Alamo Rent A Car
Reviews and Complaints

On Christmas night, we landed at Chicago O'Hare. It was 5:30pm when we and others waited for our shuttle to take us to the Alamo Car Rental area to retrieve our rental cars. The van drove up with an older driver (around 55-60) and introduced himself as Kenneth to various passengers. Some passengers murmured among themselves if the driver was special needs, as he had peculiar habits (which are not the point of my complaint - so I will not specify these various oddities). When we arrived at the rental car facility, he hinted with his hand being held out - for TIPS. I mean this guy doesn't get off his seat for any reason - doesn't lift or assist with the carrying or arrangement with ANY bags - just SITS there in his seat to open and close the access doorway. What is with this, are they supposed to ask for tips when they are just a Segway from point A (airport terminal) to point B (destination to car rental facility) !?!

I rented a 4 door car.
When I got outside I was talked into taking a nicer van for free
2 days later the van was broken into and the stereo was stolen.
Wires were perfectly cut and no damage around around the base

I thought this is very strange.

I walked around the hotel parking lot and only 3 vehicles were broken into that night. All rental vans exactly like Alamo van I had.

All three vans were rentals and I took pictures as well.

I thought this was strange as well. Only rental vans of this kind and same color? Look at the attached pics of another van in the same parking lot that was broken into as well on the same night. Exact same type of van!

*If you check the police reports and hotel reports you will see there was third rental van involved as well. The scam allows the stereos to be sold back to the rental companies since the stereos were taken in out with preceision.

Now they want $3, 000 for $600 worth of damage. This is a inside scam and I bet 100% that those same stereos were sold back to this Alamo organization and reinstalled into the vans.

Police and FBI should investigate and the harassment for the $3K should stop. This is a clear cut scam case and it would be easy to catch this inside deal at the Detroit Alamo airport

Let me start by saying I have been renting with Alamo for over a year now and I'm an alamo insider. Today I had the most awful experience with Alamo. As I sit here writing this i'm still upset. I had already reserved my vehicle ahead of time, did my check in online to skip the counter. When I chose my vehicle I proceeded to the exit booth and and was not greeted. I SAID HELLO...The woman responded I said Hello. I proceeded to give her my credentials. She then said you know we charge an additional 200 deposit? I replied NO since when, because I just recently reserved vehicles in Oct, and Nov. No additional holds was placed on my card and no one mentioned or emailed me on this. She responded yea their charging locals extra 200 now.. To make a long story short I only had the rental amount for my reservation. The woman said well I will let you slide this time. When she was so call letting me slide she was running my card for mutiple charges 200, 285, 285. I was recieving notifications of these transactions which now turned into a fraud alert and then my card was locked. So after speaking to other alamo reps which I learned later " they were not supervisors but was advising us on this issue."I called my credit company which confirmed a charge went through. NOW none of the managers/ reservation agents could see the charge on alamo end nor did they want to honor my reservation without the deposit. They chose too look over me and assist other people because they cared less. I began to cry because it is the holidays and I was traveling out of town, other expenses had been made. My credit card has a pending charge for a rental car I don't have in my possession.
No one cared all they kept saying was locals 200 deposit required. I felt helpless and discriminated against. "Locals"

Upset customer I'm thanking of not patronizing this business again.

I picked up a car on 12/5 from AVL approx 1pm. I dropped a $350 Apple Watch in the parking lot. I realized as soon as i got to my hotel the watch was missing. I have tried to reach them countless times since that day. On Thurs when i returned the car a worker for National/Alamo out back said it was found and turned in. The women inside(very rude) said it was not there and knew nothing. I still cannot find out who and where it was turned in. I have called airport lost and found numerous times and also spoke to Hertz (the only live person to answer at the counter. Totally frustrated with these rude clowns at the counter. Not being able to speak with a live person at the counter is unacceptable.

I rented a vehicle at Atlanta airport. When I arrived at the counter I asked the representative if there were any discounts accepted like Auto Club or Costco membership. His response was no and he asked another rep nearby who quickly said I had to do that online before coming to the counter. After having the vehicle a week, I needed to extend my rental for another week. I called in to extend and asked the representative on the phone if there were any discounts because I was there for the funerals of my brother and nephew who died in an automobile accident. She said I could present my Costco card when I returned the rented vehicle. When I returned the vehicle and asked about parenting my Costco membership card for a discount, I was denied. My total for the rental was over $1500 and I only wanted to save money because of the expenses incurred to bury my brother and the 7 airline tickets we had purchased to get there. Please help!

Alamo Houston is absolutely TERRIBLE!
We waited for over 1 hour for the mini van we requested to rent over a month.We arrived at the rental location at 9:50.
It is now 11am and they keep giving excuses.
We having been renting cars for awhile. Now with this experience, hearing and reading the complaints against Alamo, it is better to avoid.
Like I told the children we should have stuck with HERTZ or Avis.

It was not worth the $50 savings. Absolutely not!

Recently I rented a vehicle from Alamo at the Phoenix Airport, confirmation #[protected]. At pickup I decided to purchase the damage waver and I had returned without a fillup, so there were valid extra charged but the price I paid was far, far above what was expected by the web site confirmation. See attachments.

The extra charges were never listed on my confirmation nor were some of the charge amounts that were listed the same as the web site represented.

This is not truth in advertising and I feel I should be entitled to my money back for those charges not listed on my original agreement.

A rental hit my Corolla while trying to merge into my lane, and now Alamo is finding me negligent and responsible for damages. Apparently this was done after investigation. What is funny is they have never contacted me or my insurance agent for my statement. I have pictures of damages that prove the rental driver was at fault. This is unacceptable.

I live in Thailand and traveled to Zurich, Switzerland between 19- 31 October 2017. So I reserved car from ALAMO with fully insurance for using in Switzerland between 19-31 October 2017. This reservation was confirmed by website "easycar.com" and I already paid the rental fee by credit card.

On 19 October 2017, I contacted Enterprise Booth (as representative of ALAMO) at Zurich Airport to receive car and I make deposit for any damage as per ALAMO's policy by credit card.

Then On 31 October 2017, I already returned car at Car park in Zurich Airport and Enterprise ‘s officer examined car and told us the car is fine and did not have any agruments. Then officer of ALAMO issued the rental invoice with no amount to pay and send to me by email.

Until I came to Thailand 2 week ago and knew that ALAMO also charge me 1, 500 CHF without any consents and information of transaction since the bank of credit card sent me the slip payment showing the transaction happened with "AIL Autovermietung AG Riimlang" in the amount 1, 500 CHF.

I truly opined that this transaction was not correct and give me damages. I try to contact AIL Autovermietung AG, an independent Enterprise Rent - A - Car Franchisee, several time by email and phone but they never received call and It did not any responses.

Until lastly The officer of Enterprise at Zurich Airport received my call and argued us that they charged this amount for damages. I did not agree with answers since this amount is so high and requested document/evidences of damages but officer reject and notify me to contact easycar.com directly since car insurance is provided by easycar.com. I try to contact easycar.com but officer always told that they will contact ALAMO for this matter and will inform me soon.

I confirmed that I used car without any damages and the officer of ALAMO checked it carefully by themself and confirm me that everything is fine. If they find damage, they have to inform us suddenly. The front office of Enterprise told me that they will withdraw transaction and your deposits will return ASAP. But we found that on same day the officer of Enterprise charged me 1, 500 CHF without consent and notice.

This is fraud damage claim that I happened. Now I arrived Thailand and could not object them and have to pay this amount.

I will void any transactions with with ALAMO, Enterprise and their representative including easycar.com in Switzerland.

Best regards,

Ravipat from Thailand

I rented a car at the main airport in San Salvador, El Salvador for 9 days. Upon returning the vehicle with nothing wrong with it I asked to borrow the rest room. When I came out the manager said there were two problems with the car. A large scratch on the back and the antenna broken off. Even though they were not broken when I parked the car they charged me $209.05 for damages they had done while I was in the rest room. They refused to drive me to the airport until I signed the charge for that amount. The manager is a crook.
I have rented from Alamo twice in the last month and I will never again until I receive my $209.05 credited to my card and that Mario Martinez is terminated from employment in El Salvador. I will not rent from a company that employs dishonest crooks. The rental contract number is 52391, dates of rental Oct. 26 to Nov. 4. I even paid the addition $400 for complete insurance coverage.
It was a very unpleasant experience.
john taylor

This is the frustrating communication I have been having with Locauto:

I disagree with the assessment and would like this reviewed.
1. The car had a number of dents and scratches when we picked it up. I am quite sure that we did not damage the car in any way.
2. Have you seen the purported damage? It is a minuscule mark on a wheel cover - see attached photo. Look very carefully as you can see we are talking about a negligible mark. Apparently 5 cm length was the criteria. This is not 5 cm.
3. I was told there was a 40 Euro charge so I do not know where the 70 Euro charge came from? I don't understand the 139 Euro charge but this might include the balance owing on the original rental.
4. I have dealt with Alamo in the past. I chose Alamo as a trusted legitimate provider. It was recommended through my medical society benefits program. I would not expect an established company like Alamo to stoop to such deceptive practices as overcharging clients. I purposely avoided other companies for devious practices and did not expect the same from Alamo

Thank you
Robert Baker MD

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: [protected]@locautorent. it
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2017 6:33 AM
To: [protected]@telus.net
Subject: Id cs 114295 - CT 24240

Dear Customer,

thank you for contacting us and for the opportunity to assist.

We have reviewed the practice and regret to inform you that according to the check out form subscribed by you at the pick up the damage was not pre-existing, hence referable to your rental.
In consideration of that, and for the fact that your rental agreement included only the CDW with damage excess/deductibles, Locauto has correctly required to be compensated for the new damage occurred.
About the cost we remind you that, in accordance with the agreed rental conditions, the damage has been qualified and quantified on the basis of the damage matrix herewith enclosed and that the amount of € 70, 00 (excluding taxes) for damage management fee is due as indicated on the frontispiece of the rental agreement subscribed.

Attached you find the damage invoice issued for € 139, 06 check out and check in forms and the Locauto Rent Damage Rate Table.

At your disposal
kind Regards
Alessia

I'm at Cleveland Hopkins Airport location, a week prior I was here with my father visiting Cleveland Clinic for a very serious heart issue. Upon me flying back home I left 2 pairs of shorts in the rental car. I was back 3 days later and rented again from Alamo and asked about my shorts. I was told to go online for the address and stop by and the shorts would probably be there. So today, I went by what is supposed to be lost and found and NOBODY was there. I was told to go to the actual rental counter and they would be able to help me. So I came here to the rental counter and was told their manager was on a conference call but he would be with me shortly. So now 2 hours later, nobody has even glanced my way as I sit and wait to talk to the manager. VERY FRUSTRATING! I tried to go online and register for lost and found, but it asked me for rental info and I did not get receipt from original rental. When I asked the desk people if they could get it for me, they said no, that I would have to wait to talk the manager.

Dane Johnson
Oklahoma City, OK
dane.[protected]@yahoo.com
405.625.5785

We rented a car (Alamo) at Liberty airport (Newark). When returning the car we forgot our new cellphone in the car *Samsung 8", black. We immediately called the company and also filled all necessary documents. The company replied that they did not find the phone and that the car was already rented. We ask the company to call the person who rented the car (because we new exactely where we left it), all we recieved are automatically reply that they are still looking for it...
date of incidence + 10/23/2017; time 1530
As we know we left the phone in the car, we ask the company either return the phone or refund.
Reference no. 3149241

I reserved an SUV on August 4th to celebrate my birthday weekend with family and friends who are arriving in town. In the hope of trying to be proactive, I attempted to check-in early so that I could make an appointment following my pick up. Somehow my price jumped up to $400 plus after having an original reservation for $190.00. After speaking with 3 different individuals, I was connected to Cynthia who apparently is supposed to hold the role of a supervisor. I understand that conflicts can not always be resolved however the delivery and tone in which she spoke tome was absolutely uncalled for. I too work in a customer service field for a global company and the experience she created for me as a frequent consumer has completely turned me off against Alamo, which was the MAIN rental agency that I used for travel. I ask that you update your policies for people like me who like to be proactive and also provide training for your staff around conflict resolution. I have never felt so disrespected by someone who is a supervisor in my life.

Hi,
Recently we rented a car from Los Angeles to San Francisco (rental agreement number [protected]) which was paid for months ago through our travel agent with the company DriveAway holidays for $166 AUD for the 3 days (13th-15th October)! Upon pick up of the car the lady at the counter offered us this and that, all was declined except some $10 per day for insurance, and an upgrade of the car itself which was verbally quoted as "look I will try help you guys out and offer you an upgrade to a jeep cheerokee or similar for approx $40USD extra of what you have originally paid $129USD". We agreed to this price, however it was NEVER quoted per day!
We then decided on the 15th October in the morning to extend the car rental until the 16th October, verbally quoted via phone call was approx $85USD, which we agreed to.
Upon dropping off the car in San Francisco we arrived at 7pm which was the drop off time/closing time, therefore we did not end up refueling the car which was our decision and was quoted for approx $75USD for refueling charge!
You can imagine the surprise when we had been charged $599AUD to our credit card for an upgrade, an extra day and a refuel, when we only paid $166AUD for 3 days - How does that work!
We acknowledge we are under 25yrs old however not once was the additional cost for this brought to our attention!
As for the rest of the costs we were charged, it is absolutely ridiculous how your company has racked up a bill on our card which we were NEVER told about!
We rang the company contact number at 12:30pm on 22nd October expressing our issue and we're offered only a breakdown of the costs which we don't care about because half of it was never quoted/incorrectly quoted! We were told that someone from customer care would contact us in the next 24hrs, still waiting on that phone call...
We are happy to accept the extra charges of decisions we made for the approx $40USD X 1 upgrade of the car, the $85USD for the extra day hire and $75USD for refueling. The underage cost is annoying since we were never told but we understand.
Also like to bring to your attention the receipt is incorrect as we "picked up" the car in Los Angeles and "dropped off" in San Francisco.
Your company has been very misleading and basically ripped us off! I would like this issue resolved immediately/have the common courtesy to contact us back via email [protected]@hotmail.com with a solution!

Thanks,
Nicole Kiernan & Jake Harlen

I'm completely frustrated and disappointed with Alamo.

I planned a trip with my husband to Letchworth State Park last weekend and I was extremely excited to go. Fall is at its peak right now and to see the leaves changing color next to the Park's waterfalls would've been amazing.

I booked a hotel ($120), a car, the car insurance ($18)and everything was settled to travel on Saturday (October 21st) in the morning.

So, on Friday night, I left my best friend's birthday party really early to wake up 6am on Saturday. I took the bus to Newark ($17) and got at Alamo's desk at 8am. However, when I gave my license and my card, they told me they could not accept debit cards. I was really chocked because the website says they accept debit card. I made sure of it before renting the car because I knew this was a possibility. I asked if my husband could use his credit card, but, since he doesn't have a driver's license, they told me that was not possible either.

I could not do the romantic trip I was planning with my husband and really soon the leaved will be gone.

Hello,
6 weeks have passed since I sent my letter of Complaint to the Customer service of Alamo Rent a Car, and all I got is a reference number : CL168217
I hereby copy my letter of complaint:
15.09.17
To: Alamo Rent A Car Customer Service
Complaint about a horrible customer service in Berlin Tegel airport
Hello, my name is Raisa Shulkes and I made a booking for Opel Corsa or similar, 8.09.17-13.09.17 through RentalCars.com.
Booking number is [protected].
I always read customer reviews before booking, and I read very good reviews about Alamo. This was part of my decision to make a booking with your company.
Before arriving to Berlin, I turned to Alamo Customer Service several times in order to get a clear understanding about insurance coverage included in my booking. I remember e-mailing to Melissa from Alamo Customer Service and understood that we have a full version of Collision Damage Waiver which includes everything, except for the tires.
In addition, from the experience of my numerous friends I learned that buying optional Excess Protection insurances is useless, and that it is cheating, because “you’ll never be able to use it”.
I also learned that if you are late for your pick up time even by 20 minutes, your booking can be cancelled. Therefore we arrived in advance.
The employee ( I think his name was Michael, although I am not sure, but you can check who signed the contract number 086856 D8ZRRVQ on 8.09.17)
said that we either have to wait until our pick up time arrives or we can get a downgrade car. We agreed to wait, but when our pick up time arrived, they made us wait for another 35 minutes without any compensation.
During the hour and 35 minutes we had to wait, I asked the employee to proceed with the contract.
The employee said that I “misunderstood” your customer service representative and that in order to really reduce my deductable to zero I need to buy an additional insurance. He talked profusely about the advantages of buying this insurance and of the dangers of not buying it and finally we agreed to buy it, although it was expensive. However, during his speech he never mentioned the specific instructions of what we have to do in order to use it. Nor did he give us the contract to read before our waiting time was up. Only then did he quickly print it with “just sign here” and “sign here”.
The car that we waited for so long was an old Mitsubishi where the “reverse” in the manual transmission did not work well.
We returned the car two hours earlier then the drop off time, with full tank, clean and in overall excellent condition except for a small dent on the left side of the bumper.

On the drop off parking place we were met by another employee, who talked to us in a very unpleasant and patronizing way, and who immediately used his portable transmitter to tell the office that the “damage is very big”. He said that in German, which I fortunately understand.
When we arrived to the office, there were 2 employees at the desk, one was a girl busy with a client, and another one was the same young man who signed the contract with us and he was free. However, when he saw us, he quickly took over this only available customer and passed us to his collegue.
His collegue said that our insurance does not cover this and that we are fully responsible for the damage and will have to pay the full price!
Please help us not to feel cheated and to get what we paid for--to reduce our deductable to zero.
We do sincerely count on your help and hope to recommend Alamo as a reliable company and as a first priority for renting a car in any country of the world
Thank you in advance for your help,
Raisa Shulkes.

In regards to Claim #: [protected]
My Name: Eric Kwon

To whom it may concern,

I have recently received a letter from Alamo in regards to an "accident" that I was involved with another party that happens to have been renting Alamo rental vehicle.

Speeding up to conclusion, after no attempts to contact me to find out exactly what had happened, Alamo sent me a letter stating that I have been negligent and that I will be responsible for the damages that have been caused to the other party's rental vehicle.

1) Both parties (myself and the other driver) have agreed that we were equally responsible for the incident as it was pouring rain and the visibility was limited thus not allowing us to check each other's position where we happen to pull out of a parking spot at the same time right across each other.

2) As we agreed that it really was nobody's fault and that the damages were minor (few scratches), we decided not to pursue an accident report so thus did not contact the police and dismissed the case from that point that we will be responsible for our own vehicles. We did switch contact information just in case anything happened.

3) Few days later, I get this letter from Alamo concluding that I was the fault of the entire accident - I notified the other party and not only was she at shock as she made sure that her insurance coverage kicked in as she was paying extra for the service, and that nobody was truly at fault.

It's astonishing that Alamo can put someone at fault with such a confidence with zero basis or evidence to their claims, and start demanding that I be responsible for some damage that was not my fault, and did not even attempt to reach out to me to see what exactly the case was.

It's extremely unsatisfactory situation as both of us involved in the incident are now frustrated, unlike our initial encounter where it was all assurance and happy ending. I hope to receive a letter from Alamo stating that they will not pursue me for the damage and remove my information from their database as it's extremely discerning to be chased for some damage that we each other made sure that will not be done so, nor was solely responsible of.

I have also sent an email correspondence to their [protected]@ehi.com address but yet to hear back so I hope to hear back with a solution as soon as possible so I can get this off of my thought train.

I rented a car using my debit card. I was charged 3 times, each time I extended my rental and when I returned the car, instead of using these 3 payments to complete the trasactions as showen on the invoice sent to me, they made a 4th payment with the total amount, which resulted to draining my bank account and now I have NO money until they send back the other payments.

This is totally unacceptable cause at this time have paid two times the amount due and I have NO money in my account.

Please look into it as soon as possible cause you have left me with no money for a service I have paid for twice as it seems so far.

Dear Sir(s)
I rented a Mini Van Auto A/C in August 8th, 2017 at Boston Logan International Airport.
My RA # is [protected], my RES # [protected] EXT REF # R3L5YC5 . I paid some extras at the counter such as an extended protection per day and Toll pass device for the six-day rental of the car.
Last week I received a letter from you saying that the car I rented incurred tolls during my rental period.
As I said, I paid a toll fee during my entire rent, and I see no reason to be charged this fee for you.
Besides, my little bag was in the driver's seat, with all my credit cards and my identity and my driver's license were stolen when I returned the car at the Baltimore airport.
I had a loss of more than one thousand US dollars, due to this theft and still get an improper notification of you who I have to pay a toll incorrect of $ 36.70.
I'm already providing legal assistance to solve this theft that happened when I returned the car in Baltimore Airport (which I had to pay a $ 100 fee to return at another airport).
Attached follows the letter you sent me charging toll incurred during my car rental period.
As I said, I will not admit to being charged for a toll account that I paid at the counter, suggested by the seller, and that would cover all the tolls that I would have until I returned of the car on August 14, 2017.