ride and it takes about 10 – 12 minutes to get there. The shuttle can accommodate a lot of luggage, but a lot of people. However, shuttles are usually on heavy rotation.
Every time, so far each vehicle has low mileage if not brand new (less than 700 miles) Most have preloaded XM stations (if you’re in the mainland, HI don’t have satellite radio tho).
The rep that helped me was really kind but they did asked if I wanted the full coverage or liability vehicle coverage as if those are the only choice but it is not. So if you do not want it, just say no thank you & you just want no insurance. I suggest though to see if your current auto insurance provider covers the rental car you have. I have Liberty Mutual and they cover any car I rent for no additional charge!
In conclusion, reps are cheerful and have a sense of humor so it’s nice to have that energy especially coming off a late flight. Most importantly, take photos of any damage in advance before you check out and you can inform the parking attendant before gig leave the car port lot.

This is a joke of a car rental facility. When I showed up for my pre-​reserved car, there was a massive line at the facility. All of the self-​serve terminals were inoperable, and there were only 3 associates to help all of those customers. They told the entire line that their manager would be up shortly to reboot the terminals.
1 hour later, I reach the end of the line and get my car. Oddly enough, the manager never showed up to back up their employees and to help out that crazy line.

Traveled to Seattle, needed a car to drive to Portland with so I did my research before booking with Alamo. Not only did they give me a good deal I like the concept for there facility. You can avoid the line & check in by yourself at the diy station. Skipped the line & proceeded to the underground area where the rental cars are being held. Checked in with an employee who basically said «you can choose any of those cars over there» keys in it. Grab & go.
I requested a economy car cause gotta save some gas when I can. My baby back home drinks gas like crazy. Anyways, I grabbed a Hyundai accent. Not the prettiest looking thing but it did the trick. Had 6k on it so fairly new, & great on gas. Took me where I needed to go without any issues.
I returned the car, signs everywhere so pretty easy to find rental return area. Pulled up to Alamo returns. Guys walks up, checks my car & say alright your good to go. Just like that easy. Had to hassles at all.
Thats great in my book. Ill be sure to use Alamo again. Thats for sure. Beats hertz & dollar rental thats for sure!

Really horrible customer services. My boyfriend and I returned a car we had rented in Vancouver here and immediately realized that he had forgotten his car keys in the rental when we were back in Seattle. We called the Alamo office less than an hour after we had dropped off the car to see if we could return to get the keys and they said the car had already been rented it out.
We had to repeatedly follow up with them and basically beg to have them try to call the person who had rented it after us to see if the keys were in fact in the car (and we’re still not sure they ever did).
On call to Alamo went something like this…
Me: «Hi I left some keys in a rental car I returned there about a week or so ago.»
Alamo: «Sorry we don’t have your keys.»
Me: «What I haven’t even told you what car I rented or anything about the keys. How do you know?»
Alamo: «Ok. What was your rental car invoice number… Hold on. Sorry that car hasn’t been returned yet and won’t be returned until next week.»
So we go back to the rental car place the day it’s supposed to be back and learn that not only has it been returned but it was returned a rented out several times in that 2-​week period they told us the same user had it. Never did find the keys and feel pretty confident they were left in that car. Oddly enough there was fresh broken window glass all over the interior of the car, which apparently had a new window on it. No explanation for that either…

I understand that rental cars can be so expensive. But a Compact car for $ 630 for a week? $ 90 a day? If you see $ 30-​$ 50 on the price per day, make sure to double the price.
The guy can be a little talkative too.
*edit
Our car smells like piss. The car has some piss marks. Defiintely piss.

We recently rented from this location for a three day event. Unfortunately, service was painfully slow during pick up on a Friday evening. Despite the 15+ person line, two employees were on duty.
Other than the crazy wait, our rental was fine.
Return was easy in the large «consolidated rental car facility».

Man oh man. My opinion of this Alamo location began with neutral and ended up as one of the worst experiences with a car rental location.
As a weekly business traveler, I know the routine — hand over credit card and driver’s license, decline coverage, decline up sell, decline coverage again, sign a bunch of papers and get on my way.
After handing over my cards, the man proceeded to tell me I had no reservation. False, I said, and showed him the reservation on my phone. The rest of the conversation went as follows:
Man: Well it’s not in our system.
Me: Well — I just showed you the reservation confirmation, you confirmed you saw the reservation, so it appears there’s a glitch in your system, so what can we do about this?
Man: Ok, well I’m just telling you you didn’t do it correctly because I don’t see it here on my computer. If you want a car, you’ll have to pay $ 90/​day.
Me: I don’t think so. I made the reservation a month ago, you’ve seen and confirmed my reservation and the TOTAL should be $ 84 for 3 days. Please call your supervisor down.
The man tells me to stand aside and he’ll call a manager over. About 15 later, no manager, the man comes over to me and asks me to pull up the Alamo website on my cell phone to see what the prices are. Wait, what? Since when is employees asking customers to pull up pricing on their cell phones an Alamo policy?
In hopes of speeding up the process, I complied and the prices per day were $ 101 dollars, even more than he quoted. So, the man said «Ok, come with me. I can make an exception for you just this once, but when you mess up on making your reservation, we can’t always be making exceptions for you.» I was absolutely livid, but at this point, I had already been waiting 45 minutes, thus running late for a meeting and just needed to GO.
Let me also point out, no manager ever showed up.
The man told me to choose any of the cars in the «compact» section. Sounds great, I said.
The first car I got in was dirty (stained seats, crumbs, scuff marks, chipped paint, etc.) so I drug my heavy suitcase out of the trunk and hoisted it into the trunk of car #2.
I got into car #2 and immediately wondered if that car had just been returned after being used to deliver pizzas for a 9 hour shift. It smelled terrible and was equally dirty. I was delayed about 1 hr 15 mins late and this point, so I said f*ck it, I just need to get out of here… except for when I plugged my USB cord in… it didn’t work. Are you freaking kidding me? I needed the USB for my GPS, so once again, I had to lug my heavy suitcase out of trunk #2 and find another car.
The 3^rd car was equally dirty (but not smelly). I told myself that as long as I didn’t find a dead body in the trunk, I had to take this car and get out.
Terrible experience and I would never come back to this location.
When I rented a car through Enterprise last week and they messed up my reservation (not having available cars upon arrival), you know what they did? Gave me a free upgrade and sent me on my way within 10 minutes. Alamo — maybe y’all should take a hint and invest some serious time and resources into customer service and operations.

Alamo is supposedly affiliated w/​Enterprise (where I hold most of my rentals and points), but they don’t accept points. Alamo is able to place points into airlines, such as Delta.
The gentleman at the counter was «Meh. I’ve experienced better». He wasn’t very helpful when I had these point questions and frankly didn’t care. Although he tried to upsell me for the next level car for $ 20 on a $ 20 rental, I was thinking… there’s better times (and better items) to try to upsell. But that’s the sale’s person in me.
I got to the counter (mind you, it’s 1am), and the person behind the counter who was helping this family out for (15 minutes) didn’t acknowledge us at all. I had to step in and ask if there was anyone else who could help me. She then asked what type of rental we had and upgraded us to the next tier up (to compact). I was looking around and didn’t see any economy cars, so that was a plus!
The prices are very inexpensive so I would rent again if I had to, especially since it’s one of the few care facilities open after 11pm. So weird how this airport doesn’t have 24 hour service for other companies.

Love these guys. I’ve used them twice this month, once in Seattle and once in la. They greet you, help you find the car and even the workers look happy.
Highly recommend this experience.

Not driving. Not happy. Waiting in line for cars to return so Alamo can fill pre-​paid contracts. Waiting an hour so far.