December 2013 car rental

[BlakeNJ]

Just spent waaay too much time looking for a car NOT FOR ME! It's actually for my sister and her family. I was up for the challenge and boy what a challenge it was!

I booked Avis (Dec 27-Jan 2) through Travelocity for $234 (total) for an economy. I couldn't find anything cheaper than $344 using other codes. I feel accomplished.

 

[robinb]

Prices on the Costco site have dropped. Just got a midsize car for 11 days (Dec 6th-16th) for $254.32 total. Hopefully it will continue to drop.

I got some really AWESOME prices from Costco last year picking up from a neighborhood Budget location. This year is not so great. I did, however, check my TPA->MCO timeframe (12/20-12/24) with Costco and got those 4 days in a Midsize for $114 with tax. My DH has a free National day that I was going to use at that time but this rate is even better.

 

[greenclan67]

We just became Costco members about 2 months ago. Do you book these on the costco site or regular car rental site. Any codes that work better? We are flying into Tpa dec 23 a 10:00 am pick up drop at tpa jan 2 @ 7 am. The best I have found is a midsize at $335.00

 

[robinb]

We just became Costco members about 2 months ago. Do you book these on the costco site or regular car rental site. Any codes that work better? We are flying into Tpa dec 23 a 10:00 am pick up drop at tpa jan 2 @ 7 am. The best I have found is a midsize at $335.00

It's www.costcotravel.com . Does your $335 include taxes and fees? If so, that's not a bad price for a 10-day rental.

 

[mjmyers10]

We just became Costco members about 2 months ago. Do you book these on the costco site or regular car rental site. Any codes that work better? We are flying into Tpa dec 23 a 10:00 am pick up drop at tpa jan 2 @ 7 am. The best I have found is a midsize at $335.00

Costco has the best deals for rentals. If you have a TA, they can book the Costco rates for you so you have somebody to contact if something goes wrong. Use their Low Cost Finder to search for the best deal. They automatically apply any available coupons for you.

 

[buckeev]

Costco is showing the exact same rate for our 15 day rental n Dec/Jan..PLUS, I hafta join again.
This has been the craziest car rental year! We got a really good rate for a spring Orlando trip, but this year is quadrupled our 2-week Christmas 2011 trip.

 

[robinb]

Costco is showing the exact same rate for our 15 day rental n Dec/Jan..PLUS, I hafta join again.
This has been the craziest car rental year! We got a really good rate for a spring Orlando trip, but this year is quadrupled our 2-week Christmas 2011 trip.

Two weeks? A couple tricks that might work for you is to try to pick up at a local location instead of the airport. Look for a location that's not too far away so the cab ride doesn't eat up all your savings. Another trick is to split your weeks up into 2 separate weeks, especially if the 2nd week starts after Jan 1. You may be paying Christmas prices for a week that might be cheaper.

 

[rangerxenos]

Just knocked off another $20 switching back through Costco Travel for our 4th - 12th trip, our Fullsize is down to $209.

KLM code has been cheaper until now; it pays to keep checking back!

 

[K9pal]

So after receiving yet another email from Alamo with yet another coupon code that is not accepted at MCO, I was fed up enough to post on their Facebook page and ask why they are not accepting any coupons at MCO. This is their response:

Hi Susan, we would be happy to look into this for you. Please private message us with your coupon code and dates of rental. Thanks. -Megan

Really?? They actually are not aware of the issues, and think this is an isolated instance? Yes, I will be private messaging them. Stay tuned!!

 

[Jeslynb]

Subbing

 

[rlduvall]

Really?? They actually are not aware of the issues, and think this is an isolated instance? Yes, I will be private messaging them. Stay tuned!!

Anxious to hear what they say. I so would like to use them, but can't justify when the coupons won't work in Orlando. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[lilaggie2002]

Last week I found a deal through Alamo for $300 for a van for 9 days. I just reserved it and went on with my day...now I'm looking around and OMG prices have jumped/doubled!

Thanks for all the tips! I just saved a ton of $$.

 

[pigletto]

Might be a little early to say this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that prices aren't going to go down all that much for my dates. The first part of my week isn't too busy but we leave on the 23rd so my rental will overlap Christmas crowds rolling in.
I manged just under $200 with Dollar for a Fullsize for 9 days. I got that over a month ago now. I think I should just be happy that I even got it that low.

 

[K9pal]

So after receiving yet another email from Alamo with yet another coupon code that is not accepted at MCO, I was fed up enough to post on their Facebook page and ask why they are not accepting any coupons at MCO. This is their response:

Hi Susan, we would be happy to look into this for you. Please private message us with your coupon code and dates of rental. Thanks. -Megan

Really?? They actually are not aware of the issues, and think this is an isolated instance? Yes, I will be private messaging them. Stay tuned!!

UPDATE: I sent a pm and detailed the problems with coupons at MCO, and also website reservation problems. I told them that many people on a popular message board were frustrated as well, and they were losing business over this. Here's their response:

"Hello Susan, we appreciate your feedback and would like to have the Regional Office over our MCO location address your coupon concerns. Please provide your contact information and a member of management will contact you. I will also let our Website department know about your feedback. You can modify a reservation online if you originally made the reservation on our website and did not prepay. Thank you. "

-- They've had my contact info for 24 hours now, and ... nothing yet. Honestly, I'd be surprised to hear anything but who knows? Stay tuned!

 

[ToodlesRN]

My original booking with Alamo in Dec for 5n/6d at LAX was $187. now I got it down to $112 using the Visa and Costco code/ID. My goal is get the rentals under $100 and it seems to pan out the last couple years, but I have check a couple times a week for price drops.

I also dislike the website and entering codes, but it's the cheapest I can ever find out of the rental companies, plus we use our debit card (no CC's) and never had a problem or denied our debit because of it.

 

[caselaw3]

I just went back on to priceline to run a search for prices for my dates and OMG!!!! Thank God I booked when I did - the new price is $162 higher for the same car and the same dates with the same company!

 

[mkymouse40]

ToodlesRN,

What Costco # and Visa Coupon Code # are you using? My Costco #s are bringing me up really high prices. Please share. Of course, I know, it does have to do with the dates people are going, but this is crazy. Prices have not gone down the way they used to in the past.

 

[booger73]

I'm not sure if everyone has this option as well but I was looking for a good dec 19-27 and I've been scouring coupons, different websites, mouse savers, hotwire, etc and the lowest I could get for a full size was about ~30-33/d which after taxes and fees worked out to about 400+

On a whim I went on my chase account site (have a chase freedom and I would assume it would work for chase sapphire).. On the ultimate rewards site it has ultimate rewards ability to book cars also (and flight and hotel)

Low and behold dollar was 27/d... It doesn't figure local fees (which will be about 90 I think) so it will put me at the most 330..

Probably as low as it will get next to an accepted priceline bid or waiting till last minute deals.. But not sure I wanted to wait-- have a feeling this Xmas gonna be busy... Anyways, check it out if it's an option for you

 

[Angie789]

ToodlesRN,

What Costco # and Visa Coupon Code # are you using? My Costco #s are bringing me up really high prices. Please share. Of course, I know, it does have to do with the dates people are going, but this is crazy. Prices have not gone down the way they used to in the past.

mkymouse, I don't know if you caught this or not, but that reservation was for LAX, not MCO. I haven't seen prices that low for MCO yet.

 

[webworm]

I'm not sure if everyone has this option as well but I was looking for a good dec 19-27 and I've been scouring coupons, different websites, mouse savers, hotwire, etc and the lowest I could get for a full size was about ~30-33/d which after taxes and fees worked out to about 400+

On a whim I went on my chase account site (have a chase freedom and I would assume it would work for chase sapphire).. On the ultimate rewards site it has ultimate rewards ability to book cars also (and flight and hotel)

Low and behold dollar was 27/d... It doesn't figure local fees (which will be about 90 I think) so it will put me at the most 330..

Probably as low as it will get next to an accepted priceline bid or waiting till last minute deals.. But not sure I wanted to wait-- have a feeling this Xmas gonna be busy... Anyways, check it out if it's an option for you

Try Avis using MUGA049 $30 off and A074800 (leisure code from flyertalk) have used it several times with avis no issue, Total for istandard inc taxes is $245. Enroll in Preferred Services for free and get free upgrade and go straight to garage at MCO bypassing counter line.