anyone else renting car in June from LAX?

[chathaway]

I"m hoping I am writing in the correct thread. Our family is going to CA June 13-22. We currently have a car rental with budget for 227.68 for a toyo corolla or similar type car booked with Costco. I have booked 4-5x so far, but was hoping to get it under under 200. I am pleased that it has come down from almost 400 when I first started!!! Has anyone else had any luck with deals getting under 200 by chance?

 

[GrtWtNorth]

The only time I've got a price under $15/day was to book through an aggregator like Priceline or Hotwire, and travel when local kids were in school.

There was a bit of sacrifice to get these discount rates: I couldn't collect points or use my membership card to jump the queue. But a bit of patience checking in got me a very good deal last August.

 

[tarheelalum]

Make sure you know what the taxes and airport fees are going to be at LAX. I've heard they can be extremely high.

 

[chathaway]

Make sure you know what the taxes and airport fees are going to be at LAX. I've heard they can be extremely high.

On costco reservations I have 1 quote which is lower w/o taxes but then I have the total price including tax and fees. Now I'm assuming I will not have to pay anymore than what I'm quoted. That's how it worked last time I rented in advance. I didn't have additional fees. I declined insurance, etc this is my only 2nd time renting a car so I'm no expert.

 

[Sorsha]

I"m hoping I am writing in the correct thread. Our family is going to CA June 13-22. We currently have a car rental with budget for 227.68 for a toyo corolla or similar type car booked with Costco. I have booked 4-5x so far, but was hoping to get it under under 200. I am pleased that it has come down from almost 400 when I first started!!! Has anyone else had any luck with deals getting under 200 by chance?

That's a pretty good deal!

I have an 8 day reservation (June 7-15) through Alamo for a "Fullsize: Ford Fusion or similar" and my total (including taxes and fees and unlimited mileage) is $365.

 

[Joel0917]

i did get a minivan...checking like every week on and on and on..for $378 wtih tax and all..june 14-21...not bad to me!

 

[Sorsha]

Thanks for the Costco tip OP! I rebooked with them this morning and dropped another $90 off my cost. Down to $280 (including taxes and fees).

Only thing is (and maybe here's a hint for car renters who might be in my situation): for various reasons, my husband and I choose not to use credit cards. Don't even have any. Personal choice we made years ago after some poor youthful choices. Anyhoo, renting a car is always somewhat of a challenge, but we found that in WDW, if you rent with Alamo and have a round-trip airline ticket, you can pay with a debit card and THEY DON'T REQUIRE A DEPOSIT. (Most companies will let you use a debit but they lock up double the amount of the rental on the card as a deposit.) So when I had originally booked though Alamo in CA (picking up at LAX), it was frustrating me that they didn't extend the same courtesy.

So I called Alamo and asked them if there were any Alamo rental places in the Disneyland area that didn't require the deposit, like in FL. Lo and behold, the Alamo place on Disneyland Drive (next to the Grand Californian) works just like the Alamo rentals in WDW - you can use a debit card and no deposit is required as long as you show a round-trip ticket. And I can pick the car up in DL, and return it at LAX.

OK, new decision... how to get from LAX to DL when we arrive to pick up the car. After going through all this to get a lower car rental cost, I really don't want to just smack another $100 shuttle cost onto the top of it. So with some investigation, I discover the Los Angeles Metro. For a grand total of $3 each (and a little of our time, it isn't speedy) we can take the train/bus and it will drop us off at the East Entrance of the DL plaza. A stroll through Downtown Disney and maybe a bite to eat will have us picking up our car and off to our hotel.

YAY! As long as it works as planned I think I have it all figured out.

 

[chathaway]

Thanks for the Costco tip OP! I rebooked with them this morning and dropped another $90 off my cost. Down to $280 (including taxes and fees).

Only thing is (and maybe here's a hint for car renters who might be in my situation): for various reasons, my husband and I choose not to use credit cards. Don't even have any. Personal choice we made years ago after some poor youthful choices. Anyhoo, renting a car is always somewhat of a challenge, but we found that in WDW, if you rent with Alamo and have a round-trip airline ticket, you can pay with a debit card and THEY DON'T REQUIRE A DEPOSIT. (Most companies will let you use a debit but they lock up double the amount of the rental on the card as a deposit.) So when I had originally booked though Alamo in CA (picking up at LAX), it was frustrating me that they didn't extend the same courtesy.

So I called Alamo and asked them if there were any Alamo rental places in the Disneyland area that didn't require the deposit, like in FL. Lo and behold, the Alamo place on Disneyland Drive (next to the Grand Californian) works just like the Alamo rentals in WDW - you can use a debit card and no deposit is required as long as you show a round-trip ticket. And I can pick the car up in DL, and return it at LAX.

OK, new decision... how to get from LAX to DL when we arrive to pick up the car. After going through all this to get a lower car rental cost, I really don't want to just smack another $100 shuttle cost onto the top of it. So with some investigation, I discover the Los Angeles Metro. For a grand total of $3 each (and a little of our time, it isn't speedy) we can take the train/bus and it will drop us off at the East Entrance of the DL plaza. A stroll through Downtown Disney and maybe a bite to eat will have us picking up our car and off to our hotel.

YAY! As long as it works as planned I think I have it all figured out.

Yay! glad ya got a better deal! Always nice to see that price come down!!nice deal for $3 each person. I would have considered that idea, but we are flying into LAX then heading to San Diego for 3 nights then back to Anaheim for the remainder of our trip. Flights were so much cheaper flying into LAX than anywhere else so we couldn't justify flying elsewhere and the conference my husband will be attending is in Anaheim so it's all working out. We need a car the entire time b/c we plan to go a couple of beaches when in Anaheim.

 

[d1gitman]

We will be staying 9n/10d in anaheim and booked a great deal for a rental about 2 mo ago. I found a code on mousesavers.com and we reserved a minivan for $427 including all taxes and fees for 10d.

 

[chathaway]

Just booked this morning with costco again for same rental vehicle and company for 202!!!!!! I'm so excited. I may see it belowm200 after all

 

[chathaway]

Just booked this morning with costco again for same rental vehicle and company for 202!!!!!! I'm so excited. I may see it belowm200 after all

Just wanted others to know that Costco went down again today!!! just booked yet again for UNDER 200!!!! 181 including fees. I'm so excited. This was for the same exact company and car!!!! YAY!! LOVE saving me some $$$

 

[Georgieut]

I"m hoping I am writing in the correct thread. Our family is going to CA June 13-22. We currently have a car rental with budget for 227.68 for a toyo corolla or similar type car booked with Costco. I have booked 4-5x so far, but was hoping to get it under under 200. I am pleased that it has come down from almost 400 when I first started!!! Has anyone else had any luck with deals getting under 200 by chance?

I was just looking at Costco for car rental for a full size for 217. But then we still decided to drive instead of fly. I hate driving I was out voted.

 

[mickey61607]

Just wanted others to know that Costco went down again today!!! just booked yet again for UNDER 200!!!! 181 including fees. I'm so excited. This was for the same exact company and car!!!! YAY!! LOVE saving me some $$$

When you book through Costco, does it just secure the rental for you and you pay through the actual company (i.e. Alamo) or do you pay Costco?

Costco has a better rate than I was able to secure, but I already cashed in some credit card dollars for a gift card to Alamo. I am a Costco member but never have used them before for travel. Can I reserve through Costco and use my alamo gift card to pay?

 

[Sorsha]

When you book through Costco, does it just secure the rental for you and you pay through the actual company (i.e. Alamo) or do you pay Costco?

Costco has a better rate than I was able to secure, but I already cashed in some credit card dollars for a gift card to Alamo. I am a Costco member but never have used them before for travel. Can I reserve through Costco and use my alamo gift card to pay?

Costco secures the rental for you (usually at a discounted rate) and then you pay the company directly.

As for whether or not you can pay with a gift card, I would assume so, but you might want to call Alamo and double-check.

 

[FFerret]

Not sure if this helps anyone, but for 8 days from July to August this year I got a Crown Victoria or similar (premium category) for $323. It was a name your own price with Priceline at LAX with AVIS and includes all taxes and fees (airport and PL).

The price was around 235ish and the taxes and fees around 80.

Thought I did pretty good

 

[mickey61607]

Costco secures the rental for you (usually at a discounted rate) and then you pay the company directly.

As for whether or not you can pay with a gift card, I would assume so, but you might want to call Alamo and double-check.

Awesome! Thanks. If I can use the gift card, it would get my out of pocket to under $300 for a mini-van for 8 nights and 9 days! I will call Alamo and find out!

 

[chathaway]

Costco secures the rental for you (usually at a discounted rate) and then you pay the company directly.

As for whether or not you can pay with a gift card, I would assume so, but you might want to call Alamo and double-check.

I did not pay via costco. they are only reserving my rental. I'll pay the company once I pick up the rental in LA. I'm so excited to finally see the prices come down. Costco membership has paid off already!

 

[Sorsha]

Costco secures the rental for you (usually at a discounted rate) and then you pay the company directly.

As for whether or not you can pay with a gift card, I would assume so, but you might want to call Alamo and double-check.

I did not pay via costco. they are only reserving my rental. I'll pay the company once I pick up the rental in LA. I'm so excited to finally see the prices come down. Costco membership has paid off already!

Yeah, that's what I meant. When I said "You pay the company directly" I meant the rental car company not Costco the company.

Sorry for any confusion.

 

[pixieprincess13]

We are driving from Arizona and when I originally did our rental through Costco for a mini van for 8 days it was $427. I re booked for airport pickup for the same days and it costs now $238 for the same 8 days. I have to pay the company directly.