Car Rental in Aruba

Thrifty, Hertz, Budget, Alamo, etc...there's alot to choose from and their rates are competitive (at least they were last night). Has anyone had a bad experience using any of the car rental companies? Would anyone recommend one over the other?

Thanks for your help.

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Tom

There are a lot of companies to rent from in Aruba. My personal favorite is Tropic. I always get good cars and first class personal service from Hans, the owner.

Here is a a good list of some/most of the rentals.

http://www.visitaruba.com/travel/getaround/rental.html

I would second the recomendation for Hans. He meets you at the airport& does a good job.
Dave

There is a similar discussion ongoing on the Travel Info board:

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16831

We rented a Toyota Corolla from an off-airport Budget location 3 years ago and were not impressed. The car was older, very dirty, and the brakes squealed. Last October we rented a Toyota Yaris from Jansen. It was also older and dirty - not to mention very small. The "nicer/newer looking" cars we saw belonged to Hertz, Econo, and Dollar. However, we wondered if any of the rental cars on Aruba were up to US standards.

A Toyota Yaris is going to be small, no matter which company you rent it from. We usually rent from one of the American companies, in order to get FF miles. The rates are fairly competitive, so we go for the company that gives the biggest bang for the buck, such as double miles, for example. Our last rental was from Budget, but we have also used National and others that I can't recall at the moment. We have never had any problems with any cars from any rental agency in Aruba.

We rented from Jansen last year and I've booked for 3 weeks this year. We rented the Kia Rio 5 door with a discount for being a timeshare owner. The car was very nice by Aruba standards (clean and everything worked well). We have rented from National and Avis in the past and this was definitely better. Linda

late-nite rides

just dial 1-800-KalPoes....and good luck. jme

Five trips to Aruba in five years......my recommendation????

Hans at Tropic. GREAT (read: best) price; great vehicle; fantastic service. The price he quoted us was almost $300 less for 2.5 weeks than any other car rental we checked with.

Hans or a representative will meet you at the airport (both when arriving and departing), walk you to your vehicle, do all the paperwork and take a credit card imprint and off you go. Didn't even take 10 minutes last year before we were out of the airport. Departure process is even easier. He helped unload our luggage, took the keys, checked the gas gauge and that was it.

The others we have used have their offices in a small row of buildings across from the entrance to the airport. We have waited as much as half an hour before being able to get in "our" car and leave. NOT much fun when all you want is to get a drink in hand and hit the beach.

Give Tropic (Hans is owner) a try.

TinaS

Not Dollar

We rented from Dollar and it is not recommended.....it ran OK, but it was given to us dirty; somehow my 'full' size got changed to 'mid' size and we barely fit our luggage in; checkin was super, super slow (we were the only ones there the whole time and it took about 40 minutes). It seemed to us that every other rental we saw was in better shape (and cleaner) than ours!

We rented from Econo in December of 2005 since they had the best rate for our time frame. Fast in and out, clean car, no problems.

Never Thrifty

We are in Aruba now. When we arrived on the last flt (around 10 pm), Thrifty told us there were no cars. We had a confirmation from II and everything which they acknowledged. I asked when they would have our car and it was Monday maybe Tuesday. Keep in mind this is Sat. night so that is half our vacation. Of course there was no manager and the office was closed. When I asked if they were going to call us a cab, they replied no b/c the lines only come in. Note there were no cabs out front at this time. Then we were solicited by another company on the row and had to pay $100 more for a dirty jeep with half a top and an engine light that stays on!! I had to rent the whole week b/c the guy wouldn't work with me until I could get our car.

Any one have any ideas on how to deal with this when I get home? Is it II or Thrifty or both?

The fact they closed on us at 10 pm and left us stranded w/ no options was the worst service I have ever seen.

tsl

thanks for the post on Thrifty...we'll be in Aruba from 3/4 through 3/18 and presently have a reservation with Thrifty for both weeks...guess it's time to consider other vendors


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tom

Econo and Economy yes , Budget no . Won't rent from Budget again. Bait and switch on what was included in rental price and very surly staff.

Both Econo and Economy were great and I'd rent from them again in a heartbeat.

Ingrid

powrbkr said:

tsl

thanks for the post on Thrifty...we'll be in Aruba from 3/4 through 3/18 and presently have a reservation with Thrifty for both weeks...guess it's time to consider other vendors


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tom

Click to expand...

or I would call Thrifty b/f you leave to see if you can get any reassurances. but if you have a late night flt, buyer beware!!

IngridN said:

Econo and Economy yes , Budget no . Won't rent from Budget again. Bait and switch on what was included in rental price and very surly staff.

Both Econo and Economy were great and I'd rent from them again in a heartbeat.

Ingrid

Click to expand...

Sorry about your bad experience with Budget. I'm especially surprised at the bait and switch, since rental prices in Aruba are quite straightforward. But as I stated in my earlier post, we've not had any problems with any car rentals in Aruba, including Budget which we used last August.

We just back from Aruba. We didn't think we would need a car so we didn't make a reservation ahead of time. Our first day we decided we did need a car and the hotel concierge hooked us up with Budget.

At Budget, they made a point of pointing out what was included in the rate and what was not.

They were a bit slow getting through everything but I found that, in general, the Arubans are slower then we're used it.

Some of the car rental companies do not include spouse as 2nd driver and charge an additional fee & some do. So in order to do an apples to apples price comparison I called and was told it was included in the price and chose Budget as they were the lowest. Surprise...when we got there it was an extra $75 or so

Yaris for 5?

I just emailed with Hans for a price quote. He quoted $200 for 8 days all-inclusive for a Yaris. He said it would fit 3 adults and 2 children. Are we going to be seriously cramped? Is this his largest car? The price seems in line with other companies? Advice?