A challenge to the Car rental experts out there...

[Bobbysdog]

Hi! Like everyone else here, I'm always in search of the lowest possible car rates. I've used L & M in the past and had no problems, and I find them to be the cheapest in-terminal rental by far. We're going down for 16 days in the last half of September, and I've spent wayyyyy too much time already trying to get the lowest rate possible on a full size car. I should point out that while we're only a family of three, I'm 6'2 and wide and tend to spread my knees wide while driving (I've seen the term pooh-sized used on the boards, but I think I'm closer to the whole 100-acre woods ). So, while it's possible to squeeze into a smaller car, I'd rather pay a little more and be comfortable with a larger car on my vacation.

Having said that, I've been over all the traditional sources for getting rental discounts (mousesavers, rentalcodes.com, going through our warehouse club memberships, etc.) and spent a bunch of time lurking on the boards. I've tried all the possible National car rental combos, and the best I've done so far is $470 vs. L & M's $424.

I know everyone here loves a challenge posed to their knowledge and are generous with their help, so I thought I'd throw it open. If someone out there knows of codes that are good on L & M's website (there's a space to enter one, but I've never, ever seen a code anywhere), please let me know!

Otherwise, I'm hoping someone can point out a deal I might have missed or a technique that's worked for them. There are just two caveats....we do want something directly in the terminal (once we're on vacation, it's all about convenience), and it needs to be a full sized car. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas!

 

[dudedisney]

We're in the same boat although not really.

We need a van that seats 8 and 99% of the passenger vans seat 7 so just finding one is bad enough but they want $600-700 plus gas makes flying reasonable.

My only offer of advice is call all the rental places yourself. I have found that in talking to them and explaining my situation, they are very helpful in offering suggestions. One lady offered a 15 passenger van for the same price and taking out one seat for more room for coolers and luggage!

Since you have the time to shop, try calling around. But I think I'd wait until a weekday when they wouldn't be so busy.

Good luck!

 

[Bobbysdog]

Thanks for the advice....I will try that. Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Ishy]

Dates matter.

I am a thrifty user. Blue chip members sign and drive and its off terminal but very easy to get to. I have used them in the past and are going to use them next week as well as at the end of september. I know the september price I got without a mousesavers discount code was 79$ for my september trip on a full sized car. With a mouseavers code it was 139$.

I have learned with thrifty to check my ressies every few days as my trip approaches for cheaper prices. I just change my ressie if a cheaper one pops up. My full size for July with different pickup and dropoffs was 169 when I booked it, now its 98$ for the week. They pick up right outside the airport. Quick ride.
Easy website.
Join Bluechip - the no wait thing is priceless at the counter.

 

[Bobbysdog]

You should post your dates...

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Dates matter.


Yes they do! My apologies...I should have posted my dates. We're arriving Sept. 16th (2 pm pickup) and leaving October 1st (5 pm dropoff). DW absolutely doesn't want to hear about a shuttle...we've had a couple of bad experiences with long waits in the past and we swore never again. Our terminal pickups have all gone off flawlessly and now we factor in terminal fees and the cost of convenience.

 

[disneygals]

We just used L&M for an 8 passenger 6/25-7/9 and had NO problems.

When researching I originally found $530 for 2 weeks, checked again and booked at $560. Just for grins, I checked again and booked for $394! Kept looking and the price went back up again!

We did bring a copy of our proof of insurance for rental cars and copy of insurance card.

 

[Bobbysdog]

Sure enough, L & M just dropped their rates. I'm now down to $366 for a full size from 9/16-10/1....it's hard to imagine that it's going to go down much more , but one can dream, can't they?!?