January 2014 Rental Car Deal Watch

[gcarney]

I guess I didn't realize that booking a rental car is just a reservation that can be cancelled. One of the companies offered a discount if you paid "now". I am used to planes, once booked and for, that's it!

That's not actually true. When I book with JetBlue, with with points or cash, if the price for my flight goes down, I call them and they honor the lower price. They will put the money I "overpaid" in a travel bank that I can use on another flight within a year of your original flight. I'm not sure about other airlines, I only fly JetBlue.

 

[bumbershoot]

I guess I didn't realize that booking a rental car is just a reservation that can be cancelled. One of the companies offered a discount if you paid "now". I am used to planes, once booked and for, that's it!

You do have to be careful that you don't book something that cannot be cancelled. A prepaid booking might be different than of you did not prepay. A booking through Hotwire is different than just going through National. There are ways to get a booking that you cannot change, but there are also ways to book (normal, through rental company, don't prepay, read all terms and conditions) where you can cancel or modify it.

 

[vacation_junkie]

That's not actually true. When I book with JetBlue, with with points or cash, if the price for my flight goes down, I call them and they honor the lower price. They will put the money I "overpaid" in a travel bank that I can use on another flight within a year of your original flight. I'm not sure about other airlines, I only fly JetBlue.

We do this on Southwest too. We change our flight to the cheaper price. Exact Same time/flight. You have 1 year to use the travel fund credit.

 

[vacation_junkie]

I guess I didn't realize that booking a rental car is just a reservation that can be cancelled. One of the companies offered a discount if you paid "now". I am used to planes, once booked and for, that's it!

Budget and a few other companies have a "pay now" rate. If you wish to cancel that reservation you can but you pay a cancelation fee.

 

[vacation_junkie]

There is really no way to KNOW what prices are going to do. If you can get a great price on Priceline and promise not to look again (since you can't change it, as far as I know), go for it.

The important thing I think many of us forget to say is that "prices often go down as it gets closer, but if you truly want a rental car, reserve it when you get to a price you would/could pay, and then check on it and modify it as the price goes down". Don't ever just wait without booking, if you really do want a rental car. Book at a price you can handle, and hope you can modify it downwards. Doesn't help much now, but maybe for the future, and maybe for other people.

Amen to that!

I usually go through about 8-10 reservations during the 2 months before our trips!

 

[Anonny]

Maybe rental rates increase when you search on weekends?
The week I want Jan 29 - Feb 5 is now $380 for a compact car from Alamo MCO - MCO! A week ago the rate was $170.

Feeling slightly panicky, I just booked / reserved my week from Alamo from the car care center to MCO for $178. We can Magical Express from the airport.

Booking a car from Alamo for a week starting tomorrow would be $195. Weird!


Lesson learned is book what I think is a good rate and keep checking.

 

[gcarney]

We do this on Southwest too. We change our flight to the cheaper price. Exact Same time/flight. You have 1 year to use the travel fund credit.

This time JetBlue moved our flight to MCO this time from 2:38pm to 3:20pm to 4:20pm. I called them and they let me change our flight to 8:50am for no additional charges. I've never encountered this before so I was unaware it was customary. I'm a JetBlue fan for life . (With travel bank money I paid $25 for DH flight and $37.50 for mine - the flight as of today costs $535 - I felt like I stole something)

 

[gcarney]

Maybe rental rates increase when you search on weekends? The week I want Jan 29 - Feb 5 is now $380 for a compact car from Alamo MCO - MCO! A week ago the rate was $170. Feeling slightly panicky, I just booked / reserved my week from Alamo from the car care center to MCO for $178. We can Magical Express from the airport. Booking a car from Alamo for a week starting tomorrow would be $195. Weird! Lesson learned is book what I think is a good rate and keep checking.

When I started my hunt in September the price was $385 for a full size. I made it down to $145 by constantly searching. It pays to stay on top of it. The price is back to about $385 or so again...

 

[keishashadow]

Last year I booked a minivan with alamo for marathon weekend (7days) for $329. Currently I have an alamo reservation for same week plus an extra day for $309. While this is still high, it is slightly less than last year.

Marathon weekend is tripping us up too, appears many of the particpants are foregoing ME and renting a vehicle for quick getaway

usually we are flexible as to class of car and manage to grab a mid or full size for 8 nights most times we tend to visit Orlando in range of $125 up to $190 or so, but this trip had to book a minivan and found prices were crazy.

Admit to being semi nervous as to getting stuck with a dog booking via priceline (hertz) but rates were so high in early December I wound up following another's lead here & for 8 days wound up with total of $230, (a hundred less than best rate I had booked via national/KLM).

Even though it's a final transaction, I couldn't resist checking back here today to see if it is still a bargin. Good luck to those still in the hunt.

 

[lolobug]

Hi!
Staying at POR and WL jan 22-30, just now contemplating a rental. How much would a full size likely cost us? Do you have to pay for parking? Thanks!

 

[orlandonewstarts]

Since Dec 26th I have rebooked my reservation with enterprise 5 times! The rates keep dropping but I want to make sure I have one reserved.

5 days started out at $230. I am now down to $165 with all fees. So IMO well worth my time to keep checking. I would love to get it down below $150 if possible.

 

[perdidobay]

It always pays to keep checking.... Just canceled and rebooked my one way rental from MCO to Port Canveral Budget Car Rental. My one day rental went from $84 with taxes and fees to $39 w/taxes and fees due to a 30% weekend discount at Florida locations. Hey that's $45 more for drinks on my Disney cruise!

 

[vacation_junkie]

It always pays to keep checking.... Just canceled and rebooked my one way rental from MCO to Port Canveral Budget Car Rental. My one day rental went from $84 with taxes and fees to $39 w/taxes and fees due to a 30% weekend discount at Florida locations. Hey that's $45 more for drinks on my Disney cruise!

I had 2 one way rentals MCO-PC & PC to MCO both 3 days with Budget.

I had previously reserved using RC mamma code X793206.

Rcv'd some great rates.

Today I went on a certain mouse saving website and found an coupon code for $15 off a 3 day rental.

The coupon wouldn't work for my MCO-PC rental.
It jacked the rates up before it game me anything off so I kept with my existing.

I went back into my existing reservation (PC-MCO) and Used coupon code MUWZ165 to get $15 off 3-day weekend rentals. Its now down an extra $15.
Which is just fine with me because that leg of the rental was $15 more.

Now both ways of our Rental are $75 & $77 for a 3 day one way rental. Pay now rates were even cheaper. I may go ahead and do that.

 

[gcarney]

I still haven't been able to get an Alamo code to work. I'm sad because they've been the best we'd ever used during our June trip.

I'm just hoping I get out of town since JetBlue was grounded in Boston until 10am today

 

[alryan]

I think I missed the best rate right before Christmas, but wasn't sure of my travel plans yet. But, lesson learned, it is easy to cancel, next time I think I'll go ahead and book. I can always cancel. But I'm happy that they have slowly been going down. I booked on 1/1 for 8 days starting on 1/10 for $272 for a midsize. Now today I'm at $210 total for a fullsize. Like others have said the Alamo codes didn't work for my dates, but I was surprised to find out that the prices through Southwest Rapid Reward were the cheapest I found. Looked liked they were comparable to the prepay prices on the Alamo website. So not only do I get the best rate and am able to cancel I'll get rapid reward points

 

[gcarney]

I think I missed the best rate right before Christmas, but wasn't sure of my travel plans yet. But, lesson learned, it is easy to cancel, next time I think I'll go ahead and book. I can always cancel. But I'm happy that they have slowly been going down. I booked on 1/1 for 8 days starting on 1/10 for $272 for a midsize. Now today I'm at $210 total for a fullsize. Like others have said the Alamo codes didn't work for my dates, but I was surprised to find out that the prices through Southwest Rapid Reward were the cheapest I found. Looked liked they were comparable to the prepay prices on the Alamo website. So not only do I get the best rate and am able to cancel I'll get rapid reward points

Go to Thrifty.com and use promo code 5C11E, prices dropped dramatically this morning!

 

[alryan]

Go to Thrifty.com and use promo code 5C11E, prices dropped dramatically this morning!

Thrifty was still $245 total, thank you though. Hope prices continue to go down!

 

[gcarney]

Thrifty was still $245 total, thank you though. Hope prices continue to go down!

Wow, sorry about that. I checked at 6:30am and my rental from 01/11 - 01/18 was at about $162 for a full size. (I secured $145 right before Christmas) Good Luck!

 

[jensen]

x

 

[Geocaching Traveler]

Just modified my Dollar rental Jan 11-Jan 25 to $288. Full-size car with auto add promo code 765. That might be as good as it gets for me.