Car rentals for dummies, please help!

[britfish]

Its been many years since I've rented a car, any advice? I keep seeing people getting fantastic deals, but I cant seem to find anything even close to affordable. We will need a mid size car for 10 days in March/April. Am I looking to early? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[rwdavis2]

Yes a bit early. Remember that car reservations can be canceled without penalty. I always do a search via Expedia or some other site and the book directly with the rental company.

 

[FireCaptMac]

Google carrentalsavers... That site looks at all the rental car companies for the lowest deals for your travel dates and destination. Keep looking until you find a good price then book it either with carrentalsavers or the rental car company website. Even after you book a car keep looking because the prices are always changing. I look right up until I leave for the airport. I have changed my car rental reservation for January about 5 times. Good Luck!!

 

[migel]

if there isn't' already one, consider starting a March or April Car rental thread. I was able to obtain a great deal this past October, by using certain codes for a rental, all supplied by others participating in the thread.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Sounds like you will be there over the Easter holiday so car rental prices will be high. Any rental from March 19 to April 9 will be rather high. Its best to try some of the codes that other Diser's are posting to get a cheaper rate. But keep in mind a lot of codes may be black out because of the holiday

 

[kj2mom]

Just wanted to repeat the carrentalsavers.com recommendation. We went the week of 4th of July and it was my first time ever renting a car so I was a little uneasy about it. I picked the best deal I could find when I first entered my info into carrentalsavers then I watched daily (sometimes multiple times a day) and any time the rate went down even $1 I would book the cheaper one. Once I got that confirmation I would then go back and cancel the more expensive one. I did this probably 6 or 7 times and in the end I ended up saving about $75 from the original booking. I had really wanted to get down below $200 and for awhile I was stuck at $203 then one night at 11pm I got $165. The next morning the price was back up over $200 so I am really glad I made it a habit to consistently check the site (the way I look at it is that savings was essentially a counter service meal for us) and grab anything lower. Also, I knew I wanted to skip the counter (again, first time and I was afraid of any attempts to sell me something I didn't need) so I signed up for the Dollar Express program and the Alamo Insiders so I knew if I ended up with them I would be able to go right to the garage (the Dollar program took a bit of time, I think maybe a week, to get fully up and running so it is something to think about a little in advance). I did end up with Dollar and it was fantastic, went to the garage saw the lady at the booth and she told me to take any care from our category then whispered if we didn't like anything in that category to go ahead and select from the next one up. We were happy with our category so off we went.