Car rental help?

[*JoGo*]

I've never rented a car before. We're going on vacation in 2 weeks and need to rent a full size car or small suv. 3 adults, 2 kids.

I've looked on Travelocity, and found a better price on Car Rental Savers. I've never used Car Rental Savers before, reviews?

But my MIL said to just rent a car when we get there. There are 5 car rental kiosks at the airport we are flying into, but will it be cheaper to rent it ahead of time? Does renting it ahead of time gaurantee we'll get a the car we want? I don't want to get there and be "up-saled" into paying more $$ for a diff. car or the car we reserved not being there.

Do I get the additional insurance? Pay them to refuel or fill it up on my own?

Also... I'm on crutches. Will this cause problems? I planned to pay for the additional driver, $5/day for my SIL. But should she be the primary driver b/c of my leg? (It's my left ankle, btw)

My stepdad rented a Saturn Vue when we were in San Diego, and it had a 3rd row. But the car rental place said it only seated 5. Do all Vues have that? The car is an Impala "or comparable". So I'm leaning towards the Vue or "intermediate suv or comparable", assuming it'll have more leg room.

Please help!

 

[Wonders10]

Hi...no help to offer you, but I'm also renting in a few weeks and want to make sure I get the best deal.

So far, I've found the best deal on Travelocity - it's also the same discount that BJ Wholesale members get.

Also, I understand you want/need the extra space with your kids, etc so it may be a necessity but it seems the SUVs are WAY more expensice than the full size car. At least where I am renting from - holy cow! Otherwise, I'd rent one of those in a heartbeat.

 

[DISdreamin']

With a reservation, I've been offered free upgrades, and at times they've also attemped to upsell depending on what company. I always refuse the upsell, and sometimes the free upgrade depending on the vehicle (if I'm traveling a long distance solo and they offer an SUV or minivan, I've turned them down as the gas mileage can be a budget issue! Once, returning from NC to NY, I got them to do a discount on the rental as the gas was going to cost me $$$ - I had a car with a mechanical issue and they replaced it with a minivan that got about 18mpg ).

Anyways, I would NEVER recommend just going without a ressie. You *might* get lucky, but you might also get hosed! Better to have a ressie and then check and see what is available if you want to shop around.

In theory, having a ressie guarantees you a car, but it is possible for there to be issues if people keep cars longer than they had the reserved for. I did run into an issue arriving on a red-eye where they had no cars available whatsoever (SEA-TAC, Budget). They offered to drop a car off at our hotel as soon as one was available - by the time we woke up, it was in the parking lot, keys at the front desk. I think the issue was due to our late arrival time (middle of the night!). So, just because you have a ressie doesn't mean there won't be issues - it's uncommon, but not unheard of.

As far as leg room, I've driven some pretty roomy full-size cars and some pretty small SUVs. It really depends on the vehicle. If this is a big issue, I'd get on the auto web sites and check out the specs for the vehicles they said you might get.

Peronally, I almost never pay for the insurance (check with your auto insurance to make sure you have coverage for a rental car - the one time I accepted the insurance was in Hannover, Germany as my insurance didn't cover me internationally) and I don't ever buy the gas option. I'd never be able to let the gas gauge get low enough to make it effective, and depending on how far you anticipate driving, it may not make any sense. I just make sure I map out where the nearest gas stations are to the rental return place and fill it on the way back.

As far as the primary driver goes, check with the company to see what their policy is. Sometimes family is automatically okay - I know spouses usually are, and if it's a business rental then sometimes colleagues are automatically allowed as well, even without being on the rental agreement, bt it may vary from company to company.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

My two comments deal with insurance and gas.

If you live in the US have a car insurance policy that has good collision and comprehensive coverage you should find, by reading the policy, that it covers a "temporary substitute automobile" for up to 30 days. This will include rental cars. In addition, many credit cards will also provide additional coverage, check with the issuer of the card you will be using.

As far as gas is concerned, your decision will depend a lot on how much driving you plan to do as well as how comfortable you are driving when there is less than 1/4 tank remaining. You have three options. One is to prepay at the time of rental; if you expect that you will be turning in the car with almost no gas in the tank this is a good idea. Next is not filling up at all; this tends not to be a good idea as if the guage is reading less than "full" when you turn it in they will fill it up and the cost is about $2 per gallon higher than at a gas station. Last, and probably best, is to fill up the tank when you are about 5-10 miles away from the return at the cheapest gas station you can find; be extremely careful if you fill up close to the return location - in the Orlando Sentinel they recently reported a few gas stations very close to the airport that were not posting their prices other than on the pump itself and were routinely charging more than $2.00 per gallon higher than other stations.

 

[*JoGo*]

Thank you.

The price difference on Car Rental Savers was about $20 between the full sized car and the intermediate suv.

My brother will only be 24, which means he can not drive anything bigger than a full sized car, and it would also cost $15/day for him to be added as a driver. So I've decided he will not drive - especially as there will be days we do not drive at all.

I'm going to just fill the car up on the way to the airport. We will not be doing much driving at all. I also don't want to run out of gas on the way to the airport!

 

[MomRN]

Right before our trip in March I reserved a full size car at Budget and signed up for their discount e-mail. The day before our trip they sent an e-mail on an awesome deal for a large SUV and I was able to change the reservation with absolutely no problem. I'm sure other companies do that also. May not help you now but something to keep in mind for the future.

 

[J Le]

I've always gotten a good deal with Dollar but I thing they are part of Hertz now?

Whatever vehicle you get do a walk around BEFORE you drive it - check for nicks, scratches, etc. Check the seats and floors for any tears/stains. They are rare, but note anything on the contract and have them sign off on it. May save you from paying for "damages" later.

 

[Fire14]

I personally own a saturn Vue and mine doesn't have 3rd row seating.

 

[scrapquitler]

Just because they TAKE the reservation doesn't mean that they will KEEP the reservation... (a la Seinfeld)...

Seriously, there is never a guarantee that they are going to have the type of car you reserve. In all the times I've rented a car, they have maybe only once or twice had the type of car which I had reserved. I've usually ended up with some sort of an 'upgrade' which was not in my opinion always an upgrade (the last time we went to Disneyworld, I 'reserved' a mini van and ended up with a Nissan Armada, which is a humongus gas guzzling tank (11 MPG if I remember right), and I was barely able to climb into the damn thing, let along put my son into his car seat in it. Another time, I reserved a full size car with GPS, and ended up with an economy car without GPS, but they told me happily "we'll discount it!" Grrr. So to some extent, its a crapshoot.

As for the extra driver, I would not drive a rental car if I were on crutches unless I had no other option whatsoever. I also refuse to pay extra for the second driver, so DH and I decide ahead of time who will drive, and we go with that for the whole trip (usually I drive and he navigates).

 

[DISdreamin']

As for the extra driver, I would not drive a rental car if I were on crutches unless I had no other option whatsoever. I also refuse to pay extra for the second driver, so DH and I decide ahead of time who will drive, and we go with that for the whole trip (usually I drive and he navigates).

You should check, but with our local Avis we have been told a spouse is automatically covered!