Is it to early to panic about car rentals for March??

[neonurse]

I am looking for car rental for Mar 9-20. So far they are around $400. I can get one through southwest vacations for $272 not including taxes and fees. I figure it would be near $350. If I book with SW I can't cancel without penalties. What would you do?

 

[IbeAbitGOOFY]

My experience is mostly with National as I am an EA member. I typically use the Entertainment Book rate code and coupon and usually get the best rate there. I will watch the rate like a hawk, daily in fact. On my upcoming January trip, the rate on my mid-size priced rental dropped by about $30. I just book the new rental, then cancel the old one.

Since you cannot cancel with SW and not fully knowing what happens if you cancel the trip (would assume you get a SW credit), I'd go direct with the rental company and watch the rates. Check out the mousesavers dot com for good discounts on rentals.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I recently used Priceline.com for a car rental when I could not get a good rate. this was for Raleigh-Durham, NC, not Orlando. One reason I could not get a good rate, was that the trip does not include a Saturday night stay, and is not a weekend trip, and is not a week long trip. SO, it falls in between most coupon and code requirements. (I know, I tried). It is a Tuesday PM-Sat AM trip.

I think I will be trying Priceline for Orlando trips in the future. (after trying the regular route)

PS I got Alamo via Priceline for $85 less then I could get myself.

 

[Detailor]

I am looking for car rental for Mar 9-20. So far they are around $400. I can get one through southwest vacations for $272 not including taxes and fees. I figure it would be near $350. If I book with SW I can't cancel without penalties. What would you do?

Yes, it's too early to be too concerned about March car rental rates. Often the best pricing is available within a few weeks/days prior to rental dates.

Our car rental reservation strategy is generally to book the vehicle size that we want a few months in advance (for your trip, now would be a fine time to do that). But we never commit to a reservation that can't be canceled or modified for free.
Then I periodically watch what is happening with rates and search for discount coupons that can be paired with my reservation (as IbeAbitGOOFY suggested, Mousesavers.com is an excellent and reliable source for both codes with discounts and coupons and I highly recommend using that resource). I find that using the BJs Wholesale (I'm a member) code produces a very good discounted rate that I can use with a coupon to lower my cost. And I take advantage of any of the codes/coupons that I'm eligible for to incrementally lower my cost. Doing this, it's been commonplace for my rental cost to be reduced significantly by the time that I've modified my reservation a few times.

For our trip earlier this year (twelve days - last week of Feb.first week of March) my reservation cost for a mid-size car went down from $566.68 including taxes/fees on January 11 to $483.65 on February 3 to $250.89 on February 13, just five days before our pick up date. While this was through Dollar, I've successfully used the same strategy through National and Budget and I suspect that it would work with any of the companies.

Dick Taylor

 

[dudspizza]

We will be in Orlando March 10-20, so we'll see you there. Car prices are crazy high and have been for quite a while. I am hoping they come down.

I currently have a reservation for about $225 with National all included. The family traveling with us recently reserved using www.costcotravel.com and got a decent rate at about the same total. If you are a Costco member, that might be a way to look.

As detailor said, the rate usually come down as you get closer, but this spring break has looked totally different in terms of air and car prices. It is totally diffferent than other years. I keep a close eye on my rates and rebook if I find lower. I would never book a car rental that can't be cancelled, not this far out..... if I were a week or less away, then I would do it.

Best of luck.

Duds

 

[wdwstar]

i got an email from budget $189.00 for a week on a suv intermediate plus tax it. mine was 8 days $309.00 with tax and fees. cheaper if you prepay. i have a $25 coupon but have not applied it to the ressies yet.

 

[Yzerbear19]

I've also found that the rates tend to go down a few weeks before. Ours for our upcoming trip was over $300, but last week I got it down to $111 for an entire week for a full size car.

Just be patient and keep checking for the rates to drop and for coupons.

 

[PSUGuy]

You may have missed your window. About 5 weeks ago I reserved an Economy car from Dollar, starting on March 3, 8 days, $180.00 total. I looked last week and the same deal would be over $500 now. I've alse used Priceline successfully from a Pa airport once, good luck.

Bill From PA

 

[neonurse]

Thanks everyone for your input. I have used mousesavers dot com and costco dot com for years. I have tried car rental savers dot com as well. Typically I don't worry about rental car prices because I know they always change closer to the trip however I wasn't sure about march break. Couple of weeks ago I saw that dollar had $118 a week but I didn't have the trip booked yet. uhhhh oh well.

I will keep watching. THanks again for your help.