best deals on rental cars?

[Jimbilly]

Where does one find the best deal on a rental car? With all the added fees, it's looking like $60 a day is actually a good deal!? What do you guys recommend?

[JohnnyB]

Where does one find the best deal on a rental car? With all the added fees, it's looking like $60 a day is actually a good deal!? What do you guys recommend?

What are your needs? How big a car do you need? Do you have to rent it from an airport or can you get it someplace else? And if you get the non-deductible insurance waiver, that can nearly double the daily price. You can often get much better deals with a weekly rate if you're going to use it that long. Check with Expedia, Travelocity, etc.

There are often big surcharges when renting at an airport. Last May in KY (Greater Cincinnati Airport), I had a really good deal but then there was something like a 40% surcharge tax because the car was rented within a certain vicinity of the airport. I'm not sure if Washington does the same thing or not.

I rented a car in January, however, and found that even with the same company and cars, the rates vary from office to office. I shopped around and saved around $15/day just by renting from a Hertz outlet in Edmonds instead of Lake City. I went through AAA and got an automatic 15% discount and happened to luck out on an additional 25% off special when I was working up the deal on the phone.

[cynic]

If you have the option to rent at the counter do it. I drive little cars and rent big cars if I'm driving on a trip. I reserved a caddy online at Alamo last year that was going to be about $450 or so for the period of time I needed the car, but when I showed up it wasn't on the lot. I looked online on the way to Avis which happened to be the next closest renter, and theirs ran $550 for the same period. I went into the counter and got the same car for $228.

Rental car associates seem to have more leeway than any other business to adjust prices on the fly. From what I understand making the reservation online is about the worst way to go. I'm not sure if you can go to your local counter and reserve something for another city, but it's worth looking into to.

[ArnieZ]

I have used Hotwire with great success. You won't know the exact car you're getting or the company you're renting from. You choose a class category and they fill your needs. The only downside is you are committed when you accept the offer.

ArnieZ

[ZR]

We always use Priceline. They always use a major rental car company like Hertz, Enterprise, Avis etc. and you get to reserve your class of car...you just don't know exactly what company you'll get which really doesn't matter to me. I usually get around a $9/day car which comes to about $20 a day after all fees etc. for a class of car about 2-3 up from the cheapest category. But, have almost always been upgraded for free to a nicer car for free when picking up the car. Enterprise is weird about that (in a good way) in that they have different rows of cars and they say just pick whichever one you like in this row. So, we usually choose an upgrade for free. I'm not sure if all locations do it that way, but BWI does.

I got really good at various travel deals during the 4 years of taking my daughter to numerous tennis tournaments (almost every other weekend!).

[burningyen]

If you're a member of a trade/professional association, check to see if your membership entitles you to a discount.

[Jimbilly]

Thanks guys, good info as usual.

[DaveL]

We always use Priceline. They always use a major rental car company like Hertz, Enterprise, Avis etc. and you get to reserve your class of car...you just don't know exactly what company you'll get which really doesn't matter to me. I usually get around a $9/day car which comes to about $20 a day after all fees etc. for a class of car about 2-3 up from the cheapest category. But, have almost always been upgraded for free to a nicer car for free when picking up the car. Enterprise is weird about that (in a good way) in that they have different rows of cars and they say just pick whichever one you like in this row. So, we usually choose an upgrade for free. I'm not sure if all locations do it that way, but BWI does.

I got really good at various travel deals during the 4 years of taking my daughter to numerous tennis tournaments (almost every other weekend!).

hotwire is also good... a hertz customer service rep once recommended them

to me. I would recommend checking the rates/sites frequently. last fall I went

to florida I saw all sorts of crazy rates and held off, then when it hit something like

$15 a day I jumped. This spring I'm hearing prices are higher than usual, not sure

why, probably school vacations and whatnot.