May 2012 Car Rentals

[webworm]

I would still like to find something cheaper for a rental May 1-8. Right now with taxes it is $177 at Budget booked through carrentalsavers.com.

Please if anyone can do better let me know. I have Visa, AMex, American Airlines, Sam's club. Also an Insider # with Alamo and I have a budget #, National, ect.

I keep checking and the price of the car, compact is good but the taxidentses add in so much. Making the total cost $26 a day with taxes.

Try expedia.ca and you can get a compact for $129 inc taxes with Budget. US residents can book as well.

 

[pigletto]

I would still like to find something cheaper for a rental May 1-8. Right now with taxes it is $177 at Budget booked through carrentalsavers.com.

Please if anyone can do better let me know. I have Visa, AMex, American Airlines, Sam's club. Also an Insider # with Alamo and I have a budget #, National, ect.

I keep checking and the price of the car, compact is good but the taxes add in so much. Making the total cost $26 a day with taxes.

I agree with Webworm. The best rates I am seeing for our dates are through Expedia.ca. You can book it as a US resident from what I am reading.
And then you don't have to fiddle with codes and coupons.
My dates are April 28th to May 7th and a 10 day full size is costing me 226.00. So you should be able to do better with three less days.
You do have to pay for the reservation in full when you book it though.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I agree with Webworm. The best rates I am seeing for our dates are through Expedia.ca. You can book it as a US resident from what I am reading.
And then you don't have to fiddle with codes and coupons.
My dates are April 28th to May 7th and a 10 day full size is costing me 226.00. So you should be able to do better with three less days.
You do have to pay for the reservation in full when you book it though.

Is there a difference between USD and CD? I would hate to pay more because the price quoted is Canadian dollar.

 

[Disneyforus]

I've kind of gotten addicted to checking now!

My name is Disneyforus and I am addicted to checking Alamo Car Rental rates, more times than I care to admit in one day. I have several codes and coupons memorized and can almost navigate the reservation site without looking.

 

[jphilhower]

Today i got a standard size car for seven days in May for $176.00 thru Costco and Alamo. It's the cheapest I've seen it since I started looking.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I booked using expedia.ca with dollar and paid C128 which will save $50 USD and then made sure to use my Capital one card which doesn't charge currency exchange or transaction fees.

However when I look at the online reservation and get the Dollar confirmation number, it doesn't show up in the dollar reservation system? I have a dollar express card and want to use this for the car pick up. I have never used expedia.ca and of course I am concerned.

 

[Apopper74]

I have been checking rates through Alamo quite regularly for May 3-8 and I have made some observations. Please note that as part of my job I take known factors and use analysis and experimentation to determine unknown parameters so I think I cracked the code in regards to the rates.

Rates tend to go up for my rental time when the present time is leading directly into a high demand period even though my dates are not related. For example rates started dropping for May leading into March but started to go up within days leading up until high demand spring break. Once we started to exit that time rates started to drop fast and regularly. However within the last week as we started to enter the Easter break period May dates started back up, not greatly but where they were prior to descending from spring break.

With this observation I think early to middle of next week we should see some significant decreases in May rental rates and possibly June/beyond. Another observation is the rate systems seem to reset in the afternoon, any decreases from previous day were in the late afternoon. Mornings almost always had the same rate as the previous afternoon, but if checked later in the day I got a better rate.

 

[DISshopkeeper]

My name is Disneyforus and I am addicted to checking Alamo Car Rental rates, more times than I care to admit in one day. I have several codes and coupons memorized and can almost navigate the reservation site without looking.

 

[n2mm]

No changes this morning (6:00AM). Maybe we'll see something tonight. I agree, I think as soon as the Easter weekend ends, we may start to see some movement. 2 weeks from today starts our vacation. I'm glad I got a decent reservation, but still hoping to switch to National.

 

[pigletto]

I booked using expedia.ca with dollar and paid C128 which will save $50 USD and then made sure to use my Capital one card which doesn't charge currency exchange or transaction fees.

However when I look at the online reservation and get the Dollar confirmation number, it doesn't show up in the dollar reservation system? I have a dollar express card and want to use this for the car pick up. I have never used expedia.ca and of course I am concerned.

I booked on Expedia with Budget. My reservation doesn't come up on the Budget site either. It does say in my confirmation that cancelling or changes have to be made through Expedia so the reservation is in their system. It would work the same way if you booked a Disney hotel through Expedia.
I have used them for trips before (packages and hotel only reservations) and never had an issue

 

[k&a&c'smom]

My name is Disneyforus and I am addicted to checking Alamo Car Rental rates, more times than I care to admit in one day. I have several codes and coupons memorized and can almost navigate the reservation site without looking.

Apopper74 - thanks for that analysis, especially about the high rental period connection, makes sense.

I should feel pretty good about my current rate, it's the best I've done in years. A few trips over the past couple years I've been shut out of a rental at all, the rates were so outrageous!

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I booked on Expedia with Budget. My reservation doesn't come up on the Budget site either. It does say in my confirmation that cancelling or changes have to be made through Expedia so the reservation is in their system. It would work the same way if you booked a Disney hotel through Expedia.
I have used them for trips before (packages and hotel only reservations) and never had an issue

Can I use the express system even though it is made through Expedia?

 

[sjerrott]

Apopper, thanks for that advice. I've been so stressed about finding a van or SUV for May 5-12th because we have the added disadvantage of picking the car up in Orlando and returning in Tampa. I'm going to be patient and look next Wed.

Susan

 

[pigletto]

Can I use the express system even though it is made through Expedia?

I'm not sure on that. I would call Dollar and ask. I do know that when you do the original search on Expedia there is a spot to choose what companies you want to search, and from there I know I could enter a Budget Fastbreak number. So I imagine you could have entered the Dollar info there as well. Now that the reservation is already made, I recommend calling Expedia and or Dollar and asking. It may require cancelling the Expedia reservation and rebooking, but I'd try and see if they could add it to your reservation.

 

[MinnieVanMom]

I'm not sure on that. I would call Dollar and ask. I do know that when you do the original search on Expedia there is a spot to choose what companies you want to search, and from there I know I could enter a Budget Fastbreak number. So I imagine you could have entered the Dollar info there as well. Now that the reservation is already made, I recommend calling Expedia and or Dollar and asking. It may require cancelling the Expedia reservation and rebooking, but I'd try and see if they could add it to your reservation.

Thank you for a great and complete answer. I will give them a call. What is the worst that could happen? We have to wait in a line to get our car. I can do that.

 

[pigletto]

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Alamo rates were down last night around midnight. I ended up booking a standard size (which I've read in this thread will be full size because Alamo doesn't have a standard row at MCO) for 168.00 for April 28th to May 7th.

I went with that over the Expedia rate because we have to go in and add an additional driver when we get to Disney if we can, and it will be easier with Alamo being at the car care center.

 

[springandmac]

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Alamo rates were down last night around midnight. I ended up booking a standard size (which I've read in this thread will be full size because Alamo doesn't have a standard row at MCO) for 168.00 for April 28th to May 7th.

I went with that over the Expedia rate because we have to go in and add an additional driver when we get to Disney if we can, and it will be easier with Alamo being at the car care center.

What codes are you using?

 

[kamcgrory]

Wow!! I just got a mini van for $157.10 with Alamo Insiders. We pick up at MCO on 05/20 and drop off at TPA on 05/26. Since there is no Sat night stay, the cheapest I had found was Budget for $300. This is a wonderful Easter morning! Go get the deals while they last and good luck to everyone!

 

[pigletto]

I signed up for Alamo Insiders, and used code AD2359FDF that I saw in this thread (it was also on carrentalsavers). It's an American Airlines code for 35 dollars off, and it's free to go on their site and become a member of their Advantage program.
Make sure to log into your Alamo Insiders account and do the search from there, with the AA coupon added

 

[kamcgrory]

Darn. That coupon for AA must require a Saturday night stay because it won't work for me. Does anyone have any other Alamo coupon codes that I could try that do not require a Saturday night stay and rental of a minivan?