High cost of car rental!!

[ncbyrne]

In the future I will be considering ME if the rates stay at these high levels.

IMHO it's because of ME and fewer people renting cars that the price has been driven up.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Ok....just went to Hotwire. They want $56/day for a compact ?! Must be my dates (Feb 21-26). They wanted $350 for those 5 days.

I got $177 directly from Dollar for an economy for the same dates using the KISS2 code.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Okay, so maybe it won't work for everyone. I did find that same hotwire rate on Thrifty by NOT using a code, I guess the lesson is to try without sometimes too. Here's hoping we all come across great deals before we leave!!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Okay, so maybe it won't work for everyone. I did find that same hotwire rate on Thrifty by NOT using a code, I guess the lesson is to try without sometimes too.

I didn't mean to sound like I didn't appreciate the head's up on hotwire Alleson. It just didn't work for me with or without a code. I am just suprised by these high rates---$50 and up for a compact per day is nuts ? I think it's because of my dates (running into Pres Week ?)

 

[AllesonWonderland]

I didn't mean to sound like I didn't appreciate the head's up on hotwire Alleson. It just didn't work for me with or without a code. I am just suprised by these high rates---$50 and up for a compact per day is nuts ? I think it's because of my dates (running into Pres Week ?)

I wasn't trying to imply you sounded unappreciative. *Whew* trying to get inflection across while typing is hard! It is certainly a process, isn't it? Trying a bazillion codes and then hearing someone else's great deal and not being able to get it to work for you. I just hold out hope that something better will come along. Not that $170 is horrid, but every little bit of savings helps!

 

[Letsbgoofy]

IMHO it's because of ME and fewer people renting cars that the price has been driven up.

I would think this would make the prices lower-supply and demand? I'm going to use ME if I can't get a good rate, so raising prices isn't helping if that is what they are doing.

 

[mikeysmom]

I just got alamo for jan 17th -25th sm suv for 189 after tax!!!!

 

[disneyfanfamily]

I thought Hotwire was like Priceline. I guess it is not?????? I have a minivan for 11 days - June 27-July 7 - for $356.22 at Thrifty. The best I can do at this time... Is Hotwire cancellable (I know, not a word)? I would hate to run the numbers there, and then all of the sudden have a non cancellable rental. HELP!

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Is Hotwire cancellable?

There are 2 different rates at Hotwire. They have their 'lowest rate' which is not cancelable (IS a word by the way--LOL) I think those rates only pop up last minute. Then you also don't see which company you're getting the car from. When you are looking a ways out, you see different companies and their rate. On that page it says your account will NOT be charged and the reservation may be cancelled at any time. So, go ahead and run numbers. I ran your dates and it gave a slightly cheaper rate for Thrifty than what you said. BUT I also ran the dates directly at Thrifty's site WITHOUT any code and came up with the same rate. (Same thing happened to me--I had been running numbers at Thrifty will all kind of codes and was coming up higher, after I made the Hotwire ressie I ran it without and saw that it was the same.) Go check it out. There's still a lot of time before your trip, so I'm guessing you'll want to check back in as the dates get closer...there might be better deals that come along. I don't think there's anything wrong with having more than one reservation hanging out there for awhile. Right now I have Budget for $232 and Hotwire/Thrifty for $170. I'm pretty sure we'll cancel the Budget one, but I want to wait to hear if anyone has had problems with going offsite to Thrifty first.

Good luck with your search!!

 

[disneyfanfamily]

Thanks Alleson.

2 years ago we rented a minivan from an offsite rental company. Cannot remember which one. They had a shuttle that only took about 5 minutes to get to the place. But for the life of me, I cannot remember which company it was. That is why I am fine with renting offsite. For the extra 30-45 minutes it takes to get the rental, it is worth paying $100+ less for the offsite. I did get the rental last year from Priceline. At least for our experience, offsite worked out well!

 

[MiaSRN62]

They had a shuttle that only took about 5 minutes to get to the place. But for the life of me, I cannot remember which company it was. That is why I am fine with renting offsite. For the extra 30-45 minutes it takes to get the rental, it is worth paying $100+ less

I know Hertz is only a 5-10 min actual drive to the offsite lot, but then you have waiting time too. And if we hadn't had that problem where the van was delayed because of issues in the parking lot, I would probably not be hesitant. But even if the offsite lot is 5 min away, I feel prospective renters should consider wait times and "potential" delays.....that's why I mentioned to factor in an extra 45-60 min time to arrive at the airport over what you would normally do. I would need that time as a comfort zone/buffer for catching my flight on time. You never know how long those check-in lines at the SW counter are gonna be (had a 40 min wait this past October !).
But I totally understand how people are fine with saving money by renting offsite. The chances a problem would happen are most likely slim. We just got lucky I guess

 

[disneyfanfamily]

Mia - agreed. We gave ourselves and extra hour to catch our flight back home by having an offsite rental. I guess I was thinking once you arrived at MCO.

And I think we did have Hertz last time...???...DH would know.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Thanks for the tips. This will be our first time flying Southwest, so I guess I'd better research how that whole deal works. We don't fly in til almost 11p and our flight leaves at 720a...I was hoping those would be 'off peak' times so the wait wouldn't be as long. I suppose I need to remember I'll be on a plane with a bunch of other people who could be heading for the same car rental desk!

 

[funcinderella]

If you have more than one adult, you can also drop everyone plus the luggage off at the airport, do curbside check-in, and then let just one adult go and return the car. I find it much easier to have one adult do the shuttle, then kids plus luggage etc. With curbside check-in, you'll have your boarding pass already, all of the luggase is taken care of, and the person with the kids can get a head start at security. Just a thoguht....it works for me

 

[TiggerStac]

months ago I booked a midsize from alamo for 3/27 -4/3 w/taxes, etc it's 220.

I went to see what was going on the other day...it is over 475 w/out taxes etc for a compact!! OUCH> Good thing we booked a while back!!

 

[krismom]

I have three sheets of the costco coupons if you still can't find them let me know and I'll mail them to you. PM if you're interested!

Are these for 2007? if so, I'd love one! I went to my COstco (NY) and they aren't out yet...

 

[funcinderella]

Are these for 2007? if so, I'd love one! I went to my COstco (NY) and they aren't out yet...

You can also just go to the Costco website, and print the coupon out from there (anyone can do this, you don't need a member #). They also give you the codes and a direct link to the alamo website with the codes already filled in.

 

[meandtheguys2]

If you want to risk Alamo, you can always Priceline. We got our minivan for $17 a day. I wouldn't do it again, because I won't risk Alamo, but if you are really desperate, it might be worth a try.

 

[mikeysmom]

oh no! what's wrong with alamo???

 

[meandtheguys2]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1319081

We had problems with them. Maybe they would have been different if we hadn't used Priceline, and skipped the line.