I needed a car at short notice. The Alamo people at the Ottawa airport were rude and abrupt about having to deal with a "walk-in", even though they had plenty of cars and there were no other customers. When I returned the car a day early, they wouldn't reduce the "special weekly rate" - nobody said anything about this when I rented it, but they clearly expected me to suck it up for having the nerve to be a "walk-in". The bill featured a $56 charge for "premium rental location" (the airport???) - also not mentioned anywhere in the contract. I trusted these people in an emergency and they stiffed me. I will NEVER rent from Alamo again. read more

Use to rent all the time with Enterprise (pre covid days) back when they were super cheap, but now prices have gone up and i noticed Alamo had rental deals that were at least 30% cheaper than enterprise so i decided to try them out for the first time. I will give them credit where it's due, when i went in i was politely greeted and asked to hang tight because they were busy (fair), everyone was polite, but when it was my turn i was just handed a set of keys and told to do a walkaround of my vehicle (by myself, im pretty sure its standard practise for an employee to go with you) anyways, i had this vehicle for a week in which i had babied like my own car (drove super carefully, made sure to park it in safe/paid parking areas where it would be surveillanced) and when i went to hand the vehicle back they just took the keys and said i was good to go (no walkaround, nothing), so i left. A few hours later i recieve an email from the assistant manager saying that there is "severe damage in the form is deep scratches and DENTS in the roof"!!!! of all things wtf! There is only 2 things that could have happened here, 1. The previous renter fked up the roof and when he/she returned the vehicle, it was not inspected properly (the roof anyways) or 2. They are purposely scheming because i was not there to do a final walkaround with an employee (my mistake i guess) because there is definitely no way i had left "deep scratches" on the freaking roof let alone severe dents (im sure if there was something powerful enough to drop on the roof and leave a couple "severe dents" i would have heard or noticed it. Anyways, the assistant manager asked me in the email to go in so we can go forward with an insurance claim but the location was really not convenient for me to go to (especially without a vehicle) so i called them, 4 times. First 3 times no answer, 4th time an employee picked up in which i asked to speak to the AM and was told he was busy and they would have him call me back. Waited 2 days, no calls, sent him an email inquiring about the damages and photos and i get no response but an instant email finalizing my bill of sale and them taking a $500 deposit from my credit card. Fantastic. This is the type of shit that you only see online, on google reviews or youtube thinking its usually probably fake and never going to happen in the real world but let me tell you, damn dude it happened to me, i'll admit, i've been had by a car rental company for the first time in my life and it just had to be the one time i switched rental companies. read more

The guy who works here doesn't look at you. It's not like he doesn't look you directly in the eye it's just that he doesn't look at you at all. He didn't say please or thank you and didn't look at me. So 2 stars for you Alamo. If he said welcome to Alamo I'd give you 3 stars and if he looked at me I'd give you four stars. But nope. So nope. read more

I've rented from Alamo rental car before, so it wasn't a no brainer when I rented a car here in Ottawa on a recent May 2016 trip. I found a good deal on Priceline.com and went with it. Alamo rental car is a national brand in the USA and definitely has branches in Canada too. I trust them with their cars and customer service, since they're really good at it and their car rates are decently competitive. For myself, I do like to find competitive deals and steals online, and just so happens that I found a good one here at Alamo rental car at the Ottawa international airport. While I'm not a member of their loyalty club for frequent members, I do love the brand they represent and I'm glad that Priceline picked this company for me when I made the deal. The overall experience with Alamo car rental has been good and positive. I did have to wait for a car, since they initially offered me a mini van of all things, but I waited about 10 minutes before a Nissan coupe became available. The customer service here was nice, even the manager of the Alamo rental car helped me check in and it was nice. She was friendly and had a positive aura about her. Made my day better because of it. This Alamo rental car facility is located with several other major car rental car companies in a consolidated complex directly next to the Ottawa international airport. Getting here after arrival is really a snap, just walk across the street after you exit baggage claim and you're pretty much good to go. Each car rental company has its own pricing strategy, but for this purchase, I ended up paying $20 USD/day, along with $24/day for LDW car insurance for just in case mishaps along the road. And new for me, $6.99/day road side assistance, specially because of an episode where the rental car didn't start for whatever reason and that made me self conscious about it. Luckily that episode happened on Maui, USA, but what would happen if it was in Canada or USA mainland in the middle of nowhere? Yep. dead batteries suck the big one and thankfully that roadside assistance added on gives me piece of mind during my rental period with Alamo. During my 2 day rental with Alamo, I am pleased with the car that they did give me. It was a Nissan Sentra black with just under 13,000 kms on it. Thought that's pretty cool. The sleekness of it was very nice and it drives really well, especially on the Trans Canadian highway. :) For what it's worth, Alamo is highly regarded with me and I definitely would recommend renting from them if you are traveling through Ottawa or anywhere throughout Canada. While I realize many of you are like me, being budget conscious, best bet is to research online and have a good idea about the costs and the brand you want. Loyalty does pay when you get way better service it seems when you rent frequently with a particular company, but for me, the cost drives me and my motivation to do more with less $$$ while I travel. The return process was as seamless as they came. Check the car back in and get your receipt. Don't forget to grab your valuables from the car! 4 stars for the service and reliability of the car and overall satisfaction. Support local! B read more

Outstanding customer service when I dropped off my car. He was so kind and polite, and literally ran to my car to do the check so I wouldn't have to wait long. Asked me if I needed anything else, if I knew where departures were, etc. The service was above and beyond - highly recommend!! read more

I've had great experiences renting from Alamo at the Ottawa Airport. The staff are professional and friendly, my reservation was in perfect order and the price and conditions were excellent. They are the only rental agency offering a 7-passenger minivan with unlimited mileage and for a long family trip, it was perfect. Thanks! read more

Ditto on Tara's post. The rate was great (through Hotwire), the counter staff were friendly and efficient, and the staff member who received the car upon return was awesome; very fast and personable (which I REALLY appreciated as I was cutting it close with my flight). I didn't get his name - young Canadian guy of African descent - but he was a star! Alamo will be my go-to whenever in Ottawa. read more

Great car rental experience. They had by far the best price (I did a lot of research before booking a car) and dropoff was a breeze because an employee was waiting in the lot when I arrived to check over the car. I had my receipt before I even finished unloading. No problems at all. Will use again. read more

I rented a minivan with Alamo via Costco. The pickup was smooth and the van was in excellent shape and clean inside and out. Drop was extremely smooth and quick as there was an employee waiting when I drove in. All in all, an excellent experience. I had a similar experience renting from Alamo in Vegas. Will definitely use again! read more

I rented a car thur Alamo on June 4th 2016. I had reserved a economy car to be picked up at 4 30pm and i used the online check in. When I got to the counter to pick up my car I gave my name and the lady had seen my reservation pop up on the screen. I had told her that I had used the "online check in" and she looked at me confused and said that you can't on line check in. Confused me because on the website it had promoted the online check in the speed things up, i entered in my drivers license online however it was useless as according to the agent it didn't exist. I also tried to use the pre pay option online and called customer care a couple of times to inquire about it and never could get it to work. Anyway at the counter as the agent took my credit card and license and swiped it thur she brings back the contract and as I am putting my initials on the paper work i notice that the price was now $258, instead of the $142 that was on my reservation. So I asked the agent about this and she asked if I was picking up the car early, I was not. I looked at my phone and it was 4:34 and pick up time was for 4:30. Apparently according to the agent I was 2 mins early which is why it added the extra $120. Seemed weird to me that 2 mins would be such an increase considering its based on hours. She did correct it after taking my credit card back and swiping it, not sure what she was doing because she never told me. Then she goes to get me the keys, and tells me that she has a Chrysler town&country, a jeep Cherokee, or a mazda cx-5. I said they were all too big considering there was only me and my partner and had planned on doing a lot of driving over the days that we had it. But she insisted that those were the only choices. Needless to say it cost us a fair bit extra in fuel that what we had planned. Then as we went to get the SUV and got in it was not on a full tank, so I had to go back into the counter and tell them, and they sent out a car washing attendant to look at it. He took the keys and went back inside to the counter and said he would be right back. We waited in the garage at the car for 10 mins with no sign of anyone coming back to us. So i went back in were the 3 of them were standing up at the counter chatting and laughing. They looked at me and said "ohh we marked it on your account to bring it back 3/4 full and that I could go. I said well you could of come out and told us that considering we have been out there waiting for 10 mins and even if we could just go we don't have KEYS. It was really quite annoying to say the least and never left the airport until 5 30 a full hour after arriving at the counter. I generally rent from alamo whenever i need to rent however I will have to reconsider next time as I found this time to be frustrating. read more