How early do you book your car rental?

[KarenP99]

I wish I wasn't so frugal. I never want to pay more than I have to.

We are going in Jan/Feb 2007, and I need to book a car. This always seems to be most difficult. Coupons, sales, discount codes...the thought of diving into it is so daunting.

I don't even want to begin looking...

How early do you book? Anyone booked for Jan/Feb next year?

 

[erikthewise]

As they say in Chicago about voting, "book early and often".

Sometimes the best deals are to be had well in advance, sometimes at the last minute. I think you can safely procrastinate a while on a January rental, but it never hurts to check.

 

[Bob P]

If you book now, you'll lock in a rate and you will be guaranteed that it will not go up.

Then you can check back regularly and see if it has gone down. If it does, you can cancel and rebook at the lower rate with no penalty.

So we always book VERY early!

 

[cepmom]

I agree with the others....look around and if you see a price you can live with, go ahead and book it. You won't need to give your cc # to make a reservation and there's no penalty for cancelling. (at least not with Budget)

I have our January rentals booked, as well as our August rentals. I check them daily and have cancelled and rebooked more times than I can remember due to price decreases. I have found that the closer we get to August, the price keeps going down ~ sometimes only a couple of dollars, but it is easy to cancel and rebook.

Have you checked www.mousesavers.com for discount codes etc?

 

[antmaril]

We are going in January and I booked the car today. I don't have air or hotels booked yet, but I did make a reservation for the car. I will check often between now and the time we travel to see if I can bring the cost down, but for now I have a rate at Avis I can live with. I'm pretty sure I will be able to bring it down when it gets closer.