RENTAL CAR: Skip the line

[h&D3]

I've noticed a few posts about this, but I'm also seeing varying information.

I haven't been "back home" since 2018, so I'm sure this info has changed since then.

What rental car companies can you "skip the line" (skip the counter) and go directly to the cars in the garage to pick up your rental? It sounds like many of them now make you go to the inside counter and can't skip directly to the garage.

This is what I have found:

Alamo: says that you can skip the counter if you are a member of their "alamo insiders" club
Budget: says that you can skip the counter if you sign up for their "fastbreak" membership
Enterprise: all I could find on the reservations was "CheckIn Short Description: Skip the counter and head directly to the lot" (does this mean that I can go directly to the garage to get my car... no counter?)

When we were there in 2018, we rented through Alamo and I just scanned the barcode on my reservation at the kiosk and headed to the garage to get the car. With this, I bypassed the inside counter, which I would love to avoid this time.

Can anyone who has rented a car lately confirm this info for me?

Thanks!
~D

(I wish Mid-August would get here.... I can hardly wait to "go back home!"

 

[emmabelle]

Alamo has always let me add my reservation made through Costco Travel onto Alamo's site. I then do all the skip the counter stuff.

This morning I tried to add my Costco reservation and it just gave me an error message because of the Costco coupon code. Ughhh I don't want to have to go to the counter but I also don't want to give up my Costco rate. At least I'm flying into terminal C which is always less crowded.

Anyways last month I was able to go directly to the garage with Alamo using a Costco code.

 

[Genie+]

Good topic! Yesterday we were wondering about Hertz and picking up at the new C terminal at MCO.

Although we haven’t used Hertz in a long time, we are Gold Members that qualify for skipping the counter. For some reason seems like we can’t do this at MCO Terminal C. Has anyone been able to skip with counter with hertz there?

 

[_19disnA]

Am a member with Avis but haven't rented in a few years. I seem to recall you have to go to the counter the FIRST time you rent so they can verify you have a valid driver's license, are the person who made the reservation and input various things into their computer. I doubt that has changed. Once they have your information you can go directly to your car during subsequent rentals.

Some of this may also vary at very small airports where the staffing might be different.

 

[1420Elexismc]

Used Alamo in May through Costco and was able to go straight to the garage and pick up our rental with no issues
The attendant just pointed us to a row and said you can pick anything from here
Super easy

 

[jimmymc]

Hertz normally allows it if you are a gold member or above, but I haven't tried it out of terminal C yet. I've also used National and was able to go right to the car with their Emerald Aisle category.

 

[RedHead0186]

National allows this if you're an Emerald Club member.

 

[uandmfan]

We were just there. We used Alamo booked through Costco. 24 hours before we left I did their online check-in and provided all the drivers licences. When we got to the airport, we went to the garage and grabbed a mini van. Gave the person at the exit our barcode and that was that.

I was suspicious that it would be as easy as described, it was. We flew into terminal B and returned to Terminal C.

 

[emmabelle]

We were just there. We used Alamo booked through Costco. 24 hours before we left I did their online check-in and provided all the drivers licences. When we got to the airport, we went to the garage and grabbed a mini van. Gave the person at the exit our barcode and that was that.

I was suspicious that it would be as easy as described, it was. We flew into terminal B and returned to Terminal C.

well apparently Alamo is now making you go to the counter to prove you're a Costco member? I called Alamo yesterday to try and figure out why it won't let me check in online. The rep at Alamo said they need proof that I'm a Costco member. I guess I will have to go to the counter.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

well apparently Alamo is now making you go to the counter to prove you're a Costco member? I called Alamo yesterday to try and figure out why it won't let me check in online. The rep at Alamo said they need proof that I'm a Costco member. I guess I will have to go to the counter.

Strange. We just returned from WDW last Saturday. I picked up an Alamo rental booked through Costco January 17th, having checked in online with the Alamo confirmation number provided in my Costco reservation confirmation. I was logged into my Alamo Insider account when I checked in. I’ve never had a problem doing it that way, so it surprises me that they changed their procedure.

The only place I was ever asked for confirmation of my Costco membership while picking up a rental was TPA (Tampa), and that happened twice. It was the same gate agent both times! No problem since I had the card in my wallet. That was five or six years ago. Now I have an electronic membership card through the Costco phone app, so I would just use that if asked for proof.

 

[emmabelle]

Last week the online checkin worked but the rate went down on Monday so I rebooked and then got the error message. So they must have just changed it like on Monday.

 

[h&D3]

Seems odd that they are now checking Costco Memberships. They've had this offer for years and I've never had to show my membership card. If they are so worried about it, just have each person upload a copy of their membership card to their profile, just like some ask you to upload your drivers license.)
Oh well... maybe it will change before August, or maybe I end up going with someone besides Alamo. (I have other reservations with other rental companies so I'm not worried about it)

 

[emmabelle]

The stupid thing is that you have to log in to Costco to book the rental with Alamo. Wouldn’t that mean you have a Costco membership?

 

[EACarlson]

The stupid thing is that you have to log in to Costco to book the rental with Alamo. Wouldn’t that mean you have a Costco membership?

You don't have to log in through Costco, if you know the discount code being given to Alamo on the back end or you use a service like Autoslash that has that information. It's always been written into the agreements that you agree to provide proof of Costco membership if requested. The fact that they haven't in the past doesn't mean that they can't in the future.

 

[georgina]

Well those of us who book through Costco while logged in have both an Alamo and a Costco confirmation number. They should just ask for those during online checkin and make the autoslash folks go to the counter. Skip the counter is why I book with Alamo over Budget, since reviews on Budget skipping the counter have been mixed.

 

[emmabelle]

You don't have to log in through Costco, if you know the discount code being given to Alamo on the back end or you use a service like Autoslash that has that information.

I know Alamo cracked down on letting you use the Costco code 860292 awhile ago on the their site. I've never used Autoslash so I can't comment on that.

 

[emmabelle]

Skip the counter is why I book with Alamo over Budget, since reviews on Budget skipping the counter have been mixed.

when I told my husband we had to go to the counter you would have thought I told him we couldn't go on the trip.

I said it will be okay, Terminal C is a lot of international travelers so more than likely less people renting cars.

I'll post back tomorrow to say how it goes.

 

[Akck]

I just rented through Budget via Costco and I was able to go directly to the garage as a FastBreak member. Unfortunately, my rental papers weren’t in the stand, so I had to wait in the line for 10-15 minutes to talk to an agent. He looked up the reservation and sent me to the spot where the car was parked. We rented a full-size car and ended up with a large SUV.

 

[emmabelle]

Well they didn’t ask to see any proof of Costco membership at the Alamo counter in terminal C. There was no line and if we weren’t two hours early for our ressie we would’ve been out pretty fast. (She had to adjust our ressie so that we could keep our price the same). We had reserved an economy because it was only two of us. They told us to pick from the intermediate aisle which had almost all small SUV’s. We took a Kia.

 

[Chirple]

I rent through Avis with my company's corporate discount. I had signed up for Preferred but had no need to rent a car yet on a business trip (someone else drove or client was within driving/public transportation distance).

The first time I rented at MCO I was able to provide my license and credit card at the Preferred counter where the cars are located. I was able to skip the inside terminal counter. Now I show up and my name is on the board with my car location.