Been meaning to post this for a while - excuse the ranty nature. A few weeks ago I had to take a big tent from Croydon to Bath. For some stupid reason I defaulted to thinking car hire would be the cheapest and easiest option. It was neither.
At the time of booking with Alamo I did not recall seeing any charges presented to me on the booking pages. However, I have just retried the same booking and the site now tells me there is an additional £39 charge for taking the car one way.
So, booked the car at £37 thinking that was it for charges, had a 45 minute journey to an industrial estate (not near public transport - told you it wasn't easy) to pick up the car. Once there, was told of the £39 one way charge and then took the damage waiver charge of £15 (why can't it be included?). Total fee £90.
At this point the guy serving me said it would be cheaper to go by train.
Despite the fact I had booked the car and stated what time I would pick it up I still had to wait for the car to be ready.
Drove to Bath, dropped off tent and then had to take the car to an out of town industrial estate (wife and kids had to follow me in our car so I could get home easily).
Cost of petrol was £20, so total charges £110 and a lot of inconvenience.
Trains and taxis and courier would have been cheaper and a lot more convenient. Had all charges been presented upfront in the booking process I would have taken another route.
If you are going to hire a car check out the 'policies' page - here is Alamo's.