MAY 2014 Car Rentals

[eeyoreforever]

I've never rented a car before, so this is all new to me. I'm looking all over the Dollar website and not sure what the City Special is???

 

[DiznyDi]

On Dollar's home page, click green button on left "get rates". When page opens, click on "city special".

 

[kimbe21]

Is this your grand total?

I'm looking May 2-10. A full size, city special is $126. When all fees are added the grand total jumps to $194.

Dollar ran a special earlier this month for the beginning of May. It looks like the specials they are running currently are only for the end of May. These deals change all the time- like up to 3 times per day. It's best to lock in the rate and then re-book if a new deal comes along. That way if no deal comes along and the prices continue to rise you still have a decent rate. By renting directly through the car dealer (rather than Orbitz or travelocity) there is no payment due at booking and no penalty to cancel or change rates.

 

[horselover]

Just rebooked my compact rental with Dollar. I had reserved 5/15-18 for $121.03 which while not great I could have lived with. Rebooked it just now & dropped the rate to $69.03! I used my AAA code for this rate.

 

[Ragman]

sorry wrong thread. - removed post.

 

[masylimed]

I have never rented a car before and I'm really surprised at how much cheaper Dollar is compared to the other rental companies. We're renting 2 one-way minivan trips with the first being 5/15/14 from MCO and dropping off 5/16/14 at Port Canaveral. Then picking up minivan from Port on 5/19/14 and returning later in the day to MCO for flight home.

I've done several options (renting for whole 5 day period versus 2 one-way trips) from several car companies and Dollar's price is way cheaper than the other companies. Have cancelled and re-booked 3 times because the rate keeps getting lower.

I'm almost concerned that the saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" might apply. Is there some hidden bait and switch or hidden fees that I'm missing? Used the AAA code and only reserved from the Dollar website - didn't pre-pay.

Thoughts?

 

[2wins]

I have never rented a car before and I'm really surprised at how much cheaper Dollar is compared to the other rental companies. We're renting 2 one-way minivan trips with the first being 5/15/14 from MCO and dropping off 5/16/14 at Port Canaveral. Then picking up minivan from Port on 5/19/14 and returning later in the day to MCO for flight home.

I've done several options (renting for whole 5 day period versus 2 one-way trips) from several car companies and Dollar's price is way cheaper than the other companies. Have cancelled and re-booked 3 times because the rate keeps getting lower.

I'm almost concerned that the saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" might apply. Is there some hidden bait and switch or hidden fees that I'm missing? Used the AAA code and only reserved from the Dollar website - didn't pre-pay.

Thoughts?

I have AAA, do you mind sharing the code?

 

[keishashadow]

I have AAA, do you mind sharing the code?

if you look under 'associations' on the dollar website, you will see link to access your particular AAA branch's corp code.

fyi, we decided to catch an earlier flight down to MCO for our trip beginning 5/28, resulting in yet another day onto the rental - now 11 days. I had a relatively low rate but when I tried to modify it online it jumped almost $100!

emailed them and asked if they could do anything. Didn't expect much, had been turned down by Alamo last year for same sort of request. I'm very impressed with Dollar! they adjusted the reservation for me with only another day added, now $292 for standard.

 

[eeyoreforever]

DiznyDi...thanks for the reply. I still do not see it though. On the home page the green "get rates" is in the middle of the page and when I click on it the next page doesn't say city specials anywhere

You are all on dollar.com???

 

[suemom2kay]

DiznyDi...thanks for the reply. I still do not see it though. On the home page the green "get rates" is in the middle of the page and when I click on it the next page doesn't say city specials anywhere

You are all on dollar.com???

Go to the home page.

Enter pickup location

Choose your dates/time

Make sure you have Show All Types selected in the gray dropdown

Click on the green button Get Rates.

This will bring you to a screen with a bunch of cars and rates.

About 4-5 cars down there is a yellow bar that says, "CITY SPECIAL: Check for special rates on your dates in Orlando, Florida"

On the right side of the bar is a green button that says, "Check for City Special." Click the button to see even lower rates.

If you have AAA you can enter the AAA code for your area under the Corporate Code for an even deeper discount.

AAA codes for Dollar can be found here.

Good luck with your car rental deal!

 

[n2mm]

Just booked a minivan for 10 days with Alamo. April 30 to May 10 for $299 after taxes. Not bad for 10 days. I tried dollar and it was $301 so no savings and prefer alamo. Now if I could get a coupon that would work that would be great. But coupons and Alamos website do not work. I did use th passholder code to get a small 10%extra off. I prefer national but their rates stay high most of the time.

 

[Eddygirl]

I reserved with Dollar for first 2 weeks of May. 15 days, full size car $91 and change per week base rate. Total with taxes, fees etc was $297. I clicked through to the local special rates.

Will be interesting to see if all the rates start to drop more before we go. If they do I can cancel and change. If they don't I am happier with the rate I got considering it was over $600 for the same class of vehicle with most agencies just over a month ago.

 

[horselover]

I have never rented a car before and I'm really surprised at how much cheaper Dollar is compared to the other rental companies. We're renting 2 one-way minivan trips with the first being 5/15/14 from MCO and dropping off 5/16/14 at Port Canaveral. Then picking up minivan from Port on 5/19/14 and returning later in the day to MCO for flight home.

I've done several options (renting for whole 5 day period versus 2 one-way trips) from several car companies and Dollar's price is way cheaper than the other companies. Have cancelled and re-booked 3 times because the rate keeps getting lower.

I'm almost concerned that the saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" might apply. Is there some hidden bait and switch or hidden fees that I'm missing? Used the AAA code and only reserved from the Dollar website - didn't pre-pay.

Thoughts?

There is no bait & switch with Dollar. I rent with them all the time at MCO. Be sure to sign up for a Dollar Express number so you can walk right out to the garage, jump in your car & go. Dollar has become my go to car rental agency for Orlando trips. I used to rent from mostly Alamo but their prices have not been good for the last year & they never seem to accept coupons at MCO anymore. You're good to go with Dollar. No worries.

I've also never been asked to show my AAA card to the guard at the gate but I do always bring it just in case.

 

[Eddygirl]

Is the AAA rate at Dollar better than the Orlando location deal?

 

[Hawk]

Is the AAA rate at Dollar better than the Orlando location deal?

Use it with the "city special."

Tim/Hawk

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

YOu can not use the AAA with the City Special. IF you enter the AAA code the option for City Specials will not appear.

 

[nascargirl]

I just got a full size car from MCO with pick up on 5/14 @ 3pm and returning on 5/21 10am for $159.66 I started my search the beginning of Feb.

 

[SYDCOLEMOM]

I just got a full size car from MCO with pick up on 5/14 @ 3pm and returning on 5/21 10am for $159.66 I started my search the beginning of Feb.

Care to share what rental agency you booked thru ?? did you use a discount code? My travel dates are 5/21 to 5/31. The rates for a full size are twice what they were last year. The cheapest Ive found so far is Dollar (which Im not crazy about) for $301 full size - 10 days.

 

[kkandaj]

Are there any discounts for additional drivers through Dollar?

Traveling to Phoenix in May over Memorial Day and the Dollar prices have dropped dramatically the past 2 days. Just wondering if there is any way around the $10/day extra fee.

I know this thread focuses on MCO (or the surrounding area) but I always read these threads for rental car discounts. I know that if there is one out there, the DIS will know about it.

 

[KristaTX]

Has anyone here checked prices on the Costco website in the last few days? We are going May 3-9, and I've already booked with Alamo using the Costco information for $140.87 total for a Compact. Even though I do have a Costco membership, I always check prices there and then book on the actual rental company's website. But I keep checking every day to see if rates go down because they typically do.

Budget was close to the same as Alamo when I started checking a couple of weeks ago, but now Avis, Budget, and Enterprise are all insanely expensive ($478-$637!!) for that time period on the Costco website. Anyone have any idea what's up with that? Premium cars and convertibles are "cheaper".