JH
JL Hochstein
Feb 17, 2026
We had a horrible experience renting from Alamo. Because of recent mechanical issues with our family vehicle, we decided to rent a vehicle from Alamo in order to drive from Savannah to Atlanta for an urgent medical appointment. When we arrived at the Alamo's Savannah Airport location, the agent onsite offered us either a Jeep Wagoneer or Ford Expedition. Having never driven either before, we opted for the Wagoneer for fun.
However, halfway to Atlanta while we were pulled over at a rest top, the tailgate latch failed preventing us from closing the tailgate. We immediately contacted Alamo customer service for help. We got disconnected after explaining our situation and did not receive any callback. After calling Alamo back, we were directed to take the vehicle to a partner rental agency (Enterprise) in Dublin, 20 miles back the way we had come, who would provide us a with a replacement vehicle. We were able to secure the tailgate with some duct tape offered to us by a kind passerby. Once at Enterprise, however, the staff told us that they did not have a replacement vehicle for us and that they had told Alamo that. They recommended going to the Mavis down the street to see if they could fix the issue.
The people at Mavis were great and looked at the vehicle right away. Unfortunately, they could not do anything without dismantling the tailgate, which, given our time constraints, simply wasn't possible. So, they helped us attached a ratchet strap and more duct tape to secure the tailgate until our return to Savannah.
In the end, we were two hours late for our medical appointment in Atlanta! Fortunately for us, our doctor was very understanding and was able to squeeze us in any way, but the situation could have been much worse. Most doctors around here will make you reschedule and charge you a no-show fee, and we would have been out the cost of the entire trip.
The story doesn't end there, though. When we finally got back to Savannah to return the vehicle and explained why there was duct tape all over the tailgate, the Alamo rep confirmed that they had been having the same issue with other Wagoneers! Had I known there was even the possibility of this occurring, we would have taken the Expedition in a heartbeat or simply risked taking our own vehicle.
I am so extremely disappointed with Alamo. Not only did they rent us a vehicle with a known mechanical issue (the faulty tailgate latch), but we received bad information about a resolution (no replacement vehicle), and received no customer service outreach after the fact.
In the end, we were refunded a meager $50 from the cost of the rental but, frankly, I think this is entirely inadequate considering the stress caused by Alamo's negligence. I would expect the entire cost of the rental to be refunded or a complimentary rental at later date at a minimum, with customer service reaching out to apologize for the situation and ensuring that we were satisfied with the resolution. This, obviously, did not happen.
I would not recommend Alamo to anyone looking to rent a vehicle, and I would DEFINITELY not recommend renting a Wagoneer.