Alternative car rental for pickup at Suvarnabhumi?

[Lannig]

Hello folks,

 

Not sure that's the best place to post this question. Mods will move it appropriately if there's a better place, I guess.

 

I need advice for pick-up car rental at the airport or downtown if that's a better alternative.

 

Been coming to Thailand a few times per year for several years since I'm not a resident any more. I've sold the car I had when I left. It wasn't cost-effective to keep it. It wasn't in good shape anyway. So I've been on the market for car rental at  Suvarnabhumi for quite some time.

 

I used to rent with Budget. Since I go stay to my "home base" upcountry (central/north region), I more or less need a pick-up truck (that's what I'm used to driving in Thailand anyway). They used to have excellent rates for the basic Vigo model (around 1,000 THB/day depending on the number of days,  including LDW with max 20,000 THB liability), easy booking over the internet, good service and almost new cars. I normally rent for 12 to 21 days periods. I've been a faithful customer for years.

 

Things are changing. Rates have gone up dramatically, no more internet booking(*), I've tried over e-mail and they even wanted my credit card # in an e-mail to accept to booking. No way.

 

(*) well, at least it doesn't work from here abroad. Just been told it's still OK from within Thailand. Not nice of them.

 

So I'm looking for alternatives for my upcoming trip mid-January. I've already checked the over major companies (Hertz, Sixt) present at the airport and they don't rent this kind of car. Only high-end luxury pick-up models at much, much higher prices. I can't really get to the idea of renting a compact car.  It will be a major annoyance for my needs.

 

So... can anyone advise on a company that rent standard pick-up trucks at good rates and has reliable service, that would either deliver the car at Suvarnabhumi or have an easily reachable place to pick it up downtown?

 

Thanks in advance for any hint.

[NanLaew]

Mid January should be enough time to make contact and make sure you get a pickup truck.

 

My best most recent online booking experience is avis.com as you can make a reservation, get a confirmation number with no need for credit card details up front. Just plugged in 2 weeks from 18 January and they have a Vigo 4-door 4x4 for a little over 26,000 baht.

 

I have had good experience with Budget getting pickups at BKK and more recently Chiang Mai. I just plugged in the same dates as above into budget.com and they have the Vigo 4-door 4x4 for 21000+ and the 2-door is around 12,000+. Just went through a dummy booking and all they need is your name, phone, email and flight details, just like avis.

[Lannig]

Thanks for your reply. 26,000 THB for 2 weeks is way above my budget (no pun intended).

I'm used to paying about 1,000 THB/day.

 

I've contacted Budget over e-mail and they offered this higher rate and asked for my CC number. After telling them that I've rented numerous times from them (and they've probably found my information in their customer database) they gave up on the requirement to have my CC number but still offering a significantly higher price.

 

Their online booking system his behaving really weird, as seen from here. It's still working and offering the rates I'm used to for some pick-up locations:

-  their headquarters in BKK

- Chiang Mai as it seems (you've reported this)

- even Don Muang but only at certain hours (within the open hours of course)

But not at all at Suwa.

If it weren't so weird (like depending on the hours at DM) I would suppose that they just have a  special higher rate for rentals at Suwa not handled by their system and therefore it's excluded from their online booking system. However as it is, it just looks like it's broken.

 

Would you try simulating a booking for Suwa for me?  does it work for you?

 

Other advice still welcome.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, Lannig said:

Would you try simulating a booking for Suwa for me?  does it work for you?

 

The dummy booking I mentioned in my last post was a BKK Suvarnabhumi booking as noted below.

 

17 hours ago, NanLaew said:

I just plugged in the same dates as above into budget.com and they have the Vigo 4-door 4x4 for 21000+ and the 2-door is around 12,000+. Just went through a dummy booking and all they need is your name, phone, email and flight details, just like avis.

 

To save this going round and round, where are you and what budget website are you trying; global or local?

 

I am in Thailand and using their GLOBAL websites .com and not .th and getting the prices and availability I noted earlier on both avis.com and budget.com

Reverting to their local sites will probably get you into credit card details, email requests and the like. Avoid them as they won't be any cheaper. When I used avis.com it was a booking made online from Singapore within 8 hours of pickup and I wondered if they it would be accepted. My global booking was in their local system here and I was on the road within 30 minutes after doing the payment and DL stuff locally.

 

I just tried sixt.com with same dates and they show the Vigo 4-door 4x4 as available but around 38,000 baht so obviously not one of their more popular rentals. Suprising as I found sixt the best value when I rent in the UK.

 

Failing that, maybe surf the net for any smaller, local rental businesses in your northern destination, fly domestically and rent pickup from there? My experience with these 'mom and pop' operations however does indicate they will need you charge card details and possibly a security deposit before they will even hold the vehicle for you.