Car rates from Spring Break '09

[maxiesmom]

We are investigating the possibility of staying off-site over Spring Break next year. Yeah, we are a little crazy! Anyway, in order to figure out if it would indeed save us a chuck of dough, I need an idea of what rental cars are over that time of year. So I'm hoping you all can help!

We would need a car that would hold 3 adults and 2 children. Just to get from the airport to the hotel, and around Orlando. What kind of rate can we expect to pay over the first week in April? If you used a rental car for Spring Break 2009, what did you pay? And what company did you use?

TIA!

 

[Sleepy]

I don't travel that time of year, but a good indication would be to do a search back several months looking for keywords like March, April, etc and the names of car rental companies to see what rates people recently had. This is what I do with plane fares as well.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

This year April 18-25, 2009
We rented a Cadillac from National at MCO, $271 for the week, 7 days.

Next spring, April 2010
Last week I booked our non-stop airfare with Delta/Northwest to Tampa for our April 17-24, 2010 spring break.
I searched the Northwest site for car rentals to match our flight times and booked a Cadillac from National through Northwest at TPA, $293 for the week, 8 days.
If you come up with a code, coupon or some other discount break like most of us usually do you can expect to pay anywhere from $150-$300 depending on the type of car you want or need.
Good Luck All,
Joe

 

[maxiesmom]

All I can find for April 5-10 are rates for around $300 to start! And that is with an Entertainment Book discount. Any tips on how to find a cheaper rate? Otherwise it is looking like the car rental would eat up most of what we would save by staying off-site.

 

[JoeCathyAngelina]

I don't know the Airline you're using or your flight times.
I just went to Northwest Air, cars, checked 4/5 11:00am - 4/10 3:00pm and found a full size car at Thrifty for $206.
http://carhotel.nwa.com/car_searches/1220192
Good luck all,
Joe