Florida genie corvette hire problem?

[m3jappa]

Just going through the process of booking an orlando holiday this october with florida genie who appear to have very good reviews and certainly appear very professional over the phone with regard to queries.

Now, what i want is a corvette for the duration, he tells me this will be an extra £299 a week (i', not sure what thats on top off, i can only guess on top of the economy car hire cost).

I'm very happy to pay that, however a couple of problems.

The vette is through alamo, when i look on their site theres no mention of corvettes, so i phone up alamo in the states to ask them. They tell me they do have corvettes but their rental is not guaranteed, i could end up with a mustang or some other bizarre american car. This is in their 'sports' catogory which is not even shown on their site.

So the bloke at florida genie has told me that the rental is guaranteed and we will 100% be getting a corvette but he can't guarantee which model except for its a cabriolet which is fine.


My question is do these holiday companys have special relationships with the rental people? Can they really guarantee the car even though the actual rental says they can't at all.

I'll give him a call tomorrow and tell him i phoned them but would be nice for a ph opinion.

Or does anyone else know if i can beat a total estimated cost of £1300 for 3 weeks rental, pick up from orlando int, drop at miami?

I would rather book it here and not risk getting there and being palmed off with some huge underpowered charger or the like, just like last time...

[Matt Harper]

I've never seen a Corvette in an Alamo rental lot. Just checked their US site and they don't list any kind of Vette and certainly not a 'cabriolet' - are you sure they didn't say Avis?
Personally, I'd avoid Alamo.

[SeeFive]

Try Hertz.

They put these on the fleet a few years ago. No idea of the price.

https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targ...

There is even one for sale over here at the moment.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2460172.htm

[edition]

Hertz Vettes are all convertables as far as i know. I got a fairly cheap deal with them for 18days hire out of LAX and drop of in Vegas.

[sixspeed]

Hertz offer the Coupe too. Quite a bit more $$ though than the Convertible.

[Matt..]

edition said:

Hertz Vettes are all convertables as far as i know. I got a fairly cheap deal with them for 18days hire out of LAX and drop of in Vegas.

How did you get that? and what did it actually cost you?

[edition]

I'd paid for a Camaro over the internet out of their fun range and then upgraded at LAX. They has lot's of them kicking about there.


Well worth the money to have one tho!

Do make sure that you don't have too much luggage for one tho......

[steveo3002]

and check some lout hasnt made the rear tyres bald

[edition]

[Matt Harper]

SeeFive said:

There is even one for sale over here at the moment.

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2460172.htm

You'd have to be utterly insane to buy that. It will have had it's balls thrashed off every day of it's life.

[m3jappa]

In the end I Phoned Lamo customer service and they do have vettes. They did say that they can't be guaranteed though.

So I phoned Florida genie back and he has sworn blind it's guaranteed and they have a special relationship with all sorts if company's.
So I went on their very good reviews and have chosen to trust him, they are a small company and bad reviews will leave a bad impression so I'm hoping it's all ok. The coupe is a lot more money, something like another £220 a week!


I do wonder if people like Alamo swap cars with other firms, it wouldn't surprise me at all.

I think he's well aware I'm goon to literally flip if he's making false promises, he told Jenny actual order will say corvette on the car hire bit as well
If it hasn't got glad tyres when I pick it up there maybe when it goes back

[edition]

From my experience at the start on the rental they are near new and then at the end there bald

Enjoy!

[m3jappa]

ummmmm....

Just checked the actual e ticket thing and it says convertible, no mention at all of the vette.

called alamo and they confirmed the booking but did not confirm the corvette. Looks like someones telling me porkies and i'll have to be calling him tomorrow.

ffs the last thing i want is some sty sebring convert.

[Matt Harper]

Just to put the record straight - I can tell you here and now - I live less than 5 miles from Orlando International Airport - and spend pretty much my entire working life flying in and out of there. Alamo do not have any Corvettes in their inventory at MCO. The only mainstream companies that do are Hertz (very obviously rentals - not a good thing, in some respects) and Avis - much more discrete coupes and verts.
Alamo is low end (and their service sucks ass).

[steveo3002]

my advise would be book a big car at hertz , and hope theres something tasty available and negotiate a upgrade there and then

you dont wana be apying 1300 for a sebring

[m3jappa]

Ummmm doesn't sound good does it.

I'll have to call him up and say i want to go with avis i think. I can guarantee at best it will cost more and at worst they will say no its booked nothing we can do which will leave a very sour taste in my mouth if thats the case.

[Matt Harper]

steveo3002 said:

my advise would be book a big car at hertz , and hope theres something tasty available and negotiate a upgrade there and then

you dont wana be apying 1300 for a sebring

I wouldn't do this either. If you want a bright yellow "Nick all my valuables, they are all in here, because I'm a tourist" Hertz Corvette, you have to book it in advance. They don't have an endless supply just sitting around in case someone wants an upgrade.
Avis cars come in a range of styles colors, with only the bar code at the bottom of the windshield to indicate it's not yours.
Avis, Enterprise and Hertz will guarantee that the car you book is the one you'll get - not so, with the more tourist-centric suppliers (Alamo, Dollar, Thrifty etc).
If you stick with Alamo, my guess is that you'll end up with a Mustang (not a Sebring) - current car has more than 300hp, so not to be scoffed at, but a Corvette is a different proposition altogether.
In summary, unless Alamo have some kind of partnership deal with a business oriented Rental Co., (I'm not aware of it if they do), you won't be getting a Vette from them.

[Ford 2]

I got mt charger through carhire3000 in lax. It was through national. They have veets and camero's etc, They wear a pleasure to deal with. An after 16 days and 4100 miles the car was returned to newark without one issue. Truly amazing and the best roadtrip I have ever done thanks to them