have a rental car question to save airfare at home

[pickles]

Airfares on SWA are cheaper out of MSP to go to MCO, but best and cheaper to return to DSM

DSM is our airport of choice.
I am looking at trying to use a rental car pick up at dsm oct 17 and return the next day to MSP oct 18

I don't think, I am understanding the system correctly. if I go to a website like enterprise or Travelocity. its shows a daily rate of $30 or so and wants to charge me $200+ even tho I only have the car less than 24 hours

Do they really charge you a week if you pick up at one airport and drop off at another in less than 24 hours?

anyone have any helpful hints or suggestions for savings. We would save a couple hundred dollars with better flight deal and no parking fees.

thanks!

 

[JimboCh]

Some rental agencies have large drop off fees when returning the car to a different airport and some have no drop off fee like Avis. Some drop the fees with specials if they want to move one class of cars to another location.

Can you make it with a Compact Car........Avis has:

Pick-up Thu, Oct 17, 10:00am

Location Des Moines (DSM)
Vehicles At Terminal.

Drop-off Fri, Oct 18, 10:00am

Location Minneapolis International Airport (MSP)


Daily Rate
1 day(s) @ $55.00 $55.00
Subtotal $55.00
Taxes and Fees (Opens in a new window) Help with Taxes and Fees (Opens in a new window) $15.28
Drop Charge $0.00
Total due at rental counter : $70.28

 

[pickles]

perfect!

However, why was Travelocity and enterprise .com trying to charge me for extra days?

 

[JimboCh]

perfect!

However, why was Travelocity and enterprise .com trying to charge me for extra days?

No idea, I actually got the above quote from the travelocity site. I wanted to use the same site you are looking at.

As you can see Avis is only offering the Size Compact........So it looks like they are moving inventory around. I wouldn't wait long if that is what you want, no idea how long that offer will be out there.

Book it on the Avis site, most likely you can cancel it if you see something later cheaper somewhere. DO not book it on Travelocity, they usually want money upfront and charge a cancel fee of somekind.

 

[pickles]

I must have no clicked something I should have. I went to avis site and booked a compact for the $70 total and they didn't require a deposit upfront. So, that enables me to book swa and if my flights change to change things without a penalty. Thanks so much!

 

[JimboCh]

np