Help!! Car rental from SNA that won't break the bank!!

[disneyscootergal]

I hope someone can help me out with a miracle!

I've been playing around with the dates for my trip from Montana to Orange, CA (for a workshop) in order to also spend a day or two at DL . Well, I had looked at going on July 30 (Thursday), which only gives me a part of one day to play at DL; my workshop is over on Aug. 3 (Monday), so that's a total of 5 days. I found a rate of $147.00 for a compact using carrentals.com, added everything up, and found I could afford another night , giving me one part day and one full day at DL! I thought the car rental would only increase by maybe $50, so didn't check it; instead, went ahead and booked my flight for July 29-Aug. 3. BIG MISTAKE!! Went back to check the car rental, and by adding ONE day, the price of renting a compact car went up to $313 Now, how does that happen???!!! How can one more day cost over $150 more??

Does anyone know of any loopholes in the car rental system to get that price down at least $50?? Please??

 

[philliplc]

hotwire currently has compact $30.95/day + tax for those dates and you can likely do better than that as the time gets closer.

 

[Feistygirl916]

I just had the same issue with our trip, although we fly into LGB. I got a ressie for a really good price "off airport" but since it's just me and my 6 year old, I wanted something at the airport, rather than taking a taxi (which we did 3 weeks ago there, and boy was that an adventure)

I actually just got a car on priceline, for my dates at the airport for $18 a day plus tax. 5 days was $124 total. I am getting a "standard" car, which we always get a compact, but that was the one that ended up being the cheapest. Name your own price on priceline is the way to go, good luck!

 

[specialks]

I always use priceline for my car rentals. Amazing deals! Check biddingfortravel or betterbidding for posts of winning bids. Also, check Hotwire -- that should beat their prices. Another idea, do you have AAA, Costco or an Entertainment Book? Costco quoted me the lowest price so far on a car rental at SNA but I still plan on trying for a priceline bid closer to our travel dates.

 

[disneyscootergal]

THese are great ideas, thanks! Although I'm a little nervous about doing priceline, or anything where I put in an offer...I don't know how to do that! I've looked at that biddingfor travel website, but I'm still confused and hesitant...

 

[disneyscootergal]

hotwire currently has compact $30.95/day + tax for those dates and you can likely do better than that as the time gets closer.

Hey, Phillip, I'm wondering how you got that $30.95 a day quote for my days! When I tried hotwire, the lowest offer I get is 37.95 (much better than the other ones, tho! bless you!)...does it just fluctuate like that from day to day??

 

[Leofoenget]

Keep checking Hotwire and THRIFTY. Thrifty tends to run crazy sales. $11 day. I got the $11 special last year in June. I'm starting to see ads for sales for May.

 

[disneyscootergal]

Keep checking Hotwire and THRIFTY. Thrifty tends to run crazy sales. $11 day. I got the $11 special last year in June. I'm starting to see ads for sales for May.

Ok, now I'm getting it!! I put in May 30-31 and got 16.99 a day!!! So I play the waiting game!!

Thanks for the great tips, you all!!

 

[CarolA]

Your car rental went way up because you moved from the cheaper "weekend" to a weekday without a full week stay. Adding that first day kicked you out of the weekend rate. (Generally those can't be picked up before noon on Thursday) (As a business traveler that's the normal "stick it us fee" LOL!)

 

[bumbershoot]

Study betterbidding for days and days. Really get to understand it before doing anything.

And when you look at hotwire, if you're just looking at the page where they list x for compact, y for economy, etc...that's not the last word. Click through to the class of car you want...it's interesting how often that number changes from the page before.

And yes, the rates change daily, even hourly...