$300 car rental for 2 days?

[lattemomof3]

That is what the Alamo total is for Nov. 26 to Nov. 28th. Pick up and drop off times at 8:30am for both. The taxes and tourist fee was around 60$, the rental for a minivan was $117 a day. This seems really pricey, but we have not rented a car before. Would it be more expensive bec. of Thanksgiving? I know it does cost more bec. we are picking it up in San Diego and dropping it off at the Alamo in Downtown Disney (which is why we went w/ Alamo). Anyone know of a better deal? TIA

 

[bumbershoot]

One way rentals are FAR more expensive than roundtrips. And yes, holidays make it higher.

What's the purpose of the car? Just to get from San Diego to Anaheim? If there's no other reason for it, you might look into Amtrak; it's a nice ride and very restful. Yes, you'd need a cab to and from the train stations, and it might not be much less expensive, but at least you don't have to drive.

Of course if you're using the car for other purposes, ignore all that.

Or don't ignore it, and check out what it might cost to have one while in San Diego, drop people off at the train station, return the car, cab it back...then perhaps rent one in Anaheim and return it in Anaheim. Just so you *know* the costs involved in it all.

That said, I use hotwire to rent cars...at least I have so far.

 

[CanadaMom24]

I've rented a minivan for 11 days LAX to LAX for $452.00 including taxes.
that for the first week of November.

Try a couple of different places. Also I found when I called directly I got a better deal than online.

Sarah

 

[carebee21]

Pick up and drop off at seperate locations are higher. Mini vans are higher. Rentals shorter than 5 days are usually higher. And holidays are higher. All of these things add up to a higher price. If you look around you might find a small difference in price but all things considered I think that price is going to be about the going rate (and IMO will only increase the closer you get to Thanksgiving)

 

[JustAKid]

Pick up and drop off at seperate locations are higher. Mini vans are higher. Rentals shorter than 5 days are usually higher. And holidays are higher. All of these things add up to a higher price. If you look around you might find a small difference in price but all things considered I think that price is going to be about the going rate (and IMO will only increase the closer you get to Thanksgiving)

Yup, yup, yup, yup! The only other thing I see as an addition to price is the fact that you aren't picking/dropping at an airport. That will add to price as well.

 

[lattemomof3]

We will need to get from Sea World to Carlsbad (Legoland), and then the next evening from Legoland to DLR. Has anyone ever taken a cab that far? I know it sounds crazy but it might still work out to be cheaper than the rental car? I called DLH (where we'll be staying at DLR) and spoke to the nicest man - he really tried to help, made several calls, but the DLH can only transport you to and back from Legoland if you are leaving the hotel for a day trip to LL and then returning again.

 

[Mom2micayla]

Have you priced out a limo? That would likely be cheaper than the car rental, and probably even cheaper than a cab. I know plenty of people on here have used a limo for transportation. You might make a post specifically about that so that people can give you suggestions on reasonable priced and reliable companies.

 

[itscoldhere]

Wow, that is expensive. We are renting a mid-size car (think Pontiac G6) for 7 days, picking up at DTD and returning it to the Phoenix Airport and only paying $352. What I learned when trying to figure out whether we should go to Disneyland first or Phoenix, AZ first was that every airport/car rental place has a different tax rate. If we were to have gone to Phoenix first and then rented the car and driven it to Anaheim, it would have been $900 Plus (no this is not a typo) for the same thing we are paying $352. The tax rate at Phoenix airport is 15 percent and the tax rate at Orange County Airport is percent or something like that. Do you have any discounts you could use? AAA, membership to anything, Alaska Visa, or at least go online and look for a discount.

 

[GrandBob]

We will need to get from Sea World to Carlsbad (Legoland), and then the next evening from Legoland to DLR. Has anyone ever taken a cab that far? I know it sounds crazy but it might still work out to be cheaper than the rental car?

Well, the train stops in Oceanside, which is next door to Carlsbad. You could price out the train from SD to Oceanside, cab to and from Legoland, and then train to Anaheim. It's likely it would be no cheaper, but it would be good to know.

-Bob

 

[snickerboo]

That is expensive! We are renting w/ alamo for a week a full sized car for under $200 all in. I know they had smaller SUVs for $200 +fees (for a week)around the time we're going. We're flying into and out of San Diego, though. I think you're getting dinged for the van AND the one-way rental. Do you really need the van? Also, do you have Costco? I did my reservation through Costco and got a break on the price + one free additional driver.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Yup, yup, yup, yup! The only other thing I see as an addition to price is the fact that you aren't picking/dropping at an airport. That will add to price as well.

This is true.

Can you believe it....we booked a one-way car rental on Saturday, November 28th from LAX to the Avis location on Katella.......$38 TOTAL for 24 hours....taxes....everything. Returning.....it was $68 so we take a shuttle back.

 

[Leofoenget]

Could you shuttle to Disney, THEN pick up your car so you can P/U & D/O at the same location?

 

[jennine]

Yeah, the best thing to do with rentals is to book waaaaayyyyy far ahead if you can. We are currently renting a minivan that I booked in June. We will have it for a total of 15 days, I used my entertainment card for a discount and our rental is a total of $464. We went with Alamo, but the pp's are right in the pick up and drop off locations cost more. Boooo! I hope you find something that works great for you.

 

[GrandBob]

Also, minivans can be very expensive to rent. A full sized car may be much cheaper. Since your youngest is 3, you should be able to fit 5 into the car pretty easily. Of course, luggage could be an issue.

-Bob

 

[lattemomof3]

We could do a full size car, but it was right around the same price as the minivan - we have a family of 5 and luggage for 8 days so we chose the van. I did find a code for 10% off for using our mastercard. Think I will research what a cab would cost 1st though.

 

[bumbershoot]

I wouldn't try a cab. It's more than $75 from LAX to DLR...the SeaWorld area to Legoland would be something like 40 minutes on the freeway, and Carlsbad to DLR is more...if you look into that, definitely check out limos, b/c it might be more comfortable and not all that off in price.

I wish you luck in finding something more reasonable! But if you can't, enjoy the heck out of that minivan.

 

[Jazziered]

Try here. I punched in San Diego as pick up and Anahiem as drop off with your time and date and priced out a small mini van for 200 from Alamo.

http://www.carrentals.com

 

[ashpinoza]

well it can be alot higher if its one way, and holiday does have an affect as well. however, that seems AWFUL steap. i dont like alamo personaly. i like avis and hertz. we have herts minivan, for 12 days, but we are returning to the same location, however its only about 580.00. we are doing pay now though. hertz has a pay now option where you pay about 75 percent when you book online, and its a big discount. just as an example, if we didnt do pay now, it would be 712.00 so over 100 dollars more. we almost did a one way rental but even then it wasnt that steep. i could see that for 3 or 4 days but it high for 2. but again, alamo

 

[aurorae]

Booking Buddy is a good meta search engine, lets you easily get quotes from several web sites.

here for rental cars:
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/car.php

Does it have to be a van? A full size car can be had for around $30 a day.

 

[goofyfordisney]

Do you belong to Costco? I have always received the best rates with Alamo thru Costco's travel website. I think Alamo's website is currently down...but check it out later.

We have a 3 day mini van rental at the end of the October and we are paying $166 total...not great, but I've kept checking and its come down about $50 since I first booked it a couple of weeks ago.

My advice would be to book the best price you can find and keep checking prices/specials leading up to your trip--they usually will come down in price the closer to your trip.

You may want to sign up on Alamo's website for their "hot deals" emails. I saved quite a bit on our rental in August when I received an email for $10/day rental--I just canceled my reservation and re-booked at the special rate.

Good luck!