January 2014 Rental Car Deal Watch

[vacation_junkie]

I am renting out of Ft. Myers this trip and only for 3 days at the end of the month. The best rate I am getting is $209(total rate for the 3 days) for a compact car. Does this seem really high or is this an ok price? It is through Thrifty.

That is very high. Check out rental car mamma website or mouse savers for discount codes. There's a few good ones right now. Start with budget. They seem to be the cheapest lately. Dollar and Thrifty have had good rates by their one way drop off fee makes it not worth the total price.

 

[Ofinn]

I've been watching Hotwire for the past few months. Once you factor their taxes/surcharges to their base rates they have been higher then I've been able to book with the companies themselves.

I currently have 2 One way reservations with Budget for a intermediate car.

MCO-PC $77.69 total (3 days) with Budget
Cheapest rate with Hotwire
Dollar Rent a Car - Economy
Car rental
Car daily rate: CAD34.92
Rental days: 3
Estimated taxes and fees: CAD63.64
Estimated subtotal: CAD168.40
Rental car company will bill you when you return the car.
Estimated Trip Total CAD168.40

and PC-MCO $66.40 total (3 Days) with Budget
Cheapest rate on Hotwire
Dollar Rent a Car - Special car
Car rental
Car daily rate: CAD27.12
Rental days: 3
Estimated taxes and fees: CAD60.40
Estimated subtotal: CAD141.77
Rental car company will bill you when you return the car.
Estimated Trip Total CAD141.77


My rates booking with Budget are less then half of what Hotwire rates are. Sometimes it pays to keep checking prices with the Actual companies if you can't find a great rate on other sites such as Hotwire.

Those are good rates. Curious?? What day of the week does your cruise leave on. I wasn't able to take advantage of some of the great weekend rates because our cruise is Sat-Sat. I was able to rent a car from Dollar at Holiday Inn near DDD for 89.00 for a full size for 3 days dropping off at CC. There was no drop off charge, but if I rent from Dollar at the Wyndam near DDD there is a 50.00 drop off charge. Kind of weird. I hadn't planned on spending anytime at Disney, but I booked a night at Pop for 85.00. It actually is working out well because I will be able to book a BB which will save me about 1500 on my BC reservation in October.

 

[vacation_junkie]

Those are good rates. Curious?? What day of the week does your cruise leave on. I wasn't able to take advantage of some of the great weekend rates because our cruise is Sat-Sat. I was able to rent a car from Dollar at Holiday Inn near DDD for 89.00 for a full size for 3 days dropping off at CC. There was no drop off charge, but if I rent from Dollar at the Wyndam near DDD there is a 50.00 drop off charge. Kind of weird. I hadn't planned on spending anytime at Disney, but I booked a night at Pop for 85.00. It actually is working out well because I will be able to book a BB which will save me about 1500 on my BC reservation in October.

Pick up Friday.
I think it was the combination of codes that I used.
Rental car mamma discount code.
and $15 off a 3 day rental coupon code off Mousesavers.

 

[Ofinn]

Pick up Friday.
I think it was the combination of codes that I used.
Rental car mamma discount code.
and $15 off a 3 day rental coupon code off Mousesavers.

Ok that makes sense. There were a lot of good weekend offers that required a Saturday night. I'm picking up on a Tuesday and dropping off on Saturday. Not the best days for good rates.

Have a great cruise.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

yes, thanks to everyone for helping. i got a standard at alamo for 174 for 9 days. so for now i'll stick with them. but definitely looking at others in the future.

ALamo does not have "standard" vehicles at MCO

 

[vacation_junkie]

ALamo does not have "standard" vehicles at MCO

They absolutely do...We've rented "standard" vehicles from Alamo several times.
Below is right off their website for a rental at MCO
My Rental Summary

Standard
Chrysler 200 (or similar)
1 Week(s) @260.42 $260.42
Customer Facility Charge 2.50/day $ 12.50
Priv Fee Recov Chg 10 Pct (10.0%) $ 26.54
Tire/battery Fee .02/day $ 0.14
Florida Surcharge 2.00/day $ 14.00
Vehicle License Fee .71/day $ 4.97
Sales Tax (6.5%) $ 20.71
Unlimited Kilometers
Included
Estimated Total
$339 28
Approx $369.82 CAD
Pick-up/Return LocationEdit
Orlando Intl Arpt
Orlando FL 32827 US
DatesEdit
Mon, Jan 20, 2014 12:00 PM
Mon, Jan 27, 2014 12:00 PM

 

[nutty4wdw]

yes, they have standard and full size. though i see no real difference between the two, passenger and luggage wise. but full size is usually slightly more expensive

 

[gcarney]

Free upgrade to a mid sized SUV as they ran out of full sized cars. Thrifty is pick your own car at MCO now

 

[andigomeep]

Free upgrade to a mid sized SUV as they ran out of full sized cars. Thrifty is pick your own car at MCO now

I wonder if Dollar is as well now, since they're the same company? I have a reservation for a smidge cheaper with them then Alamo but would prefer to pick our own car.

 

[gcarney]

I wonder if Dollar is as well now, since they're the same company? I have a reservation for a smidge cheaper with them then Alamo but would prefer to pick our own car.

Dollar was letting them pick too

 

[andigomeep]

Dollar was letting them pick too

Very interesting! Thank you!

 

[emmabelle]

my rate's down today! I'm booking through Costco for 1/26 to 2/2. I got an economy for $120, with Budget. It's just me and my husband, so that'll be big enough.


EDITED TO ADD

today I'm down to $103, guess everyone else has already gone on their January trips since I haven't seen anyone else posting. lol

 

[andigomeep]

my rate's down today! I'm booking through Costco for 1/26 to 2/2. I got an economy for $120, with Budget. It's just me and my husband, so that'll be big enough.


EDITED TO ADD

today I'm down to $103, guess everyone else has already gone on their January trips since I haven't seen anyone else posting. lol

I got standard for $120 through budget with costco today. I would get a smaller car but we have to make sure we get large enough to fit my sons car seat. I'm a little concerned about them.. anyone out there used budget recently?

 

[dkrahne]

Just rebooked, 1/25--2/10 with Alamo intermidiate car, $330...so excited! Through Costco Thanks to this board I've learned to book, then.just keep calling and rebooking as it goes down. Here's hoping it goes.further down, but the best I saw weeks ago.and.didn't go rebook was $370 so I'm a happy.girl!

 

[andigomeep]

I got standard for $120 through budget with costco today. I would get a smaller car but we have to make sure we get large enough to fit my sons car seat. I'm a little concerned about them.. anyone out there used budget recently?

Dropped more this morning! Down to $111 with budget 26-1, woohoo.

 

[mandas08]

My rate went WAY down from 179 to 145 today on Dollar. Check your rates I got the best rate without code using city special.

 

[Anonny]

One week : Jan 29-Feb 5 - smallest car from MCO

Budget w/code D640500 - $164.70

Alamo - $144.70

I don't have Costco. Any suggestions to go lower?

 

[andigomeep]

One week : Jan 29-Feb 5 - smallest car from MCO

Budget w/code D640500 - $164.70

Alamo - $144.70

I don't have Costco. Any suggestions to go lower?

Did you try dollar? 5c11e is a code I've used, or city special with no code.

 

[megfarwell]

We had booked at $182 for Jan 31-Feb 7 for a mid size car.

Today we got a full size (2 sizes up) for $151!!

We used the city special link on Dollar.

If you can, play around with your pick up and drop off times - we pick up at 2 pm on the 31st, then drop off at 4:30 pm on the 7th. When we changed the drop off time to 5 pm, the rate went up to over $300! Crazy!

 

[Anonny]

Did you try dollar? 5c11e is a code I've used, or city special with no code.

Dollar using 5c11e came to $160. And I think they charge extra ($10/day?) for second driver.