OK…I’m going to Ohio from June 22 to 27. Last time I went, I got a rental car…taxes included for less than $20 a day. Fine…a midsize car too, from Budget.
So now, the smallest cars are going for $50 a day…and that includes through BJs and the airlines. The cost of my rental car would exceed my plane ticket!
I’ve tried Priceline in the past…that wasn’t exactly a bargain either!
Any suggestions. On this trip I have to rent from the airport rental car place…and yes I know that adds to the taxes. But I did that in March too…
I will keep checking…and hope for some bargain to pop up like it did last time! But thought someone here migh have a suggestion.
Check to see if EZ Rent a Car is at that destination. We had to travel at a high demand weekend to a major city a couple of years ago and they beat everyone else by far. Last summer we used them again for our trip down south and again they beat all the competition. The cars are newer models, it’s not a fly-by-night company, it’s just not nationwide. Good luck!
Look online for coupon codes. I do pretty well with Enterprise usually. Rental car rates can really vary from week to week. Seems like my rental in Cleveland on my business trip last month was pretty high, too. Keep checking, as was said above. Get something reserved but keep checking and look for coupons.
We are also going to Columbus during Memorial Day weekend. We found flying to Pittsburgh instead of Cleveland much cheaper for tickets and car rental. Booked through hotwire for car rental.
I would keep checking Hotwire. Sometimes they go down, as it gets closer to the date. I also narrow it down by looking at the cars section on cheapfares.com, then I go directly to the car rental website after finding out the cheapest car, and book from them. Also curious if a week long rate is cheaper, and then you just turn it in early.
I wonder where you would rent a car for a longer time, like more than a month. DS once rented a car for such a long time and he rented it from Enterprise. He needed a car in a short notice and had not much time to find a “good” company to rent a car on that day. Poor planning on our part because we actually had a car at home which we could give to him but there was not enough time to ship it to him.
Look around for sites off airport, as sometimes prices are less. In some markets, it has been worth my while to take a taxi to an off airport site. Most likely there is some event in Cleveland pushing up the prices.
Perhaps there is some ground transport to Columbus and you can rent a car there for less, to drop off in Cleveland later. Many Midwest cities have airport bus services.
Great Lakes…as I mentioned…on this trip, I must rent from the airport rental places. I am flying into cleveland and then need to drive to Columbus. I don’t have time to shuttle offsite to some rental car place, and then go from there.
I checked renting in Columbus…but renting on Columbus and dropping off in cleveland was even more expensive. Plus…I had to pay for the ground transport to get to Columbus.
I’ll just keep looking. I might just have to pay $300 for six days of rental car…and if I do…well…I do!
But really at the beginning of March…$20 a day…all fees included!
