How To Get a Deal on Car/SUV Rental in LA?

[3princesshome]

Does anyone have any advice on how to get a good deal on a car rental for a California trip? We will be flying in/out of LAX and spending 5 days at DL followed by 15 more days driving out to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco and back to LA. Our drives will consist of some long hauls over mountains as well as through the desert (Death Valley) so we were thinking we would want an SUV (larger size)[/U][/B] to give us the horsepower as well as possibly extra coolant system. We are a family of five plus all our luggage so at a minimum we would have needed a mini-van anyway.

My question is, how do I get a good deal on the big SUVs? When I price them out online, they seem outrageously expensive ($2500 for 21 days).

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

 

[heyballoonguy]

Have you Tried Priceline? We named our own price for a Minivan for 8 days for 400 total.

 

[candy0730]

Does anyone have any advice on how to get a good deal on a car rental for a California trip? We will be flying in/out of LAX and spending 5 days at DL followed by 15 more days driving out to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco and back to LA. Our drives will consist of some long hauls over mountains as well as through the desert (Death Valley) so we were thinking we would want an SUV (larger size)[/U][/B] to give us the horsepower as well as possibly extra coolant system. We are a family of five plus all our luggage so at a minimum we would have needed a mini-van anyway.

My question is, how do I get a good deal on the big SUVs? When I price them out online, they seem outrageously expensive ($2500 for 21 days).

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

We are renting a car from LAX and the cheapest I have found so far is Midway Car Rental. I have asked for reviews here on the Dis boards but I did not get any responses. They get good reviews on Yelp so I booked with them. They are over $100 cheaper for the 8 days.

Also try Hotwire. I have gotten some great rates through them about 1 week prior to rental period.

 

[rizzo0904]

go to retailmenot dot com and type in the website for the agency you are looking for. you'll get lots of discount codes to try.

 

[Geemo]

If you can change from LAX to Burbank, you might do better on rental car rates. In January of this year, can't remember who, said they found a deal for rental cars at the Burbank airport. I think the price was around $14 bucks or so.

Be sure the rental car company knows you will be crossing state lines. Leaving California with a Rental car may change the normal rental agreement. Which in turn may cost more money than you had planned on.

 

[SGDisneyFam]

sign up for their frequent renter programs as well. They sometimes get deals as well.

 

[IndayMichelle]

Entertainment books have great deals on rental cars. Also, rentals are usually more expensive when you rent at the airport. If there was a way for you to rent offsite, you might save a lot.

For my next trip I'm taking a shuttle from the airport to my hotel. There's an Alamo rental place across the street. I'm saving almost $100 by renting offsite, including the money to take the shuttle. I'm only renting for four days, though. And there's only me that has to take the shuttle...

 

[funhouse8]

Don't know if you have to get an SUV but we got a mini van (grand caravan) for 7 days 23 hours from budget for $375.92 complete. Try using code
BCD X474200 that I got from the transportation boards. Good luck. We rented from PSP and are returning at LGB.

 

[Bstanley]

I was surprised at how large (50%) my company's car rental discount was (Fortune 500 kind of company) at LAX.

If you happen to work for a company that has signed up with a rental car company give it a try.

 

[Showpony]

Like someone else mentioned, just be sure to read the 'small print' about traveling out of California with various rental car agencies. We are renting a car from Nor Cal to Vegas and dropping off in Anaheim. Enterprise gives you 100 miles per day over the border then charges a per mile fee. We rented with Avis and they are unlimited in California, Oregon, Nevada and Arizona I believe. I found my discount code through mousesavers then followed the link to visa.com. Saved me over $200 for car rental just for this trip. Good luck and have a great trip!

 

[zoey9797]

I agree with all of the above... and...

I start checking kayak.com, bing, expedia ect... a few months out. When I see a really low rate, I go to the actual company website and reserve. Most will let you reserve for free (no CC hold).

In the mean time, gather every code you can find from the previous listed plus try any connections you may have. Credit cards, memberships even if they seem odd check them. I had 6 coupons through Allstate Motor Club in the mail and one ultimately got the cheapest rate for me.

This year we got an Economy for a week out of LAX for $79 with taxes- unlimited miles.

I had to cancel a few reservations because I found cheaper rates so it took a little time but for example, this same rental week started out at $150 with tax. I tried all of the different codes I found until I got to the absolute best deal.

Good Luck!!!

 

[tanyaewa]

Op... What are your dates? I got a really great rate in Maui by being fom Canada. I will check the site for you....

 

[3princesshome]

Thanks for all the great replys! This has been very helpful

To answer your question, my dates are July 27th to Aug 18th.

Thanks!

 

[TwingleMum]

If you belong to Costco or BJs Wholesale they have discounts on cars

 

[CalvaryMike]

I use my corporate number at car rental places and on occasion I've been asked to produce evidence that I'm allowed to use the code. A business card always works. For people that use corporate codes found on the internet, aren't you ever asked this question?

 

[zoey9797]

Not sure which post you are referring to but I would advise against using a code that is not public or you are not authorized to use. There are so many out there I wouldn't think a person would have to!

 

[CalvaryMike]

There are a lot of leaked corporate codes out there. I once saw on a travel site my company's corporate code listed. I forwarded it to our Travel department and the code was changed. I think quite a few people don't even know they are using unauthrorized corporate codes.

 

[Honeybee1983]

United is by far the cheapest we found! We got a minivan for a whole week for just over $300.

 

[Carter'sMommy]

You might want to consider an "off-site location" car rental place. All the MAJORS have them!

What I mean is... NOT one at the airport... maybe just a few miles away and you will not pay such a high rate and the taxes will be much lower.

Yes, I know it not convenient....we do it ALL the time at Orange Co. and get a mid-size car for about $100.00 for the WEEK!

While one of us waits for the bags the other hops in a cab ($6-$10) to get to the car rental place. By the time the all the bags have arrived and we have gone potty the other is back with the car. We load it up and off we go!

We do the opposite on the return....
One of us drops the family off at the airport to check in while the other goes to return the car and catches a cab back to the airport.

We save TONS of $$$ doing this!

I have also found a car rental at a local hotel that happens to have a FREE shuttle to the airport! SCORE!!!!