Car Rental Disounts?

[TheDisneyGirl02]

My DF and I are so excited for our honeymoon next month! We are going to WDW for 11 days and really want to rent a car. We are trying to price out cars right now and it is quite expensive (I know, it's 11 days, but anyway)! We've looked on Hotwire, Expedia, Priceline, etc for pricing but I was just wondering if anybody knew of any other discount sites out there that you may have used.

Thanks for any information that you can provide!

Edit: I forgot the 'c' in the topic title! Duh! Sorry!!!!

 

[e6bflyer]

My DF and I are so excited for our honeymoon next month! We are going to WDW for 11 days and really want to rent a car. We are trying to price out cars right now and it is quite expensive (I know, it's 11 days, but anyway)! We've looked on Hotwire, Expedia, Priceline, etc for pricing but I was just wondering if anybody knew of any other discount sites out there that you may have used.

Thanks for any information that you can provide!

Edit: I forgot the 'c' in the topic title! Duh! Sorry!!!!

Go to mousesavers.com and find their section on rental car discounts. They have some codes that will give you upwards of 50% off the normal rate. I used the code for the Orlando Magiccard through Thrifty, which is actually legit, you can print the card free online. The code got us a minivan for $302 for the week, which is much less than the cheapest rental from the travel websites. We tried priceline too, no luck.

 

[johnt68]

I had success at this site as well!

 

[Donald'sGirl]

TheDisneyGirl02 - my DF and I are getting married in Dec and will be in Disney for 14 days and are coming up with the same issues. I have looked on mousesavers.com like the others suggested but I am still running into the issue that codes and coupons are still to early for me to book. They usually expire before I even leave. I would wait a little bit until it gets closer to look, that's what we are doing.

 

[kazmommax3]

I'm planning my trip for late Jan '10 and was shocked at the pricing! I'll certainly keep hunting. Mousesavers has always proven to be a great help in the past but no discount could help the prices I saw today!!

Congrats on your weddings and I hope you have WONDERFUL honeymoons!!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

rentalcodes.com has contract IDs and coupon codes for all of the major rental companies.

There are HUGE fees for renting from airport locations. You might want to look into taking DME to your resort and then picking up a car from the Swan/Dolphin or the Car Care Center to avoid those fees. Another alternative would be to choose a rental agency that is located off of the airport property (like Hertz).

Good Luck!

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

I was watching Clark Howards the other morning and he said that rental agencies are buying less cars, so they have less inventory. Therefore, car rental pricing has gone up about 35% from last year and he didn't think it would be coming down anytime soon. We only need a car for a few days in Dec. and rates are just rotten right now.

 

[KT27]

Those of you that have used Thrifty Cra rental how are they?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Those of you that have used Thrifty Cra rental how are they?

Watch the bait & switch at the counter. Also, make sure that you bring proof of insurance if you want to waive the collision/damage coverage. They will require you to purchase it if you cannot prove that you are covered. Even then, be prepared to argue your case.

 

[KT27]

Watch the bait & switch at the counter. Also, make sure that you bring proof of insurance if you want to waive the collision/damage coverage. They will require you to purchase it if you cannot prove that you are covered. Even then, be prepared to argue your case.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[mnrose]

I always have had great luck with priceline...BUT you've got to wait until you are about 2 weeks (or less) from travel time. Before then, the rates aren't that great.

Here's what I do. I make my best "fall back" reservation using codes (mousesavers, costco, whatever) when I make my other reservations. I'm not required to put in a credit card, or pay in any way. I use this reservation if priceline bombs for me (which it has, albeit rarely). If I get a good priceline deal, I cancel my fall back reservation.

Then, when I get about 2 weeks out, I start pricelining bids. One thing I've noticed recently (booking my most recent trip which is 10/10-10/17) is that the CHEAPEST priceline vehicles are full size ones. Compact and economy bids at $13-15 per day drew the response that I was bidding too low, and likely my bid would fail. However, if I put in $13 for a full size, it would put it through (although it was ultimately rejected). I got a full size last night (13 days before our trip) for $16 per day (not including taxes and fees). My total for 7 days with taxes and fees was 181...the car is from Alamo, so it's right on site and very convenient for us. After I got the car, I went on Alamo's site, and the best I could do for the same week, same car was $546...obviously a TON more.

Priceline works great if you are patient and understand a little about bid strategy. I'm by no means an expert, but I've always gotten cars for a great price.

ETA: I wanted to be clear that when I say priceline...I mean the part of priceline that lets you name your own price. The "regular" pricing section of priceline isn't anything special.

 

[Donald'sGirl]

mnrose thanks for the tip. I might try that as i have used priceline before but not for cars.

 

[clutter]

There was a decent code for Avis out there. Then I got a good deal from alamo just a few days before I left in August. (Go to the hot deals section, plus register for *********** and use that code.) If you prepay, you get an additional 10% off. I ended up just under $300 for a mid size car for 12 days. The base rate was low enough (maybe $19/day before taxes), I didn't try priceline.

 

[wmharley]

I always have had great luck with priceline...BUT you've got to wait until you are about 2 weeks (or less) from travel time. Before then, the rates aren't that great.

Here's what I do. I make my best "fall back" reservation using codes (mousesavers, costco, whatever) when I make my other reservations. I'm not required to put in a credit card, or pay in any way. I use this reservation if priceline bombs for me (which it has, albeit rarely). If I get a good priceline deal, I cancel my fall back reservation.

Then, when I get about 2 weeks out, I start pricelining bids. One thing I've noticed recently (booking my most recent trip which is 10/10-10/17) is that the CHEAPEST priceline vehicles are full size ones. Compact and economy bids at $13-15 per day drew the response that I was bidding too low, and likely my bid would fail. However, if I put in $13 for a full size, it would put it through (although it was ultimately rejected). I got a full size last night (13 days before our trip) for $16 per day (not including taxes and fees). My total for 7 days with taxes and fees was 181...the car is from Alamo, so it's right on site and very convenient for us. After I got the car, I went on Alamo's site, and the best I could do for the same week, same car was $546...obviously a TON more.

Priceline works great if you are patient and understand a little about bid strategy. I'm by no means an expert, but I've always gotten cars for a great price.

ETA: I wanted to be clear that when I say priceline...I mean the part of priceline that lets you name your own price. The "regular" pricing section of priceline isn't anything special.

I do partial what you do.. I'm always checking for the lowest price and when I get a low price, I reserve it and cancel the others (allowing 1 other active as a fall back). I tried Priceline last time for a minivan but kept getting rejected for a price lower than with Hertz that I had reserved. Priceline didn't want to go lower than what I got from the hertz site with various discounts..

My dad is coming up next month and we got a car with advantage (imtermediate) for $178 for the week... with some discounts here, the next lowest was $260 on alamo...

I'll try priceline with him to see if I can go lower..

 

[KAYLI'S DAD]

We came across a similair issue. We needed a large vehicle like van or bigger for 12 days this coming november and the best deal we could find was with the AARP discount through budget for about $540 for a minivan. I think we only get 2000 miles which we will go over but it is still cheaper than everyone else we checked.