General Car Rental Advice

[pigletto]

We've never rented a car for our Orlando area trips before but we plan to this time. I have two questions.
1. Our trip is in May. Would you start looking to rent a car now or do they get cheaper the closer you get to your trip?
2. Does anyone know a good site to look for car rental codes? I am a Costco member as well as CAA (same as AAA but Canadian, usually the discounts are the same).

If there is a better place for this post please feel free to point me there. Thank you

 

[jedijill]

Unless you are trying to travel over a holiday weekend, I wouldn't worry about booking now. I usually find great prices through Costco. I also join the Car Rental thread on the Dis transportation board for the month that I plan on renting. Last May, rates went down to crazy amounts...I got a midsize car for less than $80 for 10 days but the rates started dropping about 2 weeks prior to the date I planned to pick up. I just kept cancelling and rebooking reservations.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[budafam]

I'm subbing on this one... we are going to be renting a car for the first time in May as well. I found a Dodge Charger for $220 for 8 days and I thought that was a steal... if I could get it under $100 that would be great!

 

[Marionnette]

We've never rented a car for our Orlando area trips before but we plan to this time. I have two questions.
1. Our trip is in May. Would you start looking to rent a car now or do they get cheaper the closer you get to your trip?
2. Does anyone know a good site to look for car rental codes? I am a Costco member as well as CAA (same as AAA but Canadian, usually the discounts are the same).

If there is a better place for this post please feel free to point me there. Thank you

There are no penalties for canceling and rebooking car reservations, so start as early as you want. Just don't be shocked at some of the prices because they are bound to come down at some point.

Mousesavers has rental codes and coupon codes for all of the major car rental agencies in Orlando. She also has hints on how to keep your costs down.

Check the transportation forum here on the disboards for a thread for your month. You'll find a lot of other people who are going at the same time that you are and they share information on the discounts and codes that they have had success with.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Look for codes on sites like carrentalsavers or mousesavers. You can also find decent deals though Costco.com


If you do a Google search you will find other sites that can offer discount codes. Sometimes Expedia has deals but once you book it you can't change it.

 

[HsvTeacher]

We rent cars through Alamo several times a year using codes from Costco. I reserve a car as soon as I book our flights, then check back every week or so to see if the price has gone down any. If I find a lower price, and I usually do, I rebook at the new rate and cancel the other reservation.

We go every year at the end of May (Memorial Day)/beginning of June, and I can usually get a full-size car for around $100-125 for a week.

 

[btowndude]

I used Priceline to get car rentals on my last three Orlando trips. Twice was with Hertz and once with Avis. My bid was for a midsize/intermediate car in the $9-$15 a day range, plus taxes.

If I am making a direct reservation, I use Alamo. They email me special rates throughout the year. I like Alamo for their discounts for prepayment as well as you get to choose which car that you get.

 

[pigletto]

Thank you very much for all your help and suggestions everyone! I will make sure to look for the threads and sites mentioned