NEVER HAVE I EVER - A RENTAL CAR FIASCO!

Okay, as promised here’s our crazy rental car story. I have had the good fortune to travel the world visiting 66 countries and all 50 states. Never have I ever experienced a fiasco like the one we encountered at Atlanta-Hartsfield airport’s Dollar Rental Car. Yes, we’ve had some problems in the past but this one was new to both of us. I had found a decent deal, far from cheap, but do-able with Dollar and booked it many weeks ago for our 8 day trip to Georgia and Alabama. Photos and trip report are on Travels Near & Far.

We arrived into Atlanta on time and took two trams/trains to get our luggage and find the Rental Car Center. It was 7:30 PM and the plan was to pick up the car, eat dinner on the way to the hotel then be well rested for the next day. We entered the line of about 6-8 people waiting for Dollar. A minute later, an agent yells out, “Just so you know, we have no cars available and the wait could be up to 6 hours.” WTF????  It didn’t matter that all these people (and many already waiting nearby) had reservations just like us. If you know me, you know that my French was spewing fluently from my mouth.

My son had shared some great advice from one of his teachers 25+ years ago. Spend 20% of your time on the problem (and bitching about it) and 80% of your time on the solution. We went into solution mode. They were still processing reservations in the hopes that cars would come filtering in. Lou waited in line to do that with the assurance that we could get a refund at any time if we were able to find an alternative. I walked around to all 10-12 car rental counters and politely asked if they had any cars available without a reservation. Not one of them did – except Avis. And they had about 20 people in line.

Lou went to wait in that line while I waited at Dollar. They had announced to the 30+ people waiting, not necessarily patiently, but waiting, that if you weren’t there when your name was called, your car would be given to the next customer. Lou returned about half an hour later saying that when he was 4-5 people from the counter they announced there were no more cars. Shit.

Back to waiting as the time clicked away. It was probably 9 PM by then. I called the hotel to explain the situation and tell them we would be late. We checked Uber prices and then Ubering back in the morning in the hopes of getting a car. That would have added well over $150 and wasted a lot of time. I talked with the Dollar agent (really nicely in hopes of getting a special “deal”, no luck) but I did learn that whether you make a reservation with the rental company, a third party or anywhere, on the phone or online, that does not guarantee a car. If there are no cars, there are no cars. According to the agent, this happens more often than he would like to say.

Just for something to do Lou went off to ask at the other rental car counters again. I struck up a conversation with a man next to me who had been waiting since 2 PM for a van for six people that he reserved months ago. He, his wife, kids and a couple friends had flown in from Italy! He was frustrated and I felt so bad for him. I empathized and told him I wanted to apologize for our country. We are usually more welcoming and don’t put tourists through all of this. In the middle of our conversation, they called his name! He jumped up and yelled! I clapped and cheered wishing him luck.

When Lou returned, I told him the story of the Italian visitors. We decided to wait until 11 PM and then re-evaluate the situation. It was beginning to look like sleeping on the floor of the Rental Car Center (for which I am way too old) might be our only option. This was probably around 10 PM by now. The people kept thinning out as they called a few names and others might have found a place to stay or friends came or something. We hadn’t eaten anything since lunch and neither of us were really hungry.

Low and behold, at 10:30 PM, the woman yelled out, “Padgug”! We grabbed the paperwork and headed out to the car – about 3 hours later than it should have been. Our little Kia Rio (we didn’t care what they gave us at this point, it was a car) had only half a tank of gas and still had soap suds on it from the semi-wash they gave it. We arrived at out hotel about 11:15 PM. Lou didn’t want anything but I had wine and half a bag of chips for dinner in our room. We always say, "It's all part of the adventure."