National Car Rental

This is the best rental company around especially if you are an Emerald Club member. You get to choose your vehicle from a very extensive fleet. I rent about 20 times a year, all over the USA, and been doing it for the last 22 years, Not one complaint.

Been a National customer since 90s. Best thing I like about National is the Emerald Isle Service which is available to its Emerald Card holders (getting membership is an easy process too) at almost all of the major airports in country. Member has the option/choice to pick any car from a Convertible to a SUV for the same price (which is fairly less than most of the other rental companies I had used in past) which is a nice feature to have at one's choice while picking a rental vehicle at the airport.

After having been a customer for over 3 years, and probably logging close to around 200-300 days worth of rentals, my experience has been very good. There has occasionally been an employee or two that was having a bad day and caused my experience to suffer. That said, having rented from airport locations all around the globe, if my memory serves me correctly, the majority of individuals I encountered were friendly and very helpful. As for the cars and the rental process goes, I have a good understanding of the costs associated with renting a car. The fees they charge are reasonable and well within line of their competitors. I love their executive and executive elite aisles and generally the selection options are fairly decent. On peak rental times, this can always vary, but if the case is the isles don't have what I'm looking for, their employees have mostly been reasonable in finding other options for me.

Trenton National Care Rental agent saved me big time on Sunday November 24 2019. I desperately needed a car rental. I called National in Trenton. This most caring professional lady, Cindy answered my call. Cindy arranged to meet me that morning, a Sunday at the unopened shop. Cindy arranged a rental right away. Caring, compassionate, empathetic, friendly and professional to me. I felt like a very important customer which is rare these days. Thank you Cindy for helping me. I hope National knows what a special and extraordinary employee they have in you. I highly doubt any other rental place would have opened for on a Sunday for me. I will recommend you and National any and all the time.

I rented a car in Kalamazoo, MI on July 25, 2020 that was returned at the Minneapolis airport the next day (July 26, 2020). The person who checked it in stated that there were no problems with the car. Shortly after this, I began receiving emails and mail stating that the car had been damaged. I called National and the person I spoke to said there was no record of the car being damaged. He gave me a number to call and over the following two days I spent more than two hours on hold without ever being able to speak to a human.

I reserved a car at National on Phone at Tyler, Airport. When I went to pick car at the scheduled time, they said car was not available and the receptionist lady communicated with Hertz and referred to go to Hertz which said car available at higher rate for same size than rate reserved on phone. The disappointing part is I called back at reservation phone number who said car was available at Tyler, Airport location where we were booked. So I felt the receptionist lady was simply doing business to refer to different company and get the commission. I had to cancel my 4 days trip, important meetings, and a potential job position. They ruined my life. Incident: August 13, 2020. Really disappointed at the way they were handling their customer. The Receptionist lady was unwilling to hear anything and said that cars get taken quickly while the recalling the reservation still showed the cars availability.

We were happy with the convenience and the friendliness of the National worker when we picked up the car at Denver Int’l, but when we dropped it off we were met with two rude and seemingly sexist men. Within 30 seconds of getting out of the car, my 20yr old daughter and I (mid 40’s female) were informed that we had put a dent/scrape on the car. I explained to the man that we had no incidents with the car whatsoever, and that there must be some record that the dent existed before we rented it. He called over his manager and both men were disrespectful, rushed, and condescending in their tone and attitude towards us. I have traveled with my husband (a mid 40’s businessman) many times and I get the unfortunate impression that if he had been with us, we wouldn’t have been accused of denting the car and we would’ve been treated more respectfully.

I call to get road service due to a mechanical issue, road service says, "Ok, we booked you a replacement car, go to location and pick up." I go to location, no record of me and to make it worse, no cars. I call road service back, they say, "Ok checking" and then hang up before finishing the where to go next, and no call back. I call back for the 3rd time, "Sorry everyone is closed, maybe you can fix it yourself." It's a good thing the car was still drivable, they offered no solutions and pretty much didn't seem to care... This will be my last rental with NATIONAL, to just say, "Sorry - we can't help you" is not acceptable and I will also be sure to spread the word to all 25,000 co-workers. "BEWARE RENTING FROM NATIONAL."

We purchased our rental through Allegiant. There were extra taxes and fees charged at the airport. The car was not cleaned well, none of them were. With covid 19 you would think they would be concerned about that. Thankfully I brought disinfecting wipes. We decided on National because their desk and cars were the closest to the terminal only to find they had moved, with very poor signage, to the back lot with Alamo. My mother in law has trouble with her knees and we wanted to keep the distance short for her. I did leave her at baggage and picked her up in the car. Upon returning at 3:30am it was unclear what lot we were supposed to go to until we turned into a lot that said National only to be greeted by a sign scribbling out National and telling us to go to another lot. We couldn't because the return lots have tire spikes at the exits.

I have left a handicapped placard after I returned my rental to DFW. I filed a lost and found and went to the rental car center about 1.5 weeks later. The people at the National refused to help and told me to go home and wait. Of course, their rule is that once you filed the Lost and Found you can also search the lost and found website to see if there's anything that matches and inquire. They did find a parking permit. After putting a request with the National Rental Website, I get an email to call the local DFW number or go to the rental center again. The number is essentially an unmanned since nobody ever picks up the phone. I went by the office and told them the item number. This time the personnel said that it was a handicapped placard that they found close to the day of my return, but of course he refused to return claiming that someone was coming to pick it. I asked him to check the number to make sure it was not my placard. Of course he didn't.