Booked Car rental

[wayneg]

Been looking for a deal on Car rental since last year for our trip this July/Aug. Quotes have been anything from £518 (after Quidco) upto over £1,000. I said I would book if I saw a rate under £500(paid £450 last year)
This evening I got email from Auto Europe who I used last year saying they had lowered their rates.
7 seater, 18 nights collecting from MCO returning to TPA, upto 4 drivers & tank of gas £523.14 less 7% Quidco = £486.52
Still not £450 like last year but AE have no fees for amendments or cancellations and they pricematch if I see a lower rate.
Its also with Dollar, my fave rental company.
Just need to book a smaller(full size) car now for our first 6 nights.

 

[fairytale]

Been looking for a deal on Car rental since last year for our trip this July/Aug. Quotes have been anything from £518 (after Quidco) upto over £1,000. I said I would book if I saw a rate under £500(paid £450 last year)
This evening I got email from Auto Europe who I used last year saying they had lowered their rates.
7 seater, 18 nights collecting from MCO returning to TPA, upto 4 drivers & tank of gas £523.14 less 7% Quidco = £486.52
Still not £450 like last year but AE have no fees for amendments or cancellations and they pricematch if I see a lower rate.
Its also with Dollar, my fave rental company.
Just need to book a smaller(full size) car now for our first 6 nights.

Great news Wayne

Just looked for my dates and they are also looking very competitive.

May I ask how you know your vehicle is with Dollar?, is it confirmed on your confirmation?

Annette x

 

[Linda67]

That sounds like a great price

 

[disneyholic family]

Been looking for a deal on Car rental since last year for our trip this July/Aug. Quotes have been anything from £518 (after Quidco) upto over £1,000. I said I would book if I saw a rate under £500(paid £450 last year)
This evening I got email from Auto Europe who I used last year saying they had lowered their rates.
7 seater, 18 nights collecting from MCO returning to TPA, upto 4 drivers & tank of gas £523.14 less 7% Quidco = £486.52
Still not £450 like last year but AE have no fees for amendments or cancellations and they pricematch if I see a lower rate.
Its also with Dollar, my fave rental company.
Just need to book a smaller(full size) car now for our first 6 nights.

sounds great!!
is dollar like alamo in terms of picking your own car? or do they pick one for you?
last year i got a great deal through alamo UK, using a weird discount code someone posted on this board....
i don't need a car this year...i'm not going to WDW ......and DD doesn't want to drive in orlando - she'll have a car for just 3 days on her trip - when they're in Fairbanks Alaska - rest of the trip she'll be on trains, on the cruise ship and then using disney buses in WDW..

 

[wilma-bride]

Great rate Wayne

Just had a look for our dates and they are £20 cheaper than the quote we've got from usrentacar (plus, obviously, cashback on top of that so actually around £50 cheaper) however I can't seem to work out whether there is any way to include a tank of fuel with the rate and how you can add extra drivers (not that I'm planning to drive but DH has decided it would be handy just in case).

The only other downside is the fact that you have to pay in full up front as opposed to just being able to pay a deposit with usrentacar but, for the sake of £50, I'm not going to worry too much about that.

 

[wayneg]

May I ask how you know your vehicle is with Dollar?, is it confirmed on your confirmation?

Annette x

You don't know until the confirmation comes thru(took about 15 mins) used them 3 times now and they have supplied Dollar cars each time but they do also supply others like Hertz, Alamo etc, could be any.

sounds great!!
is dollar like alamo in terms of picking your own car? or do they pick one for you?
i don't need a car this year...i'm not going to WDW

You pick your own, last year I think we had a choice of 3 7 seat minivans, when we collected the docs from the Express desk I asked the member of staff which she would choose, I took the one she recommended, it was perfect, wanted to bring it home.

Thats easily solved book some flights

 

[wayneg]

Great rate Wayne

Just had a look for our dates and they are £20 cheaper than the quote we've got from usrentacar (plus, obviously, cashback on top of that so actually around £50 cheaper) however I can't seem to work out whether there is any way to include a tank of fuel with the rate and how you can add extra drivers (not that I'm planning to drive but DH has decided it would be handy just in case).

The only other downside is the fact that you have to pay in full up front as opposed to just being able to pay a deposit with usrentacar but, for the sake of £50, I'm not going to worry too much about that.

http://www.auto-europe.co.uk/
They have 4 rates for each car, this is for my dates. (Less 7% Quidco)
Inclusive 431.14 GBP
GPS 513.97 GBP
Gold Rate - Includes 3 additional drivers and tank of fuel 523.14 GBP
Includes GPS & Gold Rate 605.97 GBP

They won't be the cheapest for all dates or all cars, this year I struggled for a fair price for what we wanted, other dates I tried for other people were cheaper elsewhere.

 

[disneyholic family]

You pick your own, last year I think we had a choice of 3 7 seat minivans, when we collected the docs from the Express desk I asked the member of staff which she would choose, I took the one she recommended, it was perfect, wanted to bring it home.

Thats easily solved book some flights

nice when you get to pick your own!! i love that!!
we had a really good 7 seater last summer from alamo...i wanted to take it home with me too...we had this cool reverse camera so you could see what was behind you when you back up....i remember you posting that you had that on your car too....really a fabulous feature...i can't remember what car we had...i suppose it was either a chrysler or a ford, but i can't remember...
maybe it was the same as the one you had...
in any case it had wonderful features and was very easy to drive..


as for me to WDW - maybe in october for that conference i went to a few years back (when i did WDW solo - not nearly as much fun as with family)..
i have the disney dream booked for october right after the conference...
but i can always move the reservation if i have to...

 

[wayneg]

nice when you get to pick your own!! i love that!!
we had a really good 7 seater last summer from alamo...i wanted to take it home with me too...we had this cool reverse camera so you could see what was behind you when you back up....i remember you posting that you had that on your car too....really a fabulous feature...i can't remember what car we had...i suppose it was either a chrysler or a ford, but i can't remember...
maybe it was the same as the one you had...
in any case it had wonderful features and was very easy to drive..

I think it was a Chrysler Town & Country we had, no need to close doors just press a button, reverse cam was great. Hope we get same.

 

[GirlDreamer]

Wow, this is cheaper for may dates Question, when I click the link about renting a satnav it takes me to a different site that sends the satnav home to you before your trip. Has anyone tried that? Does that work okay?

 

[wayneg]

Wow, this is cheaper for may dates Question, when I click the link about renting a satnav it takes me to a different site that sends the satnav home to you before your trip. Has anyone tried that? Does that work okay?

If you rent Satnav with the car its usually done thru the car rental company, they also rent seperate, this will be thru a UK company. Either way they are very expensive, see my prices above, they want £82.83 to add sat nav (basic model and hand it back)
For £60 incl tax you can buy a far better model with lifetime map upgrades http://www.walmart.com/ip/TomTom-XXL-550M-5.0-Portable-GPS-w-Lifetime-Map-Updates/14585208
If you wanted a basic model they cost about £35-40 (this was in stock yesterday, now out of stock, offers come & go.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/TomTom-ON...Spoken-Street-Names/19599005?findingMethod=rr
Either model you will get use from it then get your money back on Ebay(sometimes slightly less, sometimes at a profit)

 

[wayneg]

Anyone still looking for car rental also check USrentacar, they have just released an offer with 10% off Dollar rentals. Still not quite as good as Auto Europe for us but its close.
http://blog.usrentacar.co.uk/index.php/2012/02/25/special-offer-10-discount-with-dollar-rent-a-car/

 

[disneyholic family]

I think it was a Chrysler Town & Country we had, no need to close doors just press a button, reverse cam was great. Hope we get same.

yes, i think it was a town and country..
and yes, just push a button to close the sliding doors on both sides of the car...and also the hatch door on the back..
and all the buttons were also on the remote opener...i just pushed the buttons on the remote and the side and back doors opened automatically...
totally cool...i didn't realise it right off...only a few days into having the car...
then i couldn't stop playing with it..

that minivan would cost a fortune here.....the purchase taxes on cars are super high.....more than 100%......i'd have to rob a bank to buy it....but such a nice car to drive!!
of course, it's way too big to drive here......once you get into the city with all the small streets, you wouldn't be so happy to have a big car like that...
i drive a honda jazz and it's the absolute perfect size for here..
but it was a lot of fun driving that town and country in orlando!!!

 

[irenep]

Lots of useful info - checked our dates in August with both auto-europe and USRAC but even with cashback US is coming out slightly cheaper so have gone with them.
I don't need a car the whole trip so have gone with Alamo at Disney - does anyone know if I get to choose a car at the Disney Car Centre?
I vaguely recall just being given a car with no options in the past

 

[disneyholic family]

That was our experience as well - they gave us a car.
But if you have a problem you can exchange it.
But still I'd rather pick out for myself at the airport.
But perhaps they've changed the set up?

 

[burt]

Checked both auto europe and us rentacar both good deals for what we want a jeep grand cherokee for 24 days in august, auto europe slightly cheaper plus cashback so makes it a great price. Thats another box ticked just need to decide what to do for first three nights now and we are all sorted , Hope im not in trouble again you know how some people get upset when you find me a bargain Wayne

 

[fairytale]

Same here Burt another box ticked yesterday

Booked via usrentacar for 26 days this August, 7 seater, £100.00 cheaper than this time last week. Chose a Dollar car as I'm quite a creature of habit and know its plain sailing at the airport with Dollar (I'm sure all car hire agents are the same though these days).

Next for me, theme park tickets and accomodation for our first 5 days

Annette x

 

[wilma-bride]

Annette, I am the same - Budget was cheaper through usrentacar than Dollar for the full size vehicle we wanted but I stuck with Dollar as we have always had good experiences with them. We used Budget once before from Miami airport (where we're flying into in August) and it was a complete nightmare - took nearly 2 hours from getting through immigration to leaving with our car.

Thanks to Wayne for posting about the 10% off with usrentacar I got a great price of £360 for a full-size car (DH is hoping for a Dodge Charger but I've told him not to get his hopes up) for 19 days

 

[floridaforever]

Auto europe just beat my quote from Florida Escapes!! 16 nights standard SUV jeep or similar - pick up 13/8. £358, very pleased with that and I have just started using Quidco too. Prefered to book with Auto Europe as I like their no fee amendments etc. So thanks for that Wayne.......we saw you last August on I think your arrival day in the car park of Publix! (to scared to say hi !). Just got the voucher and the car is with Dollar. Can I pre-register and go straight to the garage?

Melissa

 

[GirlDreamer]

Found an economy car for £198.33 for two weeks (apparently with no excess), am I right in assuming I won't find a better price than that? Think we might just book as they have that great cancellation policy. Thanks for sharing this Wayne