National's minivans

[sncbird]

Just booked National - Emerald Choice for a minivan. What type of vans do they offer?

 

[zulaya]

When we went in December they had a lot of Dodge Grand Caravans, one Chevy (can't remember the model, but it was a Chevy) and one other one, I think maybe a Pontiac Montana.

 

[MulanMom]

This is the second message I've seen that mentions people getting Grand Caravans from National. Does anyone know when they started renting them? For years, National has always had GMC or the Pontiac Montana as a minivan offering. Dollar was always known for the Grand Caravans. We usually rent the latter due to the built-in child seats.

I'm really curious to know as we're deciding between two ressies for minivans for our Spring trip. The National one is about $50 less than the Dollar one, but we're hanging onto the Dollar ressies while we wrestle with whether or not to take car seats along. If National rents Grand Caravans, then the decision is a no-brainer!

TIA!

 

[SamR]

Does anyone know when they started renting them?

They have been renting them for quite awhile. The first time I was ever able to get one was on a trip in December of 1997. (I'm not sure I had a Grand Caravan...it may have just been a Caravan.)

We usually rent the latter due to the built-in child seats.

I don't know if all National's Caravans have the built-in child seats or not. We always carry a child seat with us, so I never even bothered to check. Certainly, the built-in child seat is an optional feature on the Caravan (the one I own doesn't have them), so some of National's Caravans may not have them.

 

[sgtdisney]

Keep in mind too, that when you rent a Mini-Van with Dollar you are no longer confirmed to have a Grand Caravan. You are now confirmed to have a regular wheelbase Caravan. When you go to the check in counter sometimes they will assign you a Grand Caravan many other times they will give you a Caravan and make you pay to upgrade to the Grand Caravan if you want it. Be very careful with this, the upgrade charges vary. This happened to me on a trip during the middle of last year and due to the size of the party, I had to pay about 4.00 per day over my 2 week rental to get the Grand Caravan. I emailed a few contacts at Dollar and they did confirm this is the new policy...

One last thing, and I asked Dollar about this as well... Not all their vans have the built in child seats, they will not guarantee that either.

 

[MulanMom]

Originally posted by sgtdisney
One last thing, and I asked Dollar about this as well... Not all their vans have the built in child seats, they will not guarantee that either.

Thanks for the reminder....I almost forgot that!!!! Last year, the first minivan we were assigned with Dollar didn't have the built in car seats and it was rather dirty. Employee in the garage saved the day for us by giving us another with the built ins.

It's really too bad Dollar can't guarantee the vans with the built in seats. I would think they'd have a great market of parents like us, with kids who only need booster seats.

Oh well, guess I better get DH prepared for dealing with car seats on our next trip!

 

[MulanMom]

Thanks for your message. I never noticed the Caravans, I was always afraid of getting the Astro Van as it only had a sliding door on one side. Usually we got a Montana instead. Now I'm looking forward to seeing what type of minivan we'll get in March!