Best way to get a good deal on a rental car?

[MomtoGKC]

I have looked everywhere I can think of and am still having a hard time with rental car prices for this summer. We need to rent a intermediate or full size SUV or a minivan from Logan airport in Boston. We will need it for a little over 3 weeks, and the cheapest I can find so far is about $2400 which is about $50-55 a day without tax. We have AAA. I have looked on the AAA site, Kayak, hotwire, expedia and the individual car rental sites.

I wouldn't mind trying Priceline but I don't know too much about it. Can I be sure it will be from one of the bigger rental companies? There is a Budget that I know I don't want to use because even though it is listed as an airport location it is actually about 20 minutes out of the way. Also, can I specify the type of car I need?

Thanks!!

 

[debbiedana]

try carrentalsavers.com. I've found the best deals with them.

 

[Dismom55]

I just keep pricing them until the last minute, keep trying for the best deal I can get useing all options we have all heard of. I usually end up going with a AAA discount, but have found better prices depending on what I was going for at the time. Go with the smallest that can accomodate your needs, sometimes you will get upsized at not extra cost.

I reserve what is in my budget, then night do another search, once I find a better price I reserve it and cancel the first and on and on until just before my trip. Sometimes the closer to your trip the more the companies want those cars rented and the more they will discount them.

Also if you are going to need the car during a peak time that will be costing you. You can not get around that.

Good Luck, there are deals out there you just have to dig for them.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I once had to rent a minivan for a month, here at home. DD was having hip surgeries, and we had no vehicle to transport her to Dr appmts. (non weight bearing, had to slide on a board from her wheelchair to the car)

ANYWAY, I finally ended up getting one at the airport in Philadelphia. Local offices were much higher, so look all over. It so happened that the best deal for the month was thru Enterprise, they were having a special on LT rentals. It still was about $200/week, but I had no choice.

SO look everywhere! I also start with Costco's website (we are members), they often have great rates.

Good luck!

 

[MomtoGKC]

Thank you! Costco has better deals than AAA. I let my membership lapse last year since we moved a bit farther away, but it will save me so much on the car alone that it will be worth it to sign back up.

 

[ktlm]

Car rental prices are crazy for this summer. I have rented one a certain week of the summer from the same airport for the last 2 years, and when I checked the same week to see about the possibility of taking the same trip this year, the rental car prices were $200 higher than what I spent each of the last 2 years. Flights were bad too.

My advice is to check all the rental places available for the location where you want to rent the car. You can usually find some online reviews for the car rental companies for a specific airport or area too, so you might look at those before you decide to rent from the cheapest place. I found one of the national car rental chains that had a cheaper price, and almost booked it, but when I checked the reviews online that specific location had pretty universally horrible reviews.... bad or dirty cars; cars not available at the scheduled time; cars breaking down; fees tacked on at the counter; poor service etc. I quickly decided that the "savings" probably wouldn't be worth it.

One thing to be careful about when you are checking is coupon codes. After seeing how high the rates are for this summer, I looked all over the internet for discount codes. I found several and I tried one. I was quite surprised that the one that was supposedly a 25% discount when I applied the coupon actually came out at a higher price for the weekly rental than the website had given me previously when I ran it through without the coupon. Even when I took off the coupon, it would not go back to the former rate until I completely closed out the website and re-opened it and started over. I have a membership card to a couple of national car rental chains and the same thing happened when I tried their supposed "member" discounts.

Good luck!

 

[polkadotminnie]

We always use Priceline (name your own price) or Costco to save on rental cars.

 

[coachb]

I'm a big fan of carrentalsavers.com. You don't have to pay up front and you can keep checking. My experience is costs go down significantly about 2 weeks out from the rental date.

 

[pigletto]

My experience is only with Orlando but it might help. Watch all the sites religiously. Sometimes the prices fluctuate several times in one day and then are back up the next morning. Prices for anywhere should start dropping once they know what's in their inventory and still need more bookings. So pay careful attention and check a few times a day.
Carrentalsavers is good to get a general idea, but once you have that, go directly to the site to book (Almamo or Budget etc.). Carentalsavers would show me when prices had dropped but they overall didn't have the best codes available. Those I always found using my membership for whatever company it was (free to join all of them) and a coupon code.
Google for coupon codes and check their legitimacy. If you find a forum where tons of people have used it recently and report no problems that's good. But don't use a code if you don't know where it came from or if you aren't entitled because it will give you a hassle later. Some of the sites where I could confirm codes were here, flyer talk, and cruise critic since all of those people need cars too.

Expedia.ca had very low prices. You don't have to be Canadian to book with them and many many Americans here did with no problems.
They are high for my dates now, but that is typical around now. They drop when the dates get closer.

Hope some of that can help you. Good Luck
ETA) Oh! And try the slightly off airport locations. By going into town instead of using the airport you could save quite a bit. Grabbing a taxi to get to your rental is worth the extra 20 or 40 if it saves you 200.

 

[ScrampShopper]

I always book my car less than a week before my trip and get the best rates only then. You can get emails from Hotwire telling you when prices drop for your rental location and dates.

 

[tasha99]

If you're a member of USAA, look at their car rental links under products-->shopping--->rental cars. For my area, they have great deals. I have family coming to visit, and they had reserved a week and a half car rental for almost $1000. With USAA, it will be around $230! (I live in the land of gauge the tourist if it's summer).