Alamo Rent A Car

Out in CA for business… my friend and I made the reservation for a convertible on Jan-​14 to pick up in Alamo. The staff were all nice, but we had to wait 20 minutes in the rain for them to go to several different lots to find our car. Turns out they had only one convertible which the rep in the car lot stated, «You don’t want that one. It smells like horse****.» After much back and forth they gave us a new BMW to use. That car was great and they did make us whole, but the whole process was less organized and professional than we would expect a company like Alamo to be. During much of the trip, though we had a nice car, we were certainly missing the convertible experience. It was my friend’s first trip to the area and he really had driving a convertible on the 101 as something on his bucket list.

Without a doubt the worst car experience ever. Got here Friday night at 7:45, literally 15 people in line and one person at counter. They have kiosk for check in with line of 10 people. Machine didn’t work for 90% of people so I ask girl at counter if it works it you made ressie on Priceline. She doesn’t know. After standing in that line for 20 minutes and having it not work for me, I get back in LONG line for counter. At least now they have two people at counter instead of one. Wait! The new person is handing National rental, so yes, one person for a line of 15 people. And renting a car is the slowest process ever! Hey Alamo, how about putting a sign on the kiosk?! How about getting enough staff to man your counter on the Friday night before a 3 day weekend? Last time I rent with them. Terrible experience.

I had just returned a rental car at Alamo and rented another one and left the premises. I realize what I was about a mile away that I left my Gucci sunglasses that were a gift from a dear friend in the rental. I was worried that someone may have rented the car and I got back there quick. The manager Molly and the check in clerk Crystal were more than helpful and I got
My glasses back fast. Also, I regularly have a good experience at this location. Thanks! I definitely recommend.

I initially gave Alamo 2 stars for the reasons stated below, but they have since refunded my $ 150, so that bumped them up to a 4…
Original post:
Expect to pay at least twice your quoted price.
I booked over the phone, told the representative that I wanted the smallest possible 4 wheel drive SUV, and was quoted $ 112 for 3 days.
I called Alamo headquarters twice to ask if 4wd would cost extra, and was told by 2 different representatives that it would not. I tried calling the Oakland Airport Alamo desk to triple check this information, but nobody answered, and I gave up after the 8^th call.
Surprise! When I go to pick up the car, I’m told that 4wd is an extra $ 50/​day. Infuriating.
Next, I go out on the lot to find my rental car and it’s a huge 7 or 8 passenger SUV. When I go back inside to ask for a smaller car, the representatives try to convince me that this «premium» vehicle is perfect for going up to the snow. I had to convince them that it’s ridiculous for one single person to ride alone in a 7 passenger car… Not to mention the fact that I did not book, or want to pay for, a «premium» vehicle.
They eventually gave me a Jeep Patriot, which was fine. (Although the switch caused a delay when leaving the lot because my contract did not match the car I was driving… Annoying.)
So despite switching to a cheaper vehicle and denying any renter’s insurance, my total came to $ 262.
I feel ripped off by Alamo. They were not forthcoming about the additional 4wd fee, and they tried to send me off in a premium car when that wasn’t what I asked for.
Although some of their employees are friendly and helpful, I would not recommend renting from Alamo.

I loved my Alamo experience in LA so I decided to rent via Alamo in Oakland. Not a great experience in Oakland, unfortunately. The two people behind the counter for Alamo and National here were not as helpful, knowledgeable or friendly. They were talking to each other and taking their sweet time as if there is no one to help in line and it just takes longer to get things done over here!
But others were nice and helpful.
My rental car from here wasn’t as great, probably because the selection was pretty limited here compared to in LA! I had to push the gas pretty hard to go faster than 60 mph and brake wasn’t great– which can be a problem when I’m trying to drive on highway.

Do not rent a car here, they are cheater
They are charging extra fee when you return the car
I had called their customer service and asked why they charge
Facility Fee
Concession recov fee
Tourism fee
They will never tell you they will charge extra fee because it is company’s private policy
Facility Fee supposed to be included in the rental fee
I dont know what Concession recov fee is, even the customer service did not know
It is ridiculous to charge tourism fee since we use the car for different purpose
The overall extra charge is about $ 60
If you had rent a car from them check your receipt, you may find out something

I have very good service during my trip to Oakland. In fact, they saved me from blowing a gasket at Payless Car Rental (they were awful!) I walked back to the Rental terminal and the National representative quickly found me a less expensive rental with Alamo! Great job.

I was having somewhat of a stressful time after I landed at Oakland. Your greeter Joseph was showing me to my unfortunately older car and we had a nice conversation about people being authentic when asked «how they are doing». I happened to answer authentically and he simply said «happy holidays» and showed me to a free upgrade.
I needed this car bad due to it having a USB plug. I would have been lost getting to my meeting without my dead phone GPS app otherwise.
He was a lifesaver and a very authentic nice person. It was honestly quite refreshing and will no doubt keep me using Alamo for all of my rentals. Take good care of him. Since he’s the face of Alamo as people drive off, you should definitely hang onto him.

Got my rental through Hotwire and the price was decent even in the midst of a Thanksgiving holiday season. What was a pleasant surprise was that when it was time to pick-​up our mid-​size there were none available so the agent simply upgraded us to a standard with no charge. The check-​in was quick and painless. We were on the road in no time. Thank you Alamo for making our Thanksgiving 2015 a blessed one.

Made my reservation 2 weeks ago. So did the other 30 people waiting in line at Oakland Int’l to pick up their cars after paying for them! Alamo & National are off my list forever.

Booked a standard SUV for our Napa trip with friends.
When we checked in, the associate was helpful, a bit soft spoken but very through.
Joseph was super friendly and approached us as soon as we stepped onto the lot. He noticed that two of the people in our group were over 6′ tall and upgraded us to a luxury SUV! Such an awesome gesture!
One less star because we kept getting whiffs of vomit from our car. We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Although it was faint, it never really aired out over the two days we had it.

I rent frequently with Alamo but my experiences at OAK have been more negative than positive. I am an Alamo Insider member but it seems to have no advantage whatsoever when renting here. There is no separate line or express service. When the lines are long, which at times they can be, you will be waiting a long time and there are only 2 rental agents to help you. They need to improve on those aspects. The pricing is decent and the cars have been good but the wait time can be unacceptable. Please fix this Alamo. You’re going to lose business because of it.

I rented a full size car from Alam at the Oakland location for a week for business in the Bay Area.
I received a clean car that ran very well during my visit.
The customer service from beginning to end was EXCEPTIONAL

As a heads up for potential Alamo customers…
1. Sign up to become an Alamo Insider (you’ll save 5%)
2. Make your reservation online
3. USE A CREDIT CARD!
I’ve used Alamo’s rental service during my trips to Hawaii and decided to roll with them again based on the reviews at their Oakland airport location. For those doing the same, keep in mind that their car rental location is off site from the airport.
Very pleased with Alamo’s customer service and the rental I was given. So much that I didn’t want to return the car! :(I made my reservation online for a Standard sized car, at a rate of $ 57/​day for 4 days (I got lucky lol). Arrived around 8am on a Thursday, and didn’t have to wait in any line. The gentleman assisting me at the counter asked me for my ID and the credit card I made the reservation with. He then went over the rental rate, length of the rental and a couple other housekeeping notes. When I walked out to the lot, I was greeted by one of the staff who went on and on with my boyfriend about how the niners were doing lol
I was given the option of 3 cars: a VW Beetle, a Jetta, and I forgot the make/​model of the last car. I chose the Jetta. The car was very clean (inside and out) and had about 8k miles on it. Drove from the bay area to San Diego and back up without any issues.
So far so good Alamo… I’m making another reservation with you guys soon and hoping to have the same pleasant experience all around. (:

Love the fact that I got to choose the car I wanted but the service wasn’t that great. This is the only place that doesn’t inspect the car with you before driving off. So I didn’t notice the gas wasn’t all the way full till I left the rental car place. I called and mention it to Alamo and they replied I should of check before I left! Very rude

WTF is wrong with you guys, have you not entered the 21^st century yet? What the hell is the difference with someone using a credit card vs a debit card. We had a reservation that we had setup for over 2 weeks (booked on our debit card) and when we get up at 4am and drive for over an hour to come pickup the car you say we can’t have it because we used a debit card? Seriously? If you aren’t going to honor the reservation, don’t accept it!
We PAID IN ADVANCE!!! Now I have to wait 7 – 10 business days for a refund??? WTF??? My wife was almost stranded in the ghetto in Oakland (Murder capital of the US) without a ride because you wouldn’t give her a car that she already paid for?!
Then you have the gall to say, «well you can actually use a debit card, but only if you are flying!»
So we can use our debit card, but we can’t use our debit card. Make up your fucking mind! You are not a fucking airplane company, why the fuck do you care if we are on a fucking plane! We took out the insurance and paid for it in advance, if something happens (god forbid) bill the fucking insurance company! You realize some people think 18.9% interest on a fucking credit card is incredibly stupid so we don’t use credit cards! What’s the statistic? 98.2% of Americans have a fucking Debit card, but we can (but we can’t) use it UNLESS we happen to give our business to an outside company that isn’t even affiliated with you?!?
This is the dumbest, most assinine, most discriminatory business practice I’ve ever fucking heard of. You rent cars, we want to pay you money to rent a car. Why does a fucking plane even factor into your equation!
Since you decided that you don’t want my money, you won’t get it. I rented from Avis instead and will NEVER EVER EVER EVER rent from you again. «Remember the Alamo» they said, well mother fuckers I will never ever forget it… And neither will any of my 1,956 friends who I am now sharing this with on Facebook.

Rigid. Poor customer service. Not a pleasant experience. They do a good job of punishing you for booking then through Hotwire.

I’ve rented lots of cars over the years and my recent rental here was one of the poorest examples of customer service I’ve seen on both sides of the transaction.
The staff was more fixated on their friends while I was being waited on. The girl seemingly couldn’t focus on completing the transaction and I had to start over with another agent. She at least recognized I was annoyed and gave me an upgrade.
Limited selection of cars at that time but the car I chose didn’t have a full gas tank and I later realized that the charger things weren’t working. So it wasn’t possible to charge my phone.
Upon the early return I informed the agents of both issues who or more less didn’t care and didn’t even apologize or offer something for the inconvenience. You try driving without a charged phone in this day and age.
If I need to rent at the airport again, I’ll stick with one of their competitors.

Full disclosure, this was my first time ever renting a car. I didn’t know what to expect, necessarily, in terms of what fees are normal and whatnot. I’m pleased to say that overall I had a fine time renting from Alamo at the Oakland airport.
There was a shuttle to take us from the airport to the actual rental car center, which was nice. My rate itself wasn’t bad, about $ 9/​day, but the gas was steep — I had to either prepay for an entire tank at $ 3-​something/​gal, fill it up myself or have them fill it up, which would cost $ 5-​something/​gal. I opted to prepay, which in hindsight wasn’t the best choice, but oh well. It came out to $ 88 total. Yeesh. But I did get a «free» upgrade to a full-​size car, since the only midsize available at the time of my pickup was reeking of smoke.
I appreciated the help of the gentleman who showed me the available cars, and helped me pick one out that had bluetooth/​other features I wanted. I really, really enjoyed the car I drove. I never thought I’d be annoyed at fuel efficiency, ha, but after driving many many miles over the weekend, I returned my beloved rental Jetta with over half a tank left, and of course didn’t get refunded for the remaining gas.
The best thing was that though I’d said my return time for the car was 1 pm, upon calling the Alamo help line when I realized I might run late, I learned that I actually had until that evening to return the car with no penalties (exactly 48 hours from when I’d picked it up). That made life easier. Overall, it was a smooth experience.

Gotta say, I had a really good experience here. Made my reservation online. When I got to the rental center there was 1 person in front of me. He told me I could use the automated kiosk check in, he couldn’t use it because he had to make a change or something. I had never used one before so was a little hesitant but glad I did. It was quick and easy, especially when they try to get you to add all the extra add-​ons, much easier to say no! :)
After completing that took the receipt-​thing to the cars. Got to pick from a nice row of new-​looking cars. Originally went for a Hyundai, but when I got in it reeked of smoke. Moved over to a Dodge Dart. It was very new, only about 2,000 miles.
After I left the complex I noticed the gas was a little below full, about halfway between the full and the next line down. I was annoyed but didn’t have time to go back and show them. I mentioned it to the guy when I brought it back, not really expecting them to do anything. It was a nice surprise when he took $ 10 off the rental.
I was already impressed with the ease of getting the car and the quality of the car I got, but the customer service was especially great. Will definitely rent here again. I’ve had meh experiences at many of the other Oakland rental options and am glad to have found a great option!