Car Rental Series #3

By Karine Green (photo copyright is by Canva)

Five Things Car Rental Agents Wish They Could Tell You.

1. Have your license and method of payment ready at the counter.
   1. Skip-the-counter is not skipping the rental process. It just means you get to do the rental process from the comfort of the car. You have to pre-register this and will get an email confirming the skip-the-counter process. If you have a membership such as National Car Rental, Hertz Gold Member, or similar, you’ll have the app on your phone and the terms in the confirmation.
   1. Method of payment can be a credit card, a debit card, a tour voucher, or a direct bill to a company (employer paying for an employee to rent a car.) If it’s a voucher or direct bill, please make sure you can answer the questions required by your tour company or employer.
2. Tolls cannot be “banned” from your rental. You can use your GPS to avoid toll roads, or pay cash (if you can find one that has a cash booth), use your own toll transponder, or most places can read the license plate and then charge later.
   1. The only way to 100% avoid all toll roads is to head to the airport terminal and see the folks at the counters marked Delta, United, or American, any of them can help you avoid all roads in the state that you don’t wanna pay tolls in. I am sure Amtrak or BrightLine can also help you avoid all toll roads in the areas they serve. The hidden gem Silver Airways can get you to most of the tourist places in Florida, toll-free. Although you may have to take the bus to the airport to avoid tolls if you aren’t already there.
3. If you have extra drivers, you can get through the rental process faster if you have them go to the rental company’s website and make a profile.
   1. At most rental companies, spouses are automatically an included driver if they have a valid driver’s license.
4. Most, if not all, discounts have to be pre-booked. For example, AAA, AMEX, and many others offer discounts if you book through their website. These discounts normally cannot be applied at the counter as the employee doesn’t have access to them (only you do on your apps.)

Once you leave the counter after checking in, make sure you have whatever paperwork the counter clerks told you to have ready to leave with the car. The exit people will most likely need the RENTER’S driver’s license (not the driver’s.)

Next time: Five things the managers want you to know