Avis Questions

[cg1200]

I rarely rent a car but will be attending a conference in June down in Disney. I will need a car for the 4 days. The best rates I'm seeing are about $180 through Avis + taxes and whatever else they add on. Seems pricey but I don't really know. Is that a good rate for middle of June?

Anyway, I've read on this board that the lines for car rentals can be epic. So I signed up for a Wizard #. Now it's asking me to enroll in the Preferred Service program and wants me to put in a credit card. I don't think they charge anything but I'm just wondering if it's worth it. Will enrolling in this allow me to skip the normal line? Also do I need to rent with Avis several times a year to maintain my preferred status?

 

[sympatico]

I would keep looking, that's quite high. Go to the mousesavers site and try some of the codes and coupons. http://www.mousesavers.com/rentalcar.html
If you rent from Alamo, you can check in online, print your paperwork, and when you get there you can go right to your car and pass the papers in at the exit booth.
I randomly tried Thrifty for the middle of June for a compact car and was getting $127. taxes and fees included.

 

[cg1200]

Wow. The only one i didnt try was thrifty. Did a lot of the others and they were even higher. I guess I'll wait a bit. Is thrifty ok? I have not read great things.

 

[cg1200]

I randomly tried Thrifty for the middle of June for a compact car and was getting $127. taxes and fees included.

I'm not seeing anything even close to this, even from Thrifty. Using the codes on Mousesavers for June 13th - June 17th the best I can do is about $180 all in. I can get a $120 base rate but with all the other charges it adds up.

 

[Stephanator]

I always rent a car in Orlando and generally end up with a weekly rate of about $180-$200 for a compact car with Alamo or Budget. I currently have a compact car booked with Alamo for June 21-30 this year at a rate of $182.47 with taxes. By comparison (I just checked), using the Costco discount, a compact car with Avis for the same time period is $269.30.

I use a discount code that I have from being a Costco memeber. If that applies to you, just go to the Costco Travel website and look under "rental cars". Otherwise, Mousesavers is a good resource, as well as Entertainment book coupons. If you don't have an Entertainment book of your own, ask a friend. They generally won't use all the coupons.

Depending on the times you are picking it up/dropping off, your rental may actually be for a weekly rate. Car rentals are based on a 24 hour time period. So if you pick up on June 20 at 9am and drop at June 24 at 5pm, that's actually 5 days, which is generally a weekly rate.

I think the best way to do a generic search is through Orbitz to check all car rates on a grid and then from there narrow down what car company you really want to use and go directly to their website with any coupon codes in hand.

 

[katallo]

I would continue looking. We are renting a compact from Alamo for a week. $143. That's with the Costco discount. We rented from Avis last year and had terrible customer service. We had a dead battery and sat in the car for over 2 1/2 hours because Avis Roadside Assistance "confused" the address.

 

[cg1200]

I would continue looking. We are renting a compact from Alamo for a week. $143. That's with the Costco discount. We rented from Avis last year and had terrible customer service. We had a dead battery and sat in the car for over 2 1/2 hours because Avis Roadside Assistance "confused" the address.

Ouch. Using some of the codes on mousesavers the best I can do is about $160 using thrifty. I'll keep looking. Thanks for the feedback.