Car rental busting my budget! Help!

[shaylyn]

Convinced Dh that it would be cheaper to stay off site in a 2bd at Bonnet Creek. Now I'm pricing mini vans for 2 weeks and it's over $800! Some of the prices I'm getting are over $1,000

I need help! Now I'm worried that we made the wrong decision not to stay on site.

We arrive on the 15 of Sept, depart on the 29th. Bought 7 day Magic Your Way tickets with water parks and we are buying 4 day tickets to Universal. Not sure if we will use all days on all tickets, but they were only an extra few $$ per ticket so they are available if we want.

We will need a vehicle to get to & from Universal as well as to & from the airport. We will also need it to grocery shop while we are there.

Bonnet Creek has a shuttle to Disney parks but not the waterparks.

Are there any other options besides renting a mini van? Renting 2 small cars? Taxi?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

gosh don't fret. You are look way to early for a car rental. Even if you look at prices right now to rent just a car the price will be a few 100 dollars. wait till about 2-3 weeks before your trip.

I would rent from Alamo. A lot of people, me included have seen a lot of van in the alamo midsize row. Meaning if you rented a midsize you could have been in luck and got a mini van. Now I am not saying that will still be true in Sept. but the prices will be better closer to the time your vacation starts.

 

[Promomx2]

I was in your situation a month ago. We're need 2 weeks in July. The best I got was on Priceline. So I would check Hotwire and Priceline, name your own price..

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

As your travel dates get closer the prices will drop. I have a midsize car reserved for 10 days in October for $170 total. I made the reservation in November. Right now that same car is nearly $375 if I price it out at the current rates. About 45 days before our trip the rates will drop and the same reservation will cost me about $150 total. Happens every single year.

 

[ozziejen2000]

Have u tried the mousesavers.com rental section. If you are a costco member, you can go to their website, then go under travel and check out those car rentals. There is also the entertainment book. Those have helped us before. Hope that helps

 

[chris31997]

Any other memerberships? Like military, gov't, AAA, buisness, frequent flyer milage to pay for some or all of it. Check into all those for some type of discounts.

 

[rdona24]

Try carrentals.com, it's the least expensive every year I go, and the best prices are usually within a month of so of the date. You can reserve and keep checking, there's no cost to cancel any reservations.

 

[torinsmom]

As your travel dates get closer the prices will drop. I have a midsize car reserved for 10 days in October for $170 total. I made the reservation in November. Right now that same car is nearly $375 if I price it out at the current rates. About 45 days before our trip the rates will drop and the same reservation will cost me about $150 total. Happens every single year.

How did you get a car for $170 for 10 days!? I am looking for August and the lowest I found was still almost $400 for 10 days for an economy size.

 

[mrsklamc]

Wait til closer to your trip and then priceline.

 

[shaylyn]

Thanks everyone!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Alamo with a Costco discount code. I made the reservation in November when rates were lower. They are up now but will eventually come down as our travel dates approach. They always do. Lowest price I've paid is $128 (all taxes included) for 10 days for a compact. I never book on priceline or any other third party site.

How did you get a car for $170 for 10 days!? I am looking for August and the lowest I found was still almost $400 for 10 days for an economy size.

 

[torinsmom]

Alamo with a Costco discount code. I made the reservation in November when rates were lower. They are up now but will eventually come down as our travel dates approach. They always do. Lowest price I've paid is $128 (all taxes included) for 10 days for a compact. I never book on priceline or any other third party site.

Thanks! I guess I started looking too late(March) for my August trip. I will keep checking back as my dates get closer. I don't want to use Priceline, as we are taking Amtrak in and out and need something close to the station or who will pick us up.

 

[ldydoc12]

I used my frequent flyer miles on American. It doesn't take many miles to rent a car and those miles probably would have ended up magazine subscriptions as we only use capital one miles now.

 

[SnowWhitee]

Definitely check the carrentalsavers already mentioned. I had a ressie with them first, then found if I joined Alamo Insider's and used a $40 off weekly rental discount code, that was better. I kept checking weekly and each time it would go down. I started with $164 in April for a full size with Alamo. By the time we left end of May it was $76.xx for one week. Book the best you can find for now, then keep checking and just cancel and rebook if you have to. Sometimes about 10 days out the sites also have "last minute" specials. You might even be lucky enough to snag that.

 

[rdrjj5]

If you are there for 2 full weeks, try reserving for the first week, with pick-up at the airport and drop off at a local location. Then reserve to pick up at the local location and drop off at the airport.

 

[csharpwv]

Yeah, you should have stayed on site and just bought the Universal tickets that include your transportation from your resort.

When you figure in all of the extra costs of staying off site, the price price of staying onsite really starts to look like a deal.
You are just that much closer to the parks, and your transportation is never an issue with Magical Express, Disney Buses, and not the Universal tickets that include your transfer - you can't go wrong!

My suggestion on what to do now would definitely be to use priceline's name your own price feature - but you will pay up front, and it's non refundable.
So be sure your plans are solid!

I used Priceline for our upcoming trip and saved almost 60% off of all of the other prices that I had found online.

Good luck - and next time, stay on site!

 

[Familycircus]

A few years ago, we rented from Rent-a-Wreck in Myrtle Beach. We payed less than 1/2 of what the other companies wanted. They were great, even picked us up at the airport. Check out the Orlando location.

 

[torinsmom]

OP-I think you'll love staying offsite. Even with car rental and parking fees, it is much cheaper for us, and man, the extra room is so nice to have! We stayed onsite at Universal one night last year and paid $300. The 3 bedroom condo(Emerald Island) we stayed at for the following week was $500 FOR THE WHOLE WEEK! This year, we renting a 5 bedroom pool home for $800 for 8 nights. It would take 3 resort rooms to hold my family of 8. Even with a AAA discount at a value resort, we would be talking $250/night x 8 nights, so around $2000 and we would be really crammed into those rooms, as we have 3 teenagers and 5 adults. I love my family, but personal space is GOOD!