Dollar Rent A Car Review

Dollar has never been my first choice in car rental companies, but I'd be a fool not to consider them when scouting out car rentals because every now and then, they really do save me money. Not every trip. Not every market. Not every car class. But their web site is very good about highlighting their specials, and if you're able to take advantage of them, they often are really good deals.

In most of the U.S. destinations I've visted recently, it's been either Enterprise or Thrifty who usually save me the most money. Not always though. On one trip into Minneapolis, it would have ended up costing me a big chunk of change if I'd stuck to my stalwarts --- instead, Dollar saved me a pile o' dollars by giving me a drop-dead deal of a rate on a beautiful new Cadillac. Their price was so good, that it was competitive with what Thrifty would have charged me for a much less interesting small Dodge. (I think I'm wearing out the pixels in my monitor where the "SPECIALS" link is for the Dollar web site (www.dollar.com). I especially like that it lets you narrow down the deals to specific markets and locations. No sense reading about deals that you can't get, is there?

I'm happy with the quality of cars I've gotten from Dollar. They're big on Dodges over there, and there's an excellent chance that you're going to be driving a Chrysler product if you book with Dollar, but that's okay with me, since cars like the 300, the Magnum, or the Pacifica are really delightful cars to drive. If I get something like that, I'm happy. I'm more concerned with how reliable the car is, and I've never had a problem with a car from Dollar. Late model, low mileage cars has been the norm. I'd be surprised if I was ever given a clunker there.

One area that disappoints me with Dollar is their general lack of real upscale vehicles. I did get a Caddy from them once, and they do offer a lot of Chrysler 300 Touring Sedans --- but there's no "premium" or "elite" level beyond that. I find no cars that truly excite me or that make me celebrate the driving experience...and that's too bad.

Overall, Dollar strikes me as a fairly average car rental company. They have fewer, and often smaller, locations than the bigger name companies, but their cars are just as good and their rates are often much better --- especially if you scout the deals on their web site. To me, the good prices on good cars is the whole ball of wax when it comes to car rentals, and I find that Dollar sometimes gives me JUST what I'm after. Sometimes they don't, but I'd still be a fool to write 'em off.