Car Rental On Property

[SteveS]

I have been looking for a deal on a car for an upcomming trip. My options are to rent at MCO for the full 2 weeks or use ME and rent for a week in the middle. So I shopped around.

I am amazed to see that rental prices from Alamo for the same period are significantly higher to rent on property than at MCO. Wow!! I thought renting at the airport was high.

Has anyone else done this comparison??

 

[cjnix29]

I have done it. I have actually gotten the same rate at MCO and the car care center/Dolphin. Alamo is high to begin with, my good rates have been at National. I actually decided to take ME to the hotel and get the shuttle to the CCC instead of lugging all my luggage, stroller and 3 year old through the parking lot! You just have to keep trying. For weeks I had been getting rates in the 180's for an intermediate, and just got a rate of 130 for a full size. It's all about trial and error!

 

[OKW Lover]

Don't limit yourself to Alamo. Avis and Dollar have locations on Hotel Plaza Blvd so be sure to check them too.

 

[tinaluis]

SteveS,
I agree with cjnix29 -- Alamo's rates have been pretty high. I had an 8 day reservation with Budget (at the Doubletree Hotel in DTD on Hotel Plaza Blvd) for a mid-size car for $189 minus a $20 coupon to be presented at time of rental and an 8 day mid-size with National at the Dolphin for $214.95. Yesterday powellrj posted that National's rates were down, so I checked them out and was able to get a full-size for 8 days for $136.46, all taxes included. I'm definitely doing the happy dance here . Make a cancelable back-up reservation now, and keep checking rates. It doesn't cost anything to make and cancel the reservations, other than the time you spend checking. I checked National this morning for the same dates, times, pick-up, etc. and it's coming up at double the price now. Glad I booked when I did!

 

[Zim]

Ack! I finally got so tired of all the difference codes and liability costs, fees and taxes... the first week we're using ME and staying on site at AKL.

I THINK I got a decent deal on Budget for the 3 hour trip from Disney to Cape Canaveral for a 3-day Disney cruise - $76 (which includes everything, including the liability stuff).

I couldn't find the same deal back, and our problem is that we're staying at Hard Rock Hotel for a second week after the 3-night Disney cruise and the only place you can drop off any one-way rental is MCO! So it actually is cheaper in the long run for us to take the $105 Happy Limo service to HRH's doorstep rather than a car rental or shuttle and then have to find taxi service over to Hard Rock. I guess if we need it we'll use taxi service that second week - seems a shame to get a full week rental and have it sit in a $7 a day garage for most days, in our case.

But I'm no travel expert - far from it, in fact I usually RV because I'm such a penny pinching traveller, but with a ten year bonus this year, we're sort of going all out for once... But if anyone has any better suggestions, there's a big difference between going all out and just plain throwing money away for no good reason - Please let me know - all these ressies can be changed!