Thrifty Car rental at Port? About This Page:

[Tiki4]

We have a upcoming cruise in Feb. and will be renting a car a few days prior from Sanford Airport and dropping it off at Cape Canaveral. We had a reservation with Avis but today found a much better rate at Thrifty Car Rental for the same car type (Mid-size SUV) and unlimited milage. The rate is 29.99/day and it comes out to be about $100 less!! This rate is good if car is picked up by Feb. 11, 2012 - check their "special offers" for anyone else interested.

So, before I cancel our reservation with Avis, can anyone share with me their experience with Thrify Car Rental? Do they offer transportation back to the port?

Our plan is for DH to drop us and the luggage off at Port and then return the rental car so he will need a mode of transportation back to the port.

Thanks!!

[Dave Marx]

I'm fairly sure Thrifty does offer transportation to/from the cruise terminal, but it's always worth calling the local office to be sure - these things have a way of changing. I think I've used Thrifty once or twice over the years. No reasons to consider them worse or better than the average rental agency. Thrifty and Dollar are both under the same corporate ownership. I've used Dollar more frequently over the years, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. (I put price as my first consideration - I've used a fair number of the first- and second-tier companies over the years, and while sometimes the second-tier companies have less attractive offices in out-of-the-way locations, that can also be true of the first-tier agencies, depending on the city).

[cfaletra]

We rented from Thrifty as I am a Blue Chip member. Just becareful about the great rate as we had an $80 additional fee for one way rental added one time and had to fight to get it removed. Their rental place does suppy transport to the Port on a bus.

[Tiki4]

Originally Posted by cfaletra

We rented from Thrifty as I am a Blue Chip member. Just becareful about the great rate as we had an $80 additional fee for one way rental added one time and had to fight to get it removed. Their rental place does suppy transport to the Port on a bus.

Thanks for the info and tip! According to our reservation, there is nothing indicating additional fee for one way rental. So, if I have that printed out, we shouldn't have a problem.......I hope!

I just called the Cape Canaveral office and they did confirm they provide shuttle service to and from the port.

What is suppy transport?

Thanks!

[Tiki4]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

I'm fairly sure Thrifty does offer transportation to/from the cruise terminal, but it's always worth calling the local office to be sure - these things have a way of changing. I think I've used Thrifty once or twice over the years. No reasons to consider them worse or better than the average rental agency. Thrifty and Dollar are both under the same corporate ownership. I've used Dollar more frequently over the years, and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. (I put price as my first consideration - I've used a fair number of the first- and second-tier companies over the years, and while sometimes the second-tier companies have less attractive offices in out-of-the-way locations, that can also be true of the first-tier agencies, depending on the city).

Thanks Dave! I did call and they do offer shuttle service to and from the port.

Also am aware that Dollar and Thrifty are owned by the same company and so often have the same deals but the difference (as I have read) is that Dollar is more for the business traveler (perhaps better cars?) and Thrifty is more for the tourist traveler. So, when I tried to book the same deal on Dollar (in the middle of making my reservation), I got a error message "Session has timed out". I have gotten this before on the Dollar site and am wondering if that is their way of saying the offer is no longer available? I tried it several times with the same result............is that strange? Does this happen to anyone else?

Is there a LONG wait for the shuttle or are they pretty timely?

Thanks!

[Dave Marx]

I'm prone to believe the timeouts are legitimate server/internet problems. From a customer relations standpoint, it's probably better to say, "Sorry, no more cars are available for this offer" than making it seem their site is less reliable than the average site.

I don't know how Thrifty runs its shuttle, but in general, each rental company has a couple of passenger vans. They wait in the passenger pick-up area for disembarking cruisers and head back to the agency when their seats are filled. Pretty much the same at the agency end to take folks to the terminal. I can't remember waiting more than 10-15 minutes to see a van, although when a bunch of folks are waiting, you may have to wait for the next trip.

I recommend that you drop off passengers and luggage at the terminal before returning the car. It's easier to fit one person with no luggage into the next van out than, possibly, have to wait for the van to complete one or more trips before there are seats for a family of four. It also means you're handling the luggage just once, instead of out of the car, into the van, out of the van.

[Tiki4]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

I'm prone to believe the timeouts are legitimate server/internet problems. From a customer relations standpoint, it's probably better to say, "Sorry, no more cars are available for this offer" than making it seem their site is less reliable than the average site.

I don't know how Thrifty runs its shuttle, but in general, each rental company has a couple of passenger vans. They wait in the passenger pick-up area for disembarking cruisers and head back to the agency when their seats are filled. Pretty much the same at the agency end to take folks to the terminal. I can't remember waiting more than 10-15 minutes to see a van, although when a bunch of folks are waiting, you may have to wait for the next trip.

I recommend that you drop off passengers and luggage at the terminal before returning the car. It's easier to fit one person with no luggage into the next van out than, possibly, have to wait for the van to complete one or more trips before there are seats for a family of four. It also means you're handling the luggage just once, instead of out of the car, into the van, out of the van.

Thanks alot Dave!!

That is our plan!