August 2012 Car Rental Thread

[Swimmergirl]

My rates with Alamo have now dropped to $190 for a standard OR $194 for a full size car - picking up at MCO dropping off at MCO for 8/7 to 8/16. WOOT !

I was hoping to pay no more than $200 for the 9 days - now I am hoping for another drop in rates, but if not, at least I reached slightly below my max.

Did you use a code for this? If so, please share!

 

[MrsDoubtfire]

We are members of BJ's - so I reserved by clicking through their website, which then goes to Alamo's site. This "corporate code" (or whatever it is), is 7014696. I am also an "Alamo Insider" - not quite sure what good that does, but I added my info in that section. Then to save an additional $35, I used e-coupon code AD2359FDF, which is an American Airlines code - I registered on that site also in case Alamo actually checks. The BJ's code allows for an additional driver with no additional charge, and also unlimited miles.

As far as the BJ's code, I always book using that code, and have never had a problem,NORr have I been asked to show my BJ's card, however I do have a membership so if they do ask, I'm good ... FWIW

Hope that can help someone !

 

[DisneyDawnNH]

Just made my reservation with Alamo, dates 8/26 @ noon -8/31 @ 4:30 Full Size Car, rate of $129.00 (with taxes/surcharges/fees) $181.70

I clicked on a link on the Mousesavers website that references Visa Cardholder Discount for Alamo and went through that link to book. I have been chasing codes all night and this was much lower than all the others for my dates, we do not have a Saturday night stay which is sort of a big deal with these codes.

Hope this can help somebody else, I love getting tips and advice from fellow DISers!

 

[DisneyDawnNH]

Found the same discount for my Alamo rental through the Southwest Airline website, 30% discount ends up being the exact same rate, so I changed it just because I trust SWA a little more than a weird Visa click through discount.

I will continue to look for better deals because it still just seems a bit expensive.

 

[buffettgirl]

Just made my reservation with Alamo, dates 8/26 @ noon -8/31 @ 4:30 Full Size Car, rate of $129.00 (with taxes/surcharges/fees) $181.70

I clicked on a link on the Mousesavers website that references Visa Cardholder Discount for Alamo and went through that link to book. I have been chasing codes all night and this was much lower than all the others for my dates, we do not have a Saturday night stay which is sort of a big deal with these codes.

Hope this can help somebody else, I love getting tips and advice from fellow DISers!

It's crazy, but the week before is still very high.

 

[buffettgirl]

Spoke too soon - dollar has a cheap "city special" rate for my dates Aug 21-27. No code. When you're at the screen for selecting a car you click "city special" pop up that will show near a few car choices. THAT rate was far cheaper than any other code I found for Dollar.

Total for 7 days with tax $148 for midsize. Lowest I've found. I'm getting near to the break even point with town car rental (roughly would have been about $125 including tip)

 

[pigletto]

Spoke too soon - dollar has a cheap "city special" rate for my dates Aug 21-27. No code. When you're at the screen for selecting a car you click "city special" pop up that will show near a few car choices. THAT rate was far cheaper than any other code I found for Dollar.

Total for 7 days with tax $148 for midsize. Lowest I've found.

Thank you for this!!! I previously had an Alamo reservation for 11 days, full size for 206.00 which I was pretty happy with.
I checked the rates with the Dollar city special and got the same down to 146.00.

A van with the Dollar City Special is 260 for the 11 days which is the best I've seen but we set a budget of 200 for the car rental and I don't want to go over it like I have on everything else

 

[artesian]

I'm opting to go with another ressie i just did through dolar. It's $40 more than my SOG rental but I think it's worth eleminating any hassle with the DME as well as worrying about getting to SoG. My thanks to whoever posted the city special for dollar. You just got me not to have concerns about this anymore

 

[buffettgirl]

I'm opting to go with another ressie i just did through dolar. It's $40 more than my SOG rental but I think it's worth eleminating any hassle with the DME as well as worrying about getting to SoG. My thanks to whoever posted the city special for dollar. You just got me not to have concerns about this anymore

You're welcome. I figured since I was the one who raised the concerns about sog in the first place I might as well help out a little. LOL. Even though I'm staying at SOG I'm also worried about what sort of cars are going to be available when we arrive - plus - we don't get DME so I would still have to pay for the town car to SOG one way which then brings it to about the same rate as I just got. So much less hassle.

 

[jwcollin]

Spoke too soon - dollar has a cheap "city special" rate for my dates Aug 21-27. No code. When you're at the screen for selecting a car you click "city special" pop up that will show near a few car choices. THAT rate was far cheaper than any other code I found for Dollar.

Total for 7 days with tax $148 for midsize. Lowest I've found. I'm getting near to the break even point with town car rental (roughly would have been about $125 including tip)

I just saved another $30 off my rental!! Thanks for the information!

Does anyone know what types of cars are in the Dollar Full-size aisle and do you get to pick?

 

[pigletto]

I just saved another $30 off my rental!! Thanks for the information!

Does anyone know what types of cars are in the Dollar Full-size aisle and do you get to pick?

My reservation says a Taurus (or similar). I did a search and someone recently said they got a Chrysler 300, but I don't know if that's typical.

 

[happymommy]

Thank you for this info! Just booked through Dollar for less than $300 tax included for two weeks of a full size car. We don't know our dates exactly yet, since I want to go for 2 weeks, and need to add onto our condo nights, but this works for now!

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Spoke too soon - dollar has a cheap "city special" rate for my dates Aug 21-27. No code. When you're at the screen for selecting a car you click "city special" pop up that will show near a few car choices. THAT rate was far cheaper than any other code I found for Dollar.

Total for 7 days with tax $148 for midsize. Lowest I've found. I'm getting near to the break even point with town car rental (roughly would have been about $125 including tip)

I booked with Dollar for similar dates on July 5 - was able to get their lock low and go rate for $116, but mid-size was just a few dollars more. I booked this category in 2010 and got a Dodge Charger, so figured I'd give it a shot - there are only 2 of us.

Thought I'd mention this as those of you who just booked might catch it at an even lower rate!

I'm opting to go with another ressie i just did through dolar. It's $40 more than my SOG rental but I think it's worth eleminating any hassle with the DME as well as worrying about getting to SoG. My thanks to whoever posted the city special for dollar. You just got me not to have concerns about this anymore

artesian, my Dollar rate is $42 more than my SOG reservation, and I'm trying to determine which to use, too! We can use ME to get to our resort, but can't decide if it is worth the hassle. I'm keeping both bookings for a while.

 

[luvsvacations]

Can someone give me the Visa ID - I have the card - cant find the ID number - thought I would give this one a try. Thanks

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Found the same discount for my Alamo rental through the Southwest Airline website, 30% discount ends up being the exact same rate, so I changed it just because I trust SWA a little more than a weird Visa click through discount.

I will continue to look for better deals because it still just seems a bit expensive.

The Visa discounts are completely legit - you don't have to use the "click through" booking windows. Just put the codes into the Alamo, National or other rental car website booking window. In fact, when I use the Visa website to click through, it eventually takes me to the rental car website for booking.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Can someone give me the Visa ID - I have the card - cant find the ID number - thought I would give this one a try. Thanks

Each rental company has its own Visa code. You can go to this webpage for all the Visa car rental discounts: http://usa.visa.com/personal/discou...tegoryName=CarRental&categoryId=15&pageId=197

If you want the Alamo Visa corp ID, it is 7015504. Just click on the coupon you want to use, it will give you ID and coupon code.

 

[luvsvacations]

Well thanks - but unfortunately a mini van is still $850.

 

[Shagley]

I just booked a great rate through Dollar too. Thanks for that tip! My rate ended up being about the same as my rental through SOG, but much less hassle. The problem I have is that I am returning the car to the Sanford airport, so a lot of the rates are higher because I am returning it to a different location.

The thing I don't like with Dollar is that there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid the additional driver fee if you want more than one driver. Since we will have 4 adults, I am pretty sure there isn't just one person that will want to drive the entire time. To add a second driver will add about $80 to that rental. I can't decide if it is worth the extra $80 to not have to hassle with getting to SOG.

 

[honeysuckle_rose]

Spoke too soon - dollar has a cheap "city special" rate for my dates Aug 21-27. No code. When you're at the screen for selecting a car you click "city special" pop up that will show near a few car choices. THAT rate was far cheaper than any other code I found for Dollar.

Total for 7 days with tax $148 for midsize. Lowest I've found. I'm getting near to the break even point with town car rental (roughly would have been about $125 including tip)

Thank you!!!

 

[pigletto]

Well I was just looking at my Dollar Confirmation and filling out the license info etc so we could check in faster and realized that somehow when booking I had entered the wrong end date by 5 fewer days

Luckily I hadn't cancelled my Alamo reservation yet. That could have been a costly stupid mistake as my Alamo rental is 65 cheaper than the new Dollar quote. Yikes.