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Alamo Rental CarsAlamo has locations in over 42 countries and more than 1000 locations worldwide. You will find their rental offices at almost all the major airports in the United States and their online website is located at Alamo.com. If you need to contact them via telephone dial 800-GO-ALAMO, it's pretty easy to remember. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure Alamo can probably handle your car needs. They have compact, mid-size, full-size, and luxury cars along with SUV's and minivans. You can even rent trucks and convertibles from some locations. I've personally used them in Hawaii, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon many times. I won't say their customer service is the best of all the rental car companies, but they will try to make things right if something goes wrong. On a recent trip to San Diego they didn't have my car ready and so they decided to upgrade me to a luxury car for free. Those are little things that I look for in a rental company.
Booking a Alamo Car online?:Start by going to GoAlamo.com. Then find the type of car you want to rent (economy, mid size, full size, compact). You'll need to choose a pickup location and drop-off spot or just type in the airport code. Plug in your pickup dates and return dates to see what is available and at what rates. If you have any coupon codes or promotional rates you'll need to enter those at this time as well. I usually do a quick search on the website and then run a comparison on a site like Expedia or Orbitz to see what the other car rental companies are charging for similar models on those dates. Expect to spend between $20-$45/day to get a rental car and sometimes more if you go with the luxury sedans or SUV rentals. When you are asked if you want the additional insurance package, just say NO. The vast majority of credit cards and car insurance policies (your own) cover you when you rent a car. The rental companies make a killing on this extra service that is really not required ($10/day+). As for prepaying on the gas, that is probably a good idea since we have all returned a rental car before without filling up and it ends up costing you something like $6/gallon versus the $3/gallon at the pump if you do it yourself. You will pay a slight premium on gas if you prepay and make sure you bring the car back to the airport as near to empty as possible since you paid for all the gas already.Alamo Coupons and Discounts:Want to find the best rental rates for Alamo cars? We suggest you start your search by signing up for their free email newsletter which gets sent out periodically with e-coupons, last minute deals, and discount rates that are available at certain airports and for a specific timeframe. The Alamo.com website also has links to their special rates in featured cities and airports. As for rental car codes, coupons, and discounts, there is only 1 site we trust and that is http://www.mousesavers.com/alamo.html. These guys are great at updating the site regularly with the best coupons available for the cheapest rates possible. In many cases you can combine the discount codes to get further savings. They list ID# and corporate rates, printable coupons, and how to avoid waiting at the counter when you do rent. I have saved up to 40% off the rack rate many times by going to the Mousesavers website to find a valid Alamo coupon code.Quicksilver Club:If you plan on traveling a lot (either for work or pleasure), it is a good idea to join the Alamo discount program. Alamo offers the Quicksilver Club. You get free weekend day rentals with enough regular rentals. You don't need to stand in line to pick up your car at the airport, they give you the keys to your car and off you go (a huge time saver). There are other perks such as upgrades, preferred rates and frequent flyer miles. I have been a member of Quicksilver and now that they have self serve kiosks at many rental locations, you just type in your reservation number or name and they point you to your car. Compared to other rental car frequent renter programs, Quicksilver is not bad, but ones like Hertz #1 Club are probably better.
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