Budget "Special Mystery Car"

[Herding_Cats]

I feel like I read somewhere that (for most/all of the major companies) these end up being electric. Is this true? General experiences with this category of rental? It's just me and DH for this trip.


We have an 8-day stay coming up in January, so our rental car rate ends up being another $100 over the weekly rate. However, I'm seeing that I can get a "pay later" rate for Budget for about $305. Every other rate from every other on-site rental company is $480+ right now. Electric is a huge hassle on-property, so I don't want to rent one.

 

[SteveH]

Special Mystery Car = Magic 8 Ball or Box of Chocolates. IMHO it's not worth the risk with so many electric cars being dumped on the rental markets.

 

[Ross Kratter]

I rented a Mystery Car with Avis (same company as Budget) a couple of weeks ago. It was a Malibu.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Special Mystery Car = Magic 8 Ball or Box of Chocolates. IMHO it's not worth the risk with so many electric cars being dumped on the rental markets.

Right. And that's my biggest hesitation. We are staying at SSR for our trip, so it would be "easy" to park at DS for charging if needed. What's even the policy for charging an electric car and battery life at return?? Same as gas? I see that the "pre-pay fuel" is an option when you go to the check out page for the mystery car.

 

[Kerry1957]

Last year I reserved a Budget mystery car, and fearing it might be electric, I also reserved another car from another company. Sur enough, when I found out the Budget was electric I cancelled and rented the more expensive car from the other company (can't remember who)

We tried an electric car from Hertz on another trip and ended up with a Polestar. It was a disaster as we had a lot of trouble finding a charger. 6 hours at the Hollywood Studios increased it from around 20% to 35% We returned it at about 70% and were charged for fuel.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Last year I reserved a Budget mystery car, and fearing it might be electric, I also reserved another car from another company. Sur enough, when I found out the Budget was electric I cancelled and rented the more expensive car from the other company (can't remember who)

We tried an electric car from Hertz on another trip and ended up with a Polestar. It was a disaster as we had a lot of trouble finding a charger. 6 hours at the Hollywood Studios increased it from around 20% to 35% We returned it at about 70% and were charged for fuel.

Ha! Thank Kerry! This is pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. We are on the fence about renting a car at all, but it makes things easier when we have one, and it's what we are used to. But if we can't find a price down around $300, we will just rideshare around to the places we don't want to wait on busses for.

 

[Mle8308]

Try Autoslash for a car rental, I use them all the time (heard about them here on the boards from another poster). If your rate goes down or they find something lower, they email you. And you don't need to put a CC down.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Our "mystery car" from Budget this Sat was electric (really nice car though). Thankfully we only needed it for one day & not too far, so we didn't go below 70% charge and therefore didn't need to charge it.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Try Autoslash for a car rental, I use them all the time (heard about them here on the boards from another poster). If your rate goes down or they find something lower, they email you. And you don't need to put a CC down.

I had the autoslash web address in my sig line for a while. It is the answer. I save $100's almost every trip using it. Just book the car you want from any rental car company, put your rental information in autoslash and wait for a better price. I can get really good deals through the company I work for so try that with your employer if you can. Lots of people suggest COSTCO but I've always been able to beat COSTCO prices one way or another (but try it if you haven't already). I would absolutely steer clear of an electric car. There are Chargepoint chargers on-property but who wants to devote an afternoon of your vacation dealing with that?

 

[EACarlson]

Mystery car means you get whatever they have leftover. Right now that means electric cars if there are any in the fleet. Before electric it was almost always either a subcompact, pick up truck or 15 passenger van. I think Hertz allows you to do a managers special that excludes electric vehicles. When Autoslash sends you the options, click through and look at all of them on Priceline. You might find something that works better for you.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I’m checking auto slash, Costco, and the chase portal (because using points makes it “free” )

But SOMETIMES it’s just cheaper to go through the company directly. I don’t even have a dummy booking yet because this is my 4th year in a row reserving for this time frame, and I know the rates will drop a lot between Thanksgiving and Christmas)

 

[Mle8308]

Mystery car means you get whatever they have leftover. Right now that means electric cars if there are any in the fleet. Before electric it was almost always either a subcompact, pick up truck or 15 passenger van. I think Hertz allows you to do a managers special that excludes electric vehicles. When Autoslash sends you the options, click through and look at all of them on Priceline. You might find something that works better for you.

You are the one I got the Autoslash information from, thank you! You have saved me a nice amount of cash!

 

[SteveH]

What's even the policy for charging an electric car and battery life at return?? Same as gas? I see that the "pre-pay fuel" is an option when you go to the check out page for the mystery car.

Yes, it's supposed to be. Three of my friends have been "stuck" with the EV (not Hybrid) and none of them had a charge over 1/2 - they don't tell you that you need to setup an account, etc to charge too. Each of them have said never again. Because they are not selling well some rental places have take on some as they were to cheap to pass up, but many of them are culling them from their fleet. Last think I want to deal with on an expensive Disney vacation is trying to charge a freaking car. Pay what you need to so you don't get the mystery or EV.

 

[Lumpy1106]

One thought about the electric vehicles;
Check the website, but I think they charge you $60 if you just tell them to charge it (like pre-paying for a tank of gas - don't do that, it's a rip-off). That seems like a lot, but if the rental is $100 less than a gas car - why not?

 

[Lewisc]

Electric is a huge hassle on-property, so I don't want to rent one.

Obviously don't reserve a mystery car, unless an electric car is explicitly excluded.

Many people share your opinion. The remaining electric vehicles tend to be leftover

 

[leebee]

I also have good luck with carrentalsavers.

 

[happily single]

Thanks for posting this. Just today I was so close to changing my current reservation to an electric car to save $75. We are staying at CSR and they have EV chargers. I think I’ll keep the current non electric reservation

 

[Mle8308]

Thanks for posting this. Just today I was so close to changing my current reservation to an electric car to save $75. We are staying at CSR and they have EV chargers. I think I’ll keep the current non electric reservation

Good call. I wouldn't do it on vacation if you don't have experience with an EV. And just because there are chargers at the resort, doesn't mean they will be available. People tend to "forget" to move them after they have charged up and the car can sit in the spot for quite some time.

 

[jimmymc]

A lot of them do end up being electric, but it depends. I've had minivans, regular vans, and pickup trucks as a mystery car before. I frequently get them when I travel solo, since even a tiny car would be fine for one person.

 

[_19disnA]

We are staying at CSR and they have EV chargers.

Since there aren't currently any national charging standards, the existence of a charging station doesn't necessarily mean it will be compatible with all EV's. People need to consider all of these issues before deciding to rent one.