Enterprise rental cars? About This Page:

[Nermel9]

Hi guys!

I'm looking for a rental car for November, I had a great rate for my September trip, but so far, November prices are pretty high.

However, I looked at Enterprise today and it's REALLY cheap...I think it said $135 for the week? Something like that...anyway, does anyone use them? Are they good? If I reserve a car, will I be able to cancel it with no penalty, because that's one of the things I like about Alamo. Also I'm not sure about the payment situation with them, is it one of those things where they put a hold on your cc when you pick up your car? Because that makes me nervous...another thing I like about Alamo, they don't do that!

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[skateycat]

hmmm....lots of questions. i am a user of enterprise exclusively. i like their service. i do believe that my last trip to st louis included a "hold" on my credit card for several hundred dollars, but i don't remember how much...i think there is an 800 number you can call. they have great cars and service. sorry i can't answer all the questions, but i have never had a problem.

[Nermel9]

Thanks! I'm sure Enterprise is good, I'm just mostly nervous about the hold on the cc thing that most rental places do...I just don't get it. Do they charge you the amount of the car AND put a hold on your card of an extra few hundred $$? Or do they put the hold on when you pick up the car, then take it off when you bring it back and actually pay?

Again, this is why I like Alamo!

[jenjen1127]

Most car rental places put a hold for $250 on your credit card.

[Alexandrea]

I use enterprise almost exclusively, and we also rent cargo vans a lot from them for dump runs, Ikea purchases and whatnot. I don't ever recall them putting a hold on our credit card, they always just charge the card and print out the receipt for us at the end when we return the car.
Except for the mail we got today from enterprise I've been thrilled with them...an enterprise employee parked in a handicap spot and got a ticket while picking up my husband when he had his car in the shop after an accident, and they reported my husband's info to the police because they didn't make sure to put in their records that they were responsible for the ticket (cough). Luckily we called and the manager remembered the incident and will be taking care of it, so it won't be a problem. I am sure it will be fine and we will keep renting!


edit: I found this info, but I will say that I have never seen anything on my credit cards except the final charge, so if you are using a regular credit card, I wouldn't worry about it at all, a debit card, probably would call to check their procedures.

[Nermel9]

Originally Posted by jenjen1127

Most car rental places put a hold for $250 on your credit card.

Yeah that's what I thought...I can't find any info on Enterprise's website though...I guess I should probably call them. If they only put the hold on there while you have the car, then take it off and charge your card the amount of the rental, that's fine, but I can't afford to pay for the car when I pick it up AND have a $250 hold on there...that's ridiculous!

Ugh...I'm just hoping Alamo prices go down!

[Sue M.]

Haven't used them, but that's a great rate!

[mom23k9s]

We just rented from Enterprise a few weeks ago and they didn't put a hold on my credit card.

I always used Alamo in Orlando because they were usually the least expensive on-site car rental, but now that Enterprise is on-site at MCO, I'll probably switch. I did find out something interesting. When I returned my last Enterprise rental, there was a guy asking customer service questions, did they do a good job, stuff like that. So I told him that I really like the self check-in kiosks that Alamo has and he said that Enterprise Bought Alamo and National, so that might be something they will incorporate.

[Nermel9]

Hmmm...maybe I'll just book a car now and if Alamo drops in price, I'll cancel it. I hope they charge to cancel!

Another thing I like about Alamo is if you book through Costco, you get an additional driver free...don't think Enterprise does that. Oh well.

Thanks!

[Sue M.]

Enterprise is on the Costco car rental site. I just checked to see if I could get a better rate than Alamo, but Enterprise was $60 more.

[modisney]

I'll be the odd man out here and say that our experence with Enterprise this past June was AWFUL!!! It's a lenghthy story but in a nutshell when we got to WDW the car having problems. After numeorus run around calls, I customer said they'd have it towed but since it was the weekend, the only faciity that could issue a replacement was at the airport. We had to take a cab to the airport (they did reimburse us but at the end of our trip and it was $65!) only to be told by that office that they had no knowledge of this and had no car for us. We waited an hour and 45 minutes in the Orlando Enterprise facility in the garage while they straightened this out. It was a horrible experience. In the end when we returned the car, the rep was able to make some deductions from our bill but still, it was a horrible experience.

[RobinKay6573]

I do my best to stay with Alamo or National. I tried Dollar in June and I was not happy with the service. My car was out of windshield wiper fluid, I was given a PT Cruiser (when I specifically asked for a car with a trunk...the attentant looked at me like I had two heads and it took another 10 minutes to get another car)...the last straw was I picked the car up at 10:30 am and dropped it off at 11:00 am. They charged me an extra $11.00. That has NEVER happened before...I have always been given an hour window. I was ticked! I am going back to Alamo and National. I have used Enterprise before and had good luck with them. I used them when they were "off site" though...that was a long time ago.

Have you visited MouseSavers.com - Rental Car Discount Info - Car Rental Discounts they have some great coupon codes!!!

[Sue M.]

Originally Posted by RobinKay6573

I do my best to stay with Alamo or National. I tried Dollar in June and I was not happy with the service. My car was out of windshield wiper fluid, I was given a PT Cruiser (when I specifically asked for a car with a trunk...the attentant looked at me like I had two heads and it took another 10 minutes to get another car)...the last straw was I picked the car up at 10:30 am and dropped it off at 11:00 am. They charged me an extra $11.00. That has NEVER happened before...I have always been given an hour window. I was ticked! I am going back to Alamo and National. I have used Enterprise before and had good luck with them. I used them when they were "off site" though...that was a long time ago.

Have you visited MouseSavers.com - Rental Car Discount Info - Car Rental Discounts they have some great coupon codes!!!

I had the same prob. with Dollar in Aug, I had reserved a mid size (for trunk space) and they wanted to give me a 2 door Mustang or PT Cruiser, neither of which has much of a trunk. We had 3 sets of luggage + carry ons.
They wouldn't offer us anything else unless we wanted to pay more
It was a good thing I kept my Budget res. as a back up plan. They were close in price, I had a mid size reserved at Budget too, and they gave me a Saturn Vue
And no charge for returning it at 6pm instead of 3pm. I think customer service at Dollar stinks, and will never rent from them again.

[stinkerbelle5186]

i worked for enterprise for quite a few years.... YES they do put a hold on your ccard but it is usually a minimum of 250 or 100 over the cost of the rental. If you are using a regular ccard you will never see this (though if you are near your limit and need your ccard for vacation this might be an issue) If you are using a DEBIT visa/mastercard YOU WILL see the hold as whatever they take to secure the rental will not be available on your account. When you return the car the hold is released by enterprise immediatly but banks take a day or two to process. My advise.. call the spesific location you are renting from to get the details of the security (it differes branch to branch by managers discression). Airport rental branches are much more lenient on security deposit because obviously you are flying back out and not taking the car with you... They will need some kind of hold, but if you speak to the manager and offer up a copy of your return flight tickets they will work with you. they wont loose the rental.

edited to add... they do not charge cancel fees

[Nermel9]

Originally Posted by stinkerbelle5186

i worked for enterprise for quite a few years.... YES they do put a hold on your ccard but it is usually a minimum of 250 or 100 over the cost of the rental. If you are using a regular ccard you will never see this (though if you are near your limit and need your ccard for vacation this might be an issue) If you are using a DEBIT visa/mastercard YOU WILL see the hold as whatever they take to secure the rental will not be available on your account. When you return the car the hold is released by enterprise immediatly but banks take a day or two to process. My advise.. call the spesific location you are renting from to get the details of the security (it differes branch to branch by managers discression). Airport rental branches are much more lenient on security deposit because obviously you are flying back out and not taking the car with you... They will need some kind of hold, but if you speak to the manager and offer up a copy of your return flight tickets they will work with you. they wont loose the rental.

edited to add... they do not charge cancel fees

THANK YOU!!!! This is SO helpful! I'm still trying to figure out what to do here...I really want to use Alamo, just because I've used them and I know how they work, but Enterprise is SO much cheaper! And I just read about someone getting a great rate from Payless in a different thread so I checked them out for my dates and they are even cheaper than Enterprise, but I don't know how good Payless is...ugh!