Car hire novice questions

[ilovedisney25]

Hi, wondering if you car hire experts can help me.

We usually have a hire car through a package but as we are going Diy this year it's the first time I'll be booking it separate.

There's 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids aged 4 and 7. We usually have some form of intermediate. This fits the 4 of us in with 2 suitcases in the boot with the hand luggage and a small 3rd suitcase in the back.

This time we will have more luggage as we plan on bringing xmas presents home. I've had a look on the car hire sites but are they accurate when they say 2 people and 4 suitcases.

Would an suv be the best option?

Any recommendations on who to hire from? Flying into mco. So far I have looked at alamo, dollar and hertz.

Tia :-)

[TEL N KEL]

I would recommend alamo
however that doesnt mean you have to book direct with alamo best to look around
virgin use alamo and sometimes there prices are the best
then you can book through alamo brits which gives you 10% off but not always the best deal
usrentacar use alamo to but not used them myself.

the size they give saying 4 cases ect are not always correct as the car in the line up to pick from may not even be the car they say you will get.

I would go for an SUV if I were you that way you are guaranteed more boot space

[alvin_purple]

Have a look at one of the 'brooker' website such as holidayautos. They give prices form lots of different companies.
Last year we hired a full sized SUV and others in our party went for a smaller SUV.
To be honest the full size SUV was too big, the smaller one would have been fine.

[prettymiarose]

Hi Tia
We use Alamo and they have always been very easy. I think its worth paying a little extra to be comfortable and you can't beat the 7 seaters. Sign up to Alamo 'Offers' on their website you may even get sent a discount or upgrade offer before you book
There are threads on the DIBB regarding 'Savetime' and 'Online Checking' which speeds up collection but we have never used this.

If you are an AA member you can go via the AA website to Hertz as you get a 10% discount so worth checking quotes

[NiPsTeR]

I Think there's a possibility you could get away with a fairly decent full size car but to have breathing space with the extra luggage SUV is the way to go.

We have never booked our rentals independently anywhere but usrentacar - they give you pretty accurate luggage space and always seem good prices!

Hope this helps.

[Rbf1979]

Get a 7 seater dodge. We had one for 3 people this year. Lol. It had TV screens in the back.

[nasty]

We had a full size car from Alamo this year. It was a Nissan Altima. There are 4 of us 2 adults 2 teens and we fitted 4 large suitcases plus 4 hand luggage in no problem.
This was the first time we had booked the full size as we have always had SUV's before but hubby wanted something smaller.
We have booked the full size again for next yr.

[Rawhide]

Hi

I've always done DIY (we go every 3 years or so) and although the group has always been bigger than your 4, I found it pays to overestimate the space you need. There were 5 of us last year and we had a 7 seater, and even then bags were packed high on the spare seats.

I have always booked through uscarhire.com ended up with Alamo and we could use the kiosks last year - a genuinely painless car hire experience.

[Cosworth]

I recommend uscarhire.com; they offer Alamo (and other companies) at reasonable prices.
Look at getting a 7-seat minivan, some have dvd screens in the back and are very comfortable.

[Celica190]

One thing to bear in mind with an SUV is that they don't have a parcel shelf, so your luggage is visible if you leave the vehicle parked anywhere on the way from or to the airport. If this isn't an issue, I'd go for an SUV. As we're hoping to do a road trip next year, it'll be a full-size car for us