Car rental prices for our August trip are very high. Is there an alternative way to rent a car for two weeks? Some sort of Airbnb for cars?
Yes, there is FlightCar, Drive My Car, etc. I’ve never used, as I have concerns. How do I know the car has been maintained properly? What if I have mechanical problems while using? Insurance, limited mileage, etc.
Have you tried AAA? Costco? Priceline? I usually book way in advance for summer travel…and then re-check about two months and then two weeks prior. Many times the rates have changed, so I book new and cancel old.
I don’t have AAA or Costco membership. Priceline is still very expensive.
Are you renting car at the airport?
Rent a Wreck?
Funny you should mention Rent a Wreck. We rented one in Chicago few years back. While we were eating at the restaurant this car was towed for multiple unpaid tickets. Company reimbursed us for the ride to their office and later to the airport.
Wait til the day before and do Priceline. This frazzles my nerves since I like to get things done and settled, but it does give you cheap rates. The reason you wait so close is that the prices will drop because they don’t want an un-rented car.
We saved about $500 on a rental in California a couple years ago by taking a cab away from the SF airport.
I have heard just going off the airport saves a ton of money, but I’ve never actually done it. Good idea to try.
If you haven’t already, try Enterprise at a location not at an airport. We often find it much cheaper that way.
Check to see if your car insurance company offers discount on car rentals. For example, we use USAA and can often get good discounts through them at the majors like Hertz, Avis and Budget.
Avis through USAA for me
Fwiw, for our upcoming 3 week vacation, we booked a Hertz SUV, picking up 4 miles from airport at slightly under $600. If we would have picked up at airport, it was $1200…and I checked all the other rental agencies as well. The taxi to offsite is under $10. And we have previously have been able to return directly to airport.
We did book back in February, but I do periodically check to see if I can get better price. Sometimes I can, this year I haven’t found a better price than what we booked initially. YMMV…
I Got a much cheaper rate on a rental car recently just by changing the time by half an hour. I was searching at 12 noon, and then I put 12:30, and price went down significantly.
We are renting a car in California in August. I haven’t researched rock bottom bargains, like renting away from the airport (will look into that) or Priceline, but so far the lowest rates I have found are using Alamo and their “Alamo Insiders” rates - their free membership thing.
I’ve gotten some good rental deals through the airline I was using. On a recent Sluthwest Airlines trip, I rented a car for 5 days for about $120 by adding a car through the SW site.
I checked BJs, AAA, and off site. Nothing was cheaper.
I usually rent through Travelocity, but found prices for an upcoming trip were ridiculously high. I checked through my Southwest Airlines account, and found some for less than half the Travekocity price.
The flyer talk forum used to have lots of posts of discount codes for car rentals. They may have tightened up on that recently, but its worth checking.
I’ve never gotten a good last minute deal at random, except when it just happened they had a big special running. Agree you have to play the scenario a few ways and see what works best. I used to get better deals by booking the car via the airline links (ie, when you book, they sometimes ask, “And do you need a car?” Or they offer a ‘fly and drive’ package. But that depends on the city.)
I often book through RentalCarMomma.com. Smaller discounts than they use to have, though. I like that our local airport has longer hours than in town offices. (Eg, I can return a car there when the local is closed. You have to verify that this is free.) But the surcharges for picking up at the airport are killer and many airport agencies add a surcharge for additional drivers.
For those of you who have booked through a third party, have you ever arrived “late” to pick up your rental? I recently booked Hertz through AAA. I arrived 35 minutes after the specified reservation time and was told they would have to rebook because I was late. As a result, the rate was higher … only slightly, but still. The Hertz agent told me I would have to take up my complaint with AAA. YMMV
National allows you to stack coupon codes. And pickup away from airport. Can be a few miles away, but airport is usually more expensive. Also, try 2 one week rentals if you can, rather than one 2 week rental.