thisismyusername
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2013
- Messages
- 1,127
For our upcoming summer trip, we had decided to drive down and fly back to save some money. We'd be doing a one-day, one-way, state-to-another-state rental as we don't plan to keep the car once we get into Florida. I have a corporate account through Avis, so my rate right now for a mini van is $219 ($273 with taxes). I also have a $50 voucher, so my total would be $223. I also estimated fuel charges through GasBuddy, which came out to about $115 (likely $125 by summer) so it's about $350 to drive to Disney (which is a 12-14-hour drive, and which I spend all of those hours being a complete ball of nerves because I find driving much more nerve-wracking than flying).
A good rate on a flight down has recently caught my attention, and for an extra $150, we could fly into TPA. We'd need to rent a car to get to Disney, but my voucher should cover most of the rental, so I'm budgeting another $50 to cover gas and $25 of the reservation, so it's an extra $200 to fly into TPA and save up to 14 hours of travel time and tons of anxiety with driving.
We were choosing to drive down because the flights were more expensive at the time we made the decision, and it was about a $300 differential, which was enough to make us choose that. Now that it's less, I'm reconsidering.
If we want these flights, I want to get them ASAP as I think they'll likely go up soon (our flight home has already increased in price). I know the car rental rate is probably higher right now since we are still four months away from traveling, but I'm wondering how much cheaper it might possibly go? $219 ($273 with taxes) doesn't seem so bad for a one-way, different-state-drop-off minivan rental. $300 was my mental threshold for choosing to drive over flying--it's probably unlikely that the car rental rate will drop down another $100, right?
I have lots of experience with flights and know what's a good deal. Car rentals, not so much, so I'd love some thoughts from those of you with more experience. Thanks in advance!
A good rate on a flight down has recently caught my attention, and for an extra $150, we could fly into TPA. We'd need to rent a car to get to Disney, but my voucher should cover most of the rental, so I'm budgeting another $50 to cover gas and $25 of the reservation, so it's an extra $200 to fly into TPA and save up to 14 hours of travel time and tons of anxiety with driving.
We were choosing to drive down because the flights were more expensive at the time we made the decision, and it was about a $300 differential, which was enough to make us choose that. Now that it's less, I'm reconsidering.
If we want these flights, I want to get them ASAP as I think they'll likely go up soon (our flight home has already increased in price). I know the car rental rate is probably higher right now since we are still four months away from traveling, but I'm wondering how much cheaper it might possibly go? $219 ($273 with taxes) doesn't seem so bad for a one-way, different-state-drop-off minivan rental. $300 was my mental threshold for choosing to drive over flying--it's probably unlikely that the car rental rate will drop down another $100, right?
I have lots of experience with flights and know what's a good deal. Car rentals, not so much, so I'd love some thoughts from those of you with more experience. Thanks in advance!
