car rental woes, what happened to the prices?

[Lisa F]

Hi all,

I read the resort boards and found out about the great AP discounts at the swan/dolphin. GREAT, I booked those for august. Now I have moved on to trying to find a rental car and I can't believe the prices!

We are Emerald Club members and I put in all of my codes and the best I am coming up with is almost $400 with taxes etc for a week with a compact! I didn't think the end of august was THAT busy a time for WDW (the hotel rates drop) and AP rates have already been listed for that time at the AKL... so what's the deal?

I'd rather not use priceline because I don't want to deal with certain offsite car rental companies (spoiled by national, and I can't take those airport shuttles). I know I sound like I am whining, but does anyone have any suggestions? I was also looking for our annual January trip and also, no good rates.

Will national drop their rates again at some point (ie, should I just be patient?) or are the days of good rates over and done with? My rates aren't even coming up with any kind of a discount with the EI numbers... not even 10% off!

I tried searching through old budget board posts looking for others resporthing this sort of a thing and the only things I came up with were from last october when people were having great success for the same time periods.

Help?

Lisa

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

 

[TravelSheryl]

It's clearly an error. Why don't you just give them a call?

 

[Viking]

I think that is very expensive. We just booked a Mercury Cougar (Sporty-Category) for two weeks in September. We're gonna pick it up and return it in Orlando. We made the booking at our german travel agent and pay about $520 for two week including all taxes and fees. The rental company is Hertz.

Have fun

Viking
"To Insanity and beyond - OOPS"
WDW 88, 95 and 97 off-site, 99 DXL and DCL, Sep 2001 ASMo & 7-Day-Cruise

 

[sharonhowran]

Try Dollar Rent a car. They are at the airport.
Use code KISS when you book.

 

[Lisa F]

at the airport. For August 18-24, the best I have come up with is $269 without taxes. I generally figure taxes and surcharges to be in the 33% range (that seems to be an accurate enough estimate based on our past rental experiences) which puts it at around $360 for a week (this is an intermediate car, my husband is 6'3 and doesn't really fit into anything smaller... I tried using a 2 category upgrade coupon and booking a compact through national and got a rate that was simliar).

I tried using the KISS code at dollar and I got exactly the same rate as without it. I tried the EMFL code at dollar but still got only high rates. Since the rates are the same at all of the 3 car rental companies in the terminal, I'm guessing it's not an error, but rather what the going rate is.

I guess I will keep trying! For our 2 week trip in January we are now considering the autotrain... I think considering that we want to travel before New Year's and adding a 2 week car rental onto that, it may just make it worth it (and we are pretty close to Lorton so it's not a far drive).

Lisa

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

 

[suevee]

Also try the FVG code or see if there is a DC discount at Dollar. One good thing at dollar is that it is easy to adjust to lower rates as you find them. Also they are located in the airport at MCO.

suevee

 

[TravelSheryl]

In your first post, you commented on a Compact size. I compared National's price to Hertz's price and Hertz was significantly lower. Thus, my comment that it was an error.

You may find this hard to believe, but I've seen quite a few times where a larger car is actually cheaper than a smaller car.

I think you are making a mistake by not picking up the telephone. <IMG SRC="/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif" alt="confused">

 

[Lisa F]

I didn't mean to imply that I didn't find your response useful! Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I'll probably give DVC a call tomorrow and see what kind of rates they have and maybe the DC line and see what they have as well. Obviously, national is my company of choice (that's mainly because of the Emerald Aisle thing though). My husband also can get the Hertz equivalent through his work, so maybe we should look into that. Maybe the shuttle wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to then stand on line to leave (we could just take the car and go).

I just remember the days of the wonderful web specials for car rentals and am dismayed at the difference now!

Lisa

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

 

[Candace]

Lisa - I put in random dates for August at Dollar's website, using the FVG code, and I get $126.99 for a week for a compact. Dollar is onsite at MCO. That rate is before the "add-ons" of course, but it still probably beats the National rate you were quoted.

 

[Lisa F]

Thanks so much for the FVG code.. it's not one I've heard of before! I just tried it and came up with $126.99 for a compact and $169.99 for an Intermediate. "Tall stuff" (aka my hubbie) has decided he would rather have the cheaper rate and will deal with a compact car (he drove a Dodge Colt for years and somehow managed to fold himself into it). So much for me looking out for his comfort (not that we spend that much time in the car anyway).

Does anyone know if there are any upgrade coupons around for dollar (maybe in the entertainment book?) and whether they are combinable with this rate? If not, it's not a big deal, but right now I am just so thrilled to be able to get the car for a reasonable price!

Thanks to everyone who responded with great ideas. I may still keep on top of national to see if we can do the Emerald Aisle thing and it never hurts to make a few phone calls.

Lisa

"You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build house and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly, you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say 'This is beautiful.' That is architecture. Art enters in."
-Le Corbusier

 

[elgerber]

I have a full size reserved through National for 8 days starting August 26th, using the DC coupon and code, for $171.92 including taxes and fees. Maybe there was a mistake on their site?

Erika

 

[sharonhowran]

Lisa, if you go to dollar.com you can find a printable upgrade coupon under special offers.

 

[Yay2001]

Is it for DC members only??

I've tried booking online at dollars web site. We're staying 10 days, yet it keeps giving me a "2-week" rate -- ! I can't seem to overide it!

I'm appalled at the prices, too -- it seems there are NO deals out there -

 

[rkington]

I have a reservation at Dollar for March, using EMFL - got a rate of $199.99 per week for a minivan. I tried the FVG rate just now and it quoted me $209.99 per week. Looks like the EMFL rate is the best for me.

Rick

PO '92
DVC Member '93
CBR '93
Contemporary '94 OKW '94
BC '95 OKW '95
YC '96 OKW '96
BC '97 OKW '97
DL '98 OKW '98
DL '99 OKW '99
OKW 2000

 

[Gillian]

yay2001-
FVG is florida vacation guide (I think) & it is for anyone.

The two week rate might be cheaper that 1 week plus 3 days. It shouldn't be, but sometimes the daily rates are crazy! We have a similar problem with our 11 day stay - nothing booked yet -- the extra days are as much $$ as the first week!

 

[BethR]

For example:
I am trying to get a price for a car for the Memorial Day weekend. A few weeks ago, I checked the National site and used the 2 Free Upgrade code from the Entertainment Book. I got a rate of about $159 for my days. THIS weekend we tried again and the BEST rate that we could get in the same class was $270!
Another example:
On Saturday, I checked the rates at Dollar on a full sized car for our days. I used the FVG and KISS codes and got the same rates - $153. After seeing what National had done, I immediately reserved at this rate. The NEXT DAY - YESTERDAY - decided to look at the numbers once again. The price using both codes was $203!!!
Unbelievable!!! So the moral of the story IS: If you see a good rate - JUMP ON IT!!! You can always cancel the ressie later!

<font face="papyrus"><font size=2><font color=blue>BethR
Budget BoardCo-Host
Co-Host of The Rewards Board
BethR@wdwinfo.com</font>

 

[DebbieB]

National's rates go up and down. Chances are they will come back down, keep checking. I know I had checked rates a couple of weeks ago for our Dec 1 trip and it was $136 but I didn't book it because we don't have our flights yet. I checked last week after reading posts on this and it was up over $100.

 

[Shelly S]

National's rates change all the time. Last August we got a compact for under $100 and the year before it was right around $100 for sept. I am pretty sure they will go down again so just keep checking. Right now, I am booked for $137 per week. I have had my ressies for about a month. I check every few days because I hate to pay one more cent than I have to.

Shelly

 

[elgerber]

I have a question about the changing rates. If we book and get a confirmation with a low rate, we are locked at that rate right? Just want to make sure LOL.

Erika

 

[JandD Mom]

Dear Lisa,

On a lark I reserved a full size car throught national EA 2 weeks ago for my stay in Oct/Nov 2001. I got a good rate of about $165 for 9 days (incl tax). I checked the last couple of weeks and the price is approaching $400. My advice is to keep trying as the rates will fluctuate. Try at least weekly, and when you are ready to go you might find you get a good deal.

Once you book, print out the confirmation, as National is bound by the price quoted on the res (they tried to charge me more last year, and I had to get in line and, when the clerk would not honor the price, I had her get the manager, who did honor it). It should not be a problem. Apparently I got quoted a very low price as a result of a computer glitch. They honored it.

One caveat about Dollar, the price they quote on the web site does not include taxes. They do not even list on their web site what the taxes are. I had to email them only to find that the taxes would make my rental cost substantially higher, and not at all cheaper than what I got through National.