Discount Car & Truck Rentals

Reserved a cargo van online, only to be called a day later and told they don’t have any available. What is the point of an online reservation system that doesn’t actually make a reservation on a vehicle? Waste of time.

Do not use!!! Do not book with ACE car rental nor Discount car rental out of Calgary. Shadiest car rental I’ve ever experienced. There really is no ACE and they send drivers with personal trucks to take you 20 miles from airport to another brand. This is a total mess. Avoid our mistake and stick with a car rental on airport!!!

Rented the car through
as ACE
We get to the airport, call ACE, shuttle doesn’t come for 40 minutes.
Frustrated, we get a ride from a family friend and get to the discount car rental. It’s about 25 minutes away from the airport.
The man in a suit says they have no car left, not apologetic at all.
Instead they will shuttle us to a competitor who has some cars left.
We complain about the shuttle taking too long and them having no cars despite our reservation.
No apologies at all, they say reservations do not guarantee cars and the shuttle was on it’s way. Almost argued with us that there is nothing wrong with what they’ve done.
This was our first impression of Alberta, glad to say that this was the only terrible experience we’ve had in Alberta. Do yourself a favor and spend more to avoid this inconvenience on your trip.

we booked our car through ace. didn’t have any problems and had a good experience.
flew into calgary airport, walked out to post 21 and used the phone to call, 15−20min later a shuttle gets there to pick us up and drive 20 min to the car rental place. we pick up our car for the previously agreed price (which was far less than the rental places in the airport). they were very thorough in marking the prior damage on the vehicle.
we then returned the car (there was a little bit of a wait when returning at midday, they only had 2 people working the counters), without a hitch, and took their shuttle to the airport.
if we find ourselves needing a rental car after flying into calgary again, we would come back here again.

Here’s some helpful information that I wish I’d known before I rented from Discount Car Rental. It was just a frustrating experience. I’m not here to merely bash Discount, but I won’t be renting from them until some of the following have changed.
1. In Calgary, Discount Car Rental (DCR-​Calgary) is partnered with ACE. So if you rent a car from ACE through Priceline in Calgary, it’s served to you by DCR-​Calgary. ACE generally has decent reviews. Discount has mixed reviews.
2. DCR-​Calgary is off-​site, meaning you need to take a shuttle from the airport to the rental office. This allows it to be cheaper than the in-​terminal companies (Avis, Dollar, Enterprise, Budget, etc). Although if you book early enough I think the difference in cost is not as apparent.
3. Here’s the kicker: They only have 2 shuttles, and THE SHUTTLE RIDE TAKES 20 – 30 MINUTES. They apologize and insist it’s not their fault, which is partially true. Calgary Airport is currently undergoing a massive expansion project and the direct road (Barlow Tr) to the office has been closed permanently. But Barlow has been closed since April of 2011, which means it’s been over 2 years and they haven’t done anything to improve their shuttle service, which makes me think they aren’t as apologetic as they say they are. So many ways to improve: getting a larger shuttle (one that seats more than 7 passengers), getting more shuttles & drivers, having a better dispatch communication system (walkie talkie or something) because the drivers were on phones but no one really knew where any of them really were.
4. They do not have access to the actual Priceline reservation, so they didn’t know that I had Unlimited mileage. I corrected them when they gave me the car, and they said they would change it. She didn’t, and so when I brought the car back they were about to charge me $ 100 more for extra kms. I caught it and they took it off.
5. The service at this location was pretty chaotic. As soon as I said I had a minivan reserved, my agent grabbed the keys saying, «before anyone takes it.» There was a feeling of «I hope your reserved car is actually available» and relief when it was. While I was getting my minivan, another rep offered his client a minivan because the car they had reserved wasn’t available. Everyone in the office heard his exchange, and my rep called out, «Sorry, that minivan is being taken.» And then the other rep then offered his client a pickup truck, «because that’s all we have left.» I’m sure the folks behind the counter are nice folks, maybe they were having a rough day or not being detail-​oriented because they were overworked or tired. But it really seemed like proper procedures were not in place (or not being enforced) to ensure that they will deliver on their customer’s expectations.
6. They don’t have area maps. They offer to print you «google directions to where you want to go»
So in summary, if you rent from Discount/​ACE at the Calgary Airport:
— You will likely save some money over the in-​terminal rental companies.
— Be prepared to wait ~30 min for the shuttle to arrive.
— Be prepared to send just 1 person in your party on the shuttle to get the car and pick everyone else up from the airport.
— Be prepared to spend ~25 min in the shuttle ride to the office.
— Be prepared to spend ~30 min in the office getting your car
— Be prepared to be offered another car (this might not be so bad?)
— Be prepared to explain details about your reservation (unlimited miles, # of days reserved for, etc) to the agent who may not know them.
— Be prepared to do a thorough pre-​rental inspection (Esp check the windshield for cracks) because they take a big deposit on your credit card and may not give it back if they think you caused some damage.
— Be prepared to be frustrated and have a lot of patience on hand.
I hope Discount can get their act together!