car rental prices!!!

[hsmamato2]

What is going on this year? I am looking at various car rentals, through all the usual ways to save $,and I can't believe how high they all are...(Not just Orlando) looking at a rental for July-August, and the cheapeast car from STL is almost 400.00! last year the same rental was around 160.00..... any clues?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Supply and demand? The economy?

 

[ton80]

June this year and last year reserved Full Size for $109 total (In February both years).

 

[MumziMom]

I highly recommend looking at the Costco Travel site for car rentals. If you are talking about St. Louis Airport, I'm finding much better prices for August than you have listed. The one catch is if you like and want the price, then you need to become a Costco member, which costs a bit. We used it to reserve our 7 day minivan at MCO for $288 a couple of months back for August. That includes the second driver and tax. Prices have gone up since then, but I keep checking in case they go down. If I were you, I'd make a cancellable reservation, then keep checking. If it goes down, rebook and cancel. My price has gone up and down quite a bit. There is no rhyme or reason.

 

[hsmamato2]

that's the thing- I am a costco member- right now I found one for 320.00-about double from last July- I found a weird travelocity/ebates rate this morning for part of our trip,booked that in case we can make it work at $230 (-20% rebate!) thing is- I am staying longer than DH so that free 2nd driver is really valuable thru costcotravel. so I may have to spend the extra for that,since I could use the rental after he leaves,which is ideal. Anyway- I'm wishing the rates would drop but my current res. on costco site is up to $465!

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok I just went to check it again- using a rate from the monthly threads+ costco code (I'm a member) I got a rate of 296.00 for my dates,plus 2.5% ebates....getting better- hopefully it'll drop again before we go!

 

[kydisneyfans]

We have used Costcotravel quite a bit the past few years, but our last trip we did not find the lowest rental prices through Costco. We are finding the same for our Orlando trip in October(one way from Tampa to Disney), nor is Costco the cheapest in Vegas in November. We stick with Alamo/National/Budget/Avis most of the time. I've also found the best prices recently a day or 2 before pickup.

I would also book a cancellable backup, then reprice.