National car rental for tomorrow lowered!

[DMRick]

Just checked since I had to be on to print out boarding passes..and I see my 8 day rental is now down to $106.67 (another $13 in the food kitty!) and I pick it up in about 11 hours!!

 

[klynn]

I just save another $12.00! Now my 15-day rate is down to $217.61 total!

 

[tweetsie]

Thanks for posting this. I just saved $8 on my eight day rental in June. Total Price $125

 

[frannn]

a kitchen sink! Can't wait to hear how you liked the new attractions! Oh, and don't forget your B1G1 sundae coupon.....

 

[agnes!]

I have kind of a different situation...
We have a trip August 9-17. Because of our flights we arrive at MCO around 10:30am on the 9th and then will leave WDW around 2 on the 17th to get the rental car back to MCO. *So*, if we pick up our National(Emerald Reserve) car at the airport we will have a week + two days...ack, the daily rate really adds up along with that Airport Concession Recovery Fee . Our total in that case would be about $291(including all taxes/fees/surcharges, using Entertainment membership/EC coupon, Emerald Reserve/Full-Size car).

I always play around with different possibilities(Thanks, MouseSavers!) I am now looking into possibly getting a towncar from MCO to Port Orleans & then the next day(August 10) picking up our car at the MK Car Care Ctr. That way I'd end up paying for just a 'week', plus have the luxury of towncar transport plus probably getting to the resort a bit quicker plus no &*#@!Airport Concession Recovery Fee. (By the way, a week at the MK Car Care Center is about $174, while a week at MCO is about *$185*.) The car rental total in the new scenario would be about $184(using Entertainment Book discount + Entertainment Coupon). Adding on the towncar total of about $65 (Florida Tours/one-way fee + tip) gives me a new local transport total of $249-$254.
So I'll end up saving at least $37 ...

agnes!
PS - Here's to lower rental car rates !

 

[sweet maxine]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this or not, but when I rebooked to get a lower rate, the luggage capacity went down with the full size car. I'm completely baffled by this, so I called National about it, and was told that the cars all have large trunks. I was told that a Camry was considered a full size car, and I don't remember it being listed as that in Sept. of last year. Are the cars getting smaller? I wonder if the rebooking has brought me a smaller full size car?

Anybody know anything about this? I don't want to get to the airport and find out that I should have gotten a minivan just to carry luggage for 5 people (one is a toddler).

 

[agnes!]

Perhaps you should consider getting a minivan or at least an Emerald Reserve, (reserving the size car that your family must have). In our case, I don't want to maybe end up with a Standard or an Intermediate - I really want that Full-Size car. It's only costing me about $8 extra for the week.
Think about it...your toddler will still be in a car seat, so will take up as much sitting space as an adult. Your group of 5 will be able to find seating in the car, but think about all that luggage... Unless every person is taking small carryons *only*, you probably won't have enough room in the trunk for all your stuff, even *if* the trunk is as big as a Camry's.

Sometimes, when I am checking rates, I'll just go in and start a whole new reservation. I'll play around with all the various discounts/codes/coupons... If the price is not cheaper, I don't book it. If it is better, I'll go ahead, book my new reservation and then cancel the old(more expensive!) reservation.

agnes!
PS - Does anybody else get confused about the various sizes? Is there really any meaningful difference between a Standard and an Intermediate and a Full-Size? And why does my Entertainment Book coupon mention a midsize when the National website has no such named size ?

 

[sweet maxine]

I just rebooked tonight and got the minivan. I noticed that prices have come down again this evening, as I had checked on the minivan earlier in the day. Mine came down about $15 since this afternoon.

 

[crazywig]

i think you'll be glad you did. last summer we tried 2 adults, a teenager and a toddler in a full size and couldn't do it. we had 3 suitcases, a couple of carryons and a stroller. we ended up taking a pontiac aztec off the emerald aisle.

 

[mbcp]

Can anyone tell me the codes thaey have used to get a good rate on a minivan. We will be looking for one for 9 days for late June-early July. The prices for a minivan have been really high from what I have found. Also can you tell me the sizes of trunks (really) for standard vs. full size vs. premium vehicles?

Thanks so much!!

 

[DebbieB]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this or not, but when I rebooked to get a lower rate, the luggage capacity went down with the full size car. I'm completely baffled by this, so I called National about it, and was told that the cars all have large trunks. I was told that a Camry was considered a full size car, and I don't remember it being listed as that in Sept. of last year. Are the cars getting smaller? I wonder if the rebooking has brought me a smaller full size car?

Anybody know anything about this? I don't want to get to the airport and find out that I should have gotten a minivan just to carry luggage for 5 people (one is a toddler).

They recently changed their benchmark on a full size from a Regal (which is no longer manufactured) to an Impala. I had an Impala 3 weeks ago and the trunk was huge. I never had a Regal, so I don't know how big that one was. Rebooking would not make a difference as they do not assign individual cars. Everyone selects a vehicle from the row they booked, it doesn't matter when you booked it. How many pieces of luggage will you have? I would say it would fit 3 or 4 large pieces with room to spare. We had 2 large pieces and laid them flat on the floor of the trunk, probably could have put 2 more on top.

 

[dudspizza]

Can anyone tell me the codes thaey have used to get a good rate on a minivan. We will be looking for one for 9 days for late June-early July. The prices for a minivan have been really high from what I have found. Also can you tell me the sizes of trunks (really) for standard vs. full size vs. premium vehicles?

Thanks so much!!

Try clicking on National's Specials to go. You can get a week minivan for a base of 189.99.

 

[luvdisney14]

Is national rental at the airport. I have never used national before. What is emerald services. PLease help me to get started.

 

[DebbieB]

Is national rental at the airport. I have never used national before. What is emerald services. PLease help me to get started.

http://www.mousesavers.com/national.html#emeraldclub

 

[luvdisney14]

Thank you, does anyone have the codes for coupons for other discounts?

 

[nancyj]

Thanks for posting this. I'm not going until the end of June and am only renting for 3 days, picking up at MCO and dropping off at the Dolphin. When I played around with a new reservation I was able to drop my rate by $10.50. When I tried to modify my existing reservation using the exact same codes, it actually raised my rate! Any idea why? So, I made a new reservation and will cancel the old one.

 

[DebbieB]

Thanks for posting this. I'm not going until the end of June and am only renting for 3 days, picking up at MCO and dropping off at the Dolphin. When I played around with a new reservation I was able to drop my rate by $10.50. When I tried to modify my existing reservation using the exact same codes, it actually raised my rate! Any idea why? So, I made a new reservation and will cancel the old one.

That's what I always do - make a new reservation and cancel the old. On my last trip earlier this month, I think I cancelled 4 or 5 times. My rate went from $150 to a final of $100! When I returned the car, it turned out to be only $97 because I returned it a little earlier in the day than expected and was about 10 minutes short of an additional day, so the per day taxes were less (I picked up the car at like 3:45 on Saturday and returned it at 3:35 on Friday instead of the expected 5:00).