Dollar Rent a Car: Is It Worth a Dollar?
Written: Aug 21 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good rates. Polite attendants.
Cons: System doesn't seem well developed. Possibility of major glitches
The Bottom Line: Dollar gives you a great rate, but their system can't always handle heavy traffic or glitches. Great if you want the best deal, but service is inconsistent.
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| mrlarry's Full Review: Dollar |
I belong to a travel service that claims to automatically find the best rental car deal available if you give them where you’re going and when. On a recent trip to Raleigh NC, Dollar came up as the best deal and I took it. My mixed experience shows what so many reviews on Epinions reveal. Renting from Dollar can be either an agony or an ecstacy.
First the agony. I got into Raleigh at about 5 PM and waited for the Dollar van to take me to the office to pick up my car. In the half hour I stood at the curb (98 degrees and lots of humidity), I saw several vans each for the other rental companies, but none for Dollar until I had been waiting in the 98 degree humidity for half an hour.
When I arrived to the office, the air conditioning was down. There was a long line and only one person serving customers. Even people who were returning vehicles had to wait in the long line. The attendant kept leaving the counter, looking for keys to available vehicles. Fortunately, most of the people in line were cool and friendly. We were breaking the monotony with conversations, jokes, and the like. Remember the line from a song, “If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”? Very much applied here.
Finally after an hour, I got to the counter. The attendant (who was very polite) took my information and told me there would be a surprise for me when I got my small car. I didn’t know what to expect, but out I went.
Waiting for me was a Chrysler PT Cruiser, a car the kids tell me is hot. I guess they were out of small cars. The car was clean when I got it and everything worked right. Other reviewers indicate that this was not always the case.
Returning my car was a completely different experience. I did not have to wait at all. The attendant had everything ready and got me out of there in less than three minutes. Of course I came at a really unbusy time, so it was no challenge for them to serve me well.
My experience with Dollar shows what a perusal of the other reviews of the service shows. You are going to get a good price on your car. To get that price, you may have to sacrifice some service.
If everything is going okay at the facility that day, your experience will be good. Everyone I dealt with both times was polite and everyone knew that they were doing If you come at a relatively uncrowded time, if they have enough cars, if none of the attendants called in sick and all the rest, everything will go fine.
If you hit a busy time, if they are low on cars, if someone called in sick, if things aren’t running right, you can have a horrible experience. You may have to wait a long time and may not get the type of car that you had hoped for.
Both my own experience and those that I read about in Epinions show me that Dollar is not quite ready for prime time. Their system is okay, but can lead to some major annoyances if the location you are renting from isn’t clicking that day for whatever reason.
Yes, Dollar will offer you a good rate. You may have to pay for that good rate with inconvenience and hassle. If you’re willing to put up with some of those inconveniences to save a dollar, Dollar’s the place for you. If the annoyances that sometimes come with this obvious low-budget operation will ruin your trip, look elsewhere.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
mrlarry
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Member: Larry Wiener
Location: Alhambra CA
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
II'm a black-belt bargain hunter. Check on my e-book at www.betterbudgeting.com/
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