Alamo Brits price drop

[kissimee]

Originally Posted by svt153

What dates are people finding it cheaper for please? As I said, mine in July/Aug is still very expensive. Wondering if my dates will eventually come down.

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22 June to 15 July for full size car and price dropped by £ 200. I cancelled original booking and went for upgrade and still saved over £120.

[Frange]

Got an amazing price on Alamo via Expedia for a full size SUV - 3 weeks in July - £798 + and extra £79 cashback from Quidco - so total price will be £719! Im a happy man considering I almost spent £1100 on the same car last week!

[gavvy]

netflights is coming in £10 cheaper than Alamo for me, plus I can get 5% cashback on top so that's another £15.

Am not sure how flexible netflights are with cancellations though, and id does not include an extra driver- but I do not need one anyway.

[Ciano]

Originally Posted by gavvy

netflights is coming in £10 cheaper than Alamo for me, plus I can get 5% cashback on top so that's another £15.

Am not sure how flexible netflights are with cancellations though, and id does not include an extra driver- but I do not need one anyway.

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I just cancelled with Neflights this morning, you have to ring them and then send an email but they responded very quickly and it was no problem. I had paid by credit card and paid a 2% surcharge so lost that but I saved £75 so well worth it for us.

[gavvy]

Originally Posted by Ciano

I just cancelled with Neflights this morning, you have to ring them and then send an email but they responded very quickly and it was no problem. I had paid by credit card and paid a 2% surcharge so lost that but I saved £75 so well worth it for us.

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That's good to know - I just dug around and found cancellations are free upto 24h before pickup.

[Logan]

I realise that booking Alamo through a third party like Expedia may be slightly cheaper and also earn cashback, but going this route is there not usually a charge to add an extra driver? Alamobrits includes a second driver, but not sure if this offsets the cost difference.

Also, I wonder is it better to pay on arrival or pay now? The saving is not huge and if you elect to pay on arrival, could you not perhaps benefit from hopefully an anticipated improvement in the exchange rate?

[Incarniac]

Originally Posted by Logan

I realise that booking Alamo through a third party like Expedia may be slightly cheaper and also earn cashback, but going this route is there not usually a charge to add an extra driver? Alamobrits includes a second driver, but not sure if this offsets the cost difference.

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Yes, third-parties often do not include the second driver that Alamo Brits does include. When comparing prices it's important to compare like for like (unless you don't want and don't care about the second driver and just want the cheaper price).

Originally Posted by Logan

Also, I wonder is it better to pay on arrival or pay now? The saving is not huge and if you elect to pay on arrival, could you not perhaps benefit from hopefully an anticipated improvement in the exchange rate?

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I haven't done this so can't speak from personal experience but bear in mind that Alamo UK (Brits or not) states that the price you agree to pay on collection is in GBP, that is converted to and paid in USD on collection using an exchange rate that is "applicable". The USD price referred to (below the agreed GBP price) is an approximate when paying on collection.

Originally Posted by Alamo Pay on Collection

The GBP price shown will be converted into USD using the exchange rate applicable when the vehicle is collected, the USD value displayed is a guideline only and is subject to change.

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This sounds like they will use a rate at their choosing for the GBP->USD conversion that you'll be charged in, which then will be converted back from USD->GBP by your card company (unless you pay in cash, but then obviously the rate you got the cash at has to be taken into consideration).

It sounds therefore like you're tied in to the GBP price anyway, and you may actually end up paying slightly less or slightly more depending on what those two exchange rates are compared to each other.

As I said, I've not actually done this myself so I could be wrong. Someone will come along and correct me if so

Personally I would always go pre-paid but with someone that has free cancellation and amendments, since I know exactly what the price is and I like having paid for it by the time we go (but there are other ways of dealing with that obviously - i.e. put the money away )

[gavvy]

I don't need a second driver so unless Brits comes out cheaper I wont book it.

I have paid on collection before - its actually charged when you drop the car back and I have not seen a significant difference in the amount charged in dollars against what I expected. They don't overload the conversion.

It can of course work both ways- if the dollar falls your bargain may end up being ,more expensive, or if it rises you could end up saving even more than you thought.

[Guest]

Thanks did mine yesterday down around £150. I love the Dibb

[tiger01204]

Great post - thank you. Had forgotten to check for a while and both our rentals in PHL and MCO have dropped by over £100 each.