Who has a lot of experience with car rentals?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I put a lot of my miles on my car in the normal course of my commute so when I’m planning a longer trip, I usually rent a car. I was planning on visiting DS#1 at college this weekend. Then plans fell apart because he was possibly not going to be there, but now it’s looking like <em>those</em> plans might be falling apart. Ennyhoo–I usually just look around for who has the best deals/price and then make an on-line reservation (I think I’m a member of Avis/Hertz/?? loyalty programs) and pick the car up at our local (small) airport. If I end up going to visit DS, I’m considering just walking into the car rental area tomorrow morning and asking who can give me the best deal. Is this a bad idea? (I’m out at <yet another=“”> youth sporting event this evening.)</yet></p>

2

<p>If it were me, I would go to kayak dot com or perhaps priceline to lock in the best rate. Then I’d know what I was going to pay ahead of time. Just my 2 cents.</p>

3

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.carrentals.com%5Dcarrentals.com%5B/url”&gt;www.carrentals.com]carrentals.com[/url</a>] also has a good cost comparison.</p>

4

<p>I have had incredible luck lately on priceline for cars. As long as you are SURE of your plans and won’t be cancelling… I have gotten cars for $10-14 per day. I would not take a chance walking into the agency. They pretty much have you where they want you at that point.</p>

5

<p><banging self=“” in=“” the=“” forehead=“”> You know I do travel now and then but have never done the priceline (or similar) thing for hotels. Feeling kinda stupid about that–I think I always wanted to know exactly which hotel I was going to. DH has used it really successfully, though.</banging></p>

<p>But of course it makes sense to use it for rental cars! I really don’t care what I get!!</p>

<p>You guys are great. Thanks for the suggestions.</p>

6

<p>I have always gotten top rental agency cars (Hertz etc) through priceline. I was also resistant to trying it, but I got convinced and it has worked great.</p>

7

<p>I have used Hotwire and generally gotten very good rates from major companies at airports all over. Varies by city quite a bit.</p>

8

<p>Also, if there are non-airport rental car pickup locations nearby, they may be less expensive because airports sometimes have extra fees for rental car pickup locations at the airport. So don’t limit yourself to airport locations when searching.</p>

9

<p>Roger all that. You guys rock.</p>