So I have booked a flight in early November to the city where I plan to move in December. The purpose of the visit is to find an apartment or place to rent. I have made one previous trip to check out some neighborhoods and identify a few apartment buildings, and have a plan for how to attack the search when I get there. I have booked a fairly long visit (7 nights) to give myself a good amount of time to find the right fit. Airline is Southwest, so no change fee if I finish up and fly back early. Lots of packing to do, so don’t want to spend more days than I have to.
But I am stymied on the car rental front. I could see finishing up this task in maybe 4 days, and wanting to return home then. I know that some car rental companies charge an early return fee, and/or switch you to a daily rate vs. the discounted rate you get when you first book. What I don’t know is:
Are there any rental companies that don't do this? I don't even mind paying the full week's rate that i am promised online now, I just don't want to pay MORE than that when I return the car early. Apparently this is commonly what happens.
Is there any relatively easy way to figure out what their policies even are? I went to a couple of company websites, and can't find any detailed policy on this.
I’d call the car rental company and just ask. If you do that, you’ll get the straight information from the company you plan to rent from instead of our annecdotes that may be outdated. The last time I returned a rental car early (about 2 weeks early on a 4+ week rental), was decades ago, so would not be helpful for you.
I belive you are correct that most places will convert your weekly rate to a daily rate. Some require you to stay at least a Saturday and rent for at least 5 days to get the weekly rate. The amount you save on hotel should offset any increase in car rental fees you would have to pay if you can cut your visit shorter. We mostly fly United because it serves the cities we fly to & from, so there is no inexpensive way to change flight details and we’ve never switched our travel dates, so have not had this issue.
I did some Googling and made some phone calls. Ironically, the company with the cheapest rentals in my online search for a car (Fox) also appears to have the best policy. At least I think it is the best. What they do is add $15/day to the rate you were initially paying, and you just pay for the days you rented. But there is a cap on it, and you will not pay more than you were supposed to pay for the full length of the original rental. I can live with that because it is clear what my exposure is. The other companies are downright shady in their approach, but generally you end up paying whatever the going rate was for the days you had the car, with no cap at all. There are some horror stories out there about ridiculous charges. And many of the companies charge a fee on top of that.
I only rented from Fox once before, and it wasn’t a great experience (no cruise in the car when we were driving from Seattle to Walla Walla – you can guess what for!). But I don’t need cruise to tool around town for apartment hunting, so I am going to give them another shot.
I’ve never used Fox but have read some pretty scathing reviews (not having a car when folks tried to pick up, etc.). Let us know how it goes. Glad you have found something that you believe may work for you.
Whelp. The Spirit Airlines of rental cars… here I come! Even if I have a decent experience, I know enough not to expect that regularly. But just this one time!
It is the actual rental company’s policy. I usually book through Travelocity, but this is something each rental car company decides and implements. Smarmy policies industry wide…
The SW ‘no change fee’ doesn’t mean you can just switch your ticket from Friday to Wednesday if you want to leave early. Yes, there is no fee to switch, but the new Wednesday ticket might be $400 more than the ticket you have for Friday, and you do pay that difference in ticket price. I’d plan on staying the entire time.
I know. I fly SW almost exclusively. Probably can make a cheap switch if I am willing to take a 6 am flight, I figure. If not, I will stay and vacation for a few days.
Apparently it depends on how early you return it. If you keep it at least 5 days, you get the “weekly” rate still. But if you drop back to 4 or less, you are bumped up to the regular daily rate, whatever it is at that moment. And 4 days at that rate can be a lot higher than the original weekly rate, with no cap. The websites are super vague about early returns, although the rules around keeping them longer are spelled out better. I called Dollar, and they seem to change the rate and put on a 10% fee. As far as I can tell from websites online, all the major companies handle early returns that way.
One guy did the following when they tried to stiff him with a much bigger bill: he parked the car on the street right near the rental place. Caught his flight home. Shortly before the car was due back, he called the number for the free roadside assistance on his paperwork and had them tow it to the rental location.
Some rental companies consider 5 days the weekly rate. So you might check to see if you return on day 5 instead of 7 if it will still be the weekly rate.
The change fee is the least of your worries. Southwest flights booked at the last minute are staggeringly expensive.
You don’t mention where you will be staying during your trip. If you’ve found a free place to stay – like with a friend, it might actually be cheaper to stay the full week no matter what, when the costs of changing flights and rental car return dates are considered.
i have a relatively inexpensive hotel. I just looked, and I see SW Wanna Get Away prices for tomorrow that are less than $100 more than I paid for the original leg. One leaves at 5:30 am, but the other leaves at around 11 am. Both only 1 stop (to be expected between these cities). I am prepared to stay the week if the cost is too prohibitive to go home early. I will run the numbers when the time comes. Just didn’t want an unpredictable situation with the car, but I think I am set in that now.
If you find a place to live on Day 4 and want to go home on Day 5 instead of Day 7, you may find that the Wanna Get Away fares have vanished. Or not – it’s difficult to predict.
Even if I have a decent experience, I know enough not to expect that regularly. But just this one time!