Car Rentals?

[bubba]

Hi all! My husband and I are so excited to be planning our first trip to Disneyland for our 30th anniversary next year. We're long time WDW travelers, but have never been to California. We're planning on flying into Las Vegas for a few days, then driving from there to Anaheim for a few days with the Mouse. I am just starting to look into pricing for things like car rental but the rates for open ended rentals (pick up in Vegas, drop off in Anaheim) seem to start at $600 for 9 days. Is this what I can expect? It's been years since I've had to rent a car and I'm not sure the best place to even look. Any and all help is much appreciated!!

 

[Lumpy1106]

Try Autoslash. That seems high.

 

[pharmama]

Look at the rate breakdown to see what they're charging you for the drop fee- sometimes they can be crazy.

I'd evaluate other options as well- flights from Vegas to the LA area are short and usually pretty cheap. The drive from Vegas to Anaheim is not especially exciting or scenic.

 

[SeattleTink]

One way car rentals are very expensive. I travel frequently, and if you have a Costco membership, they have the best pricing.

 

[ParkHopper1]

One way drop offs to neighborhood locations can be pricey. Look at dropping at SNA airport then take a $25 Uber to Disneyland.

At those prices just do a local rental in LAS then hop on a Southwest flight to SoCal...would be a heck of a lot cheaper. Just saw some flights for $79.00. There ain't much to look at between LAS and Disney to warrant the road trip as part of the adventure with those prices!

 

[ParkHopper1]

Another pro tip I do all the time with one way rentals where prices are stupid...I get a local rental for the days in town then just swing by the airport on the way out of town and swap for another car reservation on a one way rental. The local rental cars are a lot cheaper per day vs paying the one way rate for every day you have it out.

There is also no need for a car at Disneyland unless you are exploring other areas of SoCal...so If you do road trip it I would drop off on the way into town and just Uber around if needed. Why pay for a rental to have it parked the whole time?

 

[WonkaKid]

Another reason to perhaps not rent a car: if you drive to the park, it’ll run you an additional $25 each day to park. If you don’t plan to go anywhere but DL in SoCal, might be best to avoid a car altogether.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I like Parkhopper1's tips - very creative! We do a similar thing when we go to Colorado during the winter. They charge you through the nose for rental cars in Denver, but not Colorado Springs. We rent the cheapest car that can fit us for the 1 hour drive to Colorado Springs, then turn in the Denver car and pick up a different car (usually a full size SUV) and save $100's, sometimes over $1000 for the week rental. We even called Avis and told them this was our plan to try and get them to give us the Colorado Springs rate and not have to do the switch. Their response; "go ahead, that's a great idea - can't give you the rate here".

Which is just my long way of saying;
Check other rental locations in Las Vegas. Maybe you can find a local Enterprise location that won't charge you the airport rate.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Don't forget to check Mousesavers.com for any car rental deals/coupons! Also great deals on park tickets, hotels, etc. Sign up for their emails. All vendors listed there are legit.

 

[Rose77]

Also keep checking rates. They can change dramatically. For my upcoming trip, I am picking up a car at LAX and returning it in Anaheim. When I originally booked it a couple of months ago, it cost $150 for a 2 day rental. By checking back from time to time (usually just once a week) I am now only paying $65 dollars. I rebooked at that rate last week. When I checked the price today, it was back up to $110.

Autoslash can check for you and send an email when prices drop. The last time I used them, however, they directed me to book a car through priceline and when we went to pick up the car, the rental place said the rate included a coupon (which we did not have) and refused to honor the rate since we did not have the coupon to show. Because of that, this time around I just decided to stick with old reliable costco and keep checking the rates myself.

 

[mentos]

One way car rentals are very expensive. I travel frequently, and if you have a Costco membership, they have the best pricing.

Mostly true, but not always. I usually book on Costco and then run my numbers through Autoslash. About 4/10 times, they will return with a MUCH better rate via Priceline (or their own internal booking) to one of the majors. The other 2/10 it's usually an off-site brand that I'm not familiar with, the rest Costco wins. I find that as the time approaches (2-4 weeks before travel time) prices trend down absent a major event.

OP - I did a random search in March for 9 days (5-14, pickup LAS, dropoff SNA). $600 on Costco, $594 on Autoslash....I'm thinking it's way too early to book.

Have you thought about flying? You can rent a car for 3 days in Las Vegas for $110, fly on JetBlue from LAS-LGB for $208, and then rent the remaining 8 days at LGB for $327. Total price: $645. Even cheaper if you structure your trip to fly midweek, AND you don't get to sit in potentially terrible traffic driving from LV to OC! It's typically a brisk 4hr drive, but my personal worst was 8 hours the Monday of President's Day weekend. Never again

If your plans best fit with a car, I would a) book with Costco, b) start a tracker with Autoslash, c) watch your email for periodic updates to your rate and book when it drops. This way, you at least have something, and if a better rate comes along, the process is automated. Goodluck!

 

[bubba]

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the great tips! We were thinking of driving from Vegas to Anaheim via the Grand Canyon. DH wants to stop for a day or 2 before making our way to the mouse. I will re-evaluate our itinerary and see if I can make use of some of those inexpensive flights to SoCal from LV. I love Disney planning almost as much as being at the parks!

 

[bumbershoot]

The only absolute with car rentals is that there is no absolute.

I’ve had fabulous one way deals. I’ve had bad ones. I’ve had laughably high round trip quotes. I’ve had amazing ones.

They price it based on where they need the cats. Sounds like they don’t need cars in Anaheim, so they are pricing it to prevent another car ending up in Anaheim.

Don’t book anything that can’t be cancelled. Check often. Check a variety of agencies and in a variety of combinations. If you’re looking at returning to a neighborhood agency, try the airport instead. And vice verse.

And. Make SURE that the fine print of the rental allows you to bring the car to Arizona for the GC portion. Even if it’s unlimited mileage sometimes they have limits as to states. And you’d find out if you had an accident while there. Might as well make sure first.

 

[Rich M]

I looked into doing this in September and found that it was just to expensive. I did find that you can get flights on Southwest or Jetblue from Vegas to Long Beach for $39. Might be worth checking out.

 

[Becca1007]

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the great tips! We were thinking of driving from Vegas to Anaheim via the Grand Canyon. DH wants to stop for a day or 2 before making our way to the mouse. I will re-evaluate our itinerary and see if I can make use of some of those inexpensive flights to SoCal from LV. I love Disney planning almost as much as being at the parks!

There are also tours to the Grand Canyon that depart from Las Vegas (both bus tours and helicopter tours). So that might be a better option. The hotel options at the Grand Canyon are somewhat limited.

 

[Lumpy1106]

If your interest is the Grand Canyon, why not fly into Phoenix instead? The drive from Vegas to the GC is still pretty long and in the wrong direction. Flights are usually pretty good into there and it's a 6 hour drive from Phoenix to Anaheim - but not as much back-tracking if you are going to the GC anyway.

 

[osu2k1]

We got our 8 day car rental for $350 through Costco in December. It's for a full size car.
We are renting through Alamo but we are round tripping. Worth looking into. Good luck!

 

[tarheelalum]

Fly to SNA. The price is comparable to that rental after gas and its a lot less trouble and time wasted.

 

[bubba]

We love road trips! We chose the places we most wanted to see - Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Disneyland - and are planning our road trip around that. Based on our schedule, we'll only need a car for around 5 days I think. Will pick up in Vegas at the end of our stay there, and drop in Anaheim. After Disneyland we will be taking the Coast Starlight to Seattle (we love train travel too!) and after a couple days there will fly home. We are both looking forward to this! Can't come soon enough!