Orlando car hire Summer 2022

Tarquinius

Hello,

I've booked a family holiday in Orlando for the first 2 weeks in July 2022 with BA,  and am now looking to book car hire (ideally a full size car or at least intermediate).     I'd really appreciate any hints and tips and specifically wondered if anyone could give me an pointers on the following:

- Any general tips for car hire from Orlando Airport?

-  I've used price comparison sites to check prices,   but  the cheapest prices seem to direct me via what I think is an 'intermediary'  such as wisecars, VIPcars or QEEQ ?    I haven't ever heard of these companies, so are they reputable and are there any disadvantages to booking via them ?       

-  Re the car hire providers - are the smaller off-airport companies just as good as the big-brand on-airport firms in terms of service.    I am very conscious of sharp practice in the car rental industry (and once had a bad experience with Goldcar in Europe many years ago), so I'm risk averse when it comes to car hire.  I do want peace of mind.

-  I'd be grateful for any thoughts on using off-airport hire firms with a shuttle bus.    Are the shuttle buses usually prompt and are transfers to the car hire firms short ?    I'd like  to avoid a really long shuttle journey after a long flight.

-  For car hire in the US (Florida),  is it worth getting seperate stand-alone insurance   rather than the insurance via the car-hire company?

I'd be grateful for any tips

Thank you

Tarquiniusi

prowla

Consider the insurance options before you go - it's a little more complicated than 3rd party or fully comp.

I think you pretty much have to get a shuttle bus to their sites anyway, though I think some are across from the terminal.

As with all car hires, do make sure you inspect the car and photograph any defects (bumps, alloys, etc.) before you accept it; you'll be signing a form which will allow them to charge you later for damage.

Also check the seat belts; I took the family once an they tried to give me a vehicle which I didn't really feel comfortable taking the family in.

All of the warnings aside, the USA is big on car hire and mostly things go smoothly.

Oh, and when driving there, keep your wits about you; generally it's easy, but just when you start thinking it's easy is when you'll make a mistake.

Enjoy the holiday - there's a lot to do there! The upside-down house, good eating, the parks, swimming with dolphins, all-sorts!

Tarquinius

Thank you prowla - that's useful info

For the time I want to go, skyscanner tells me 2 weeks car hire off airport with a shuttle bus will cost me about £600,  or I can go with a big name on-airport for about £1,000

However the off-airport ones coming up on skyscanner are companies including Easirent and 7 Auto.   Scanning the web, Easirent in particular seems to have generally fairly poor reviews  (eg long queues, dirty cars, no shuttle bus available from the airport...)  - although many of these reviews are a few years old.    There aren't many reviews at all of 7 Auto.

Does anyone have any views on car hire companies such as Easirent, 7 Auto and other similar companies?

Thank you

jamesbrownontheroad

I would recommend you look at the various forums in the "Car Rental Programs" category on Flyertalk.

I would generally favour the more expensive on-airport big name companies. The cheaper off-airport companies just add complexity and time when you are arriving from or catching a long-haul flight, often why you are tired and just want to get going.

In normal times, Avis, Hertz, National, Alamo etc all offer you the perk of walking down the "compact", "intermediate", etc aisle of the parking lot and choosing whichever car you want.

However, as a lot of the threads from American members on the FlyerTalk forums attest, the car hire industry in the USA is having major problems. Most rental companies sold off a lot of their fleets during the pandemic, and have struggled to rebuild them fast enough to satisfy the resurgence in travel demand. You can expect to have a long wait at almost every agency, and there is a chance that you will have to wait a couple of hours for a car to be returned, cleaned and made available.