Planning ahead saves over $500 on car!

[Donna M]

I like to check what the prices do after I book mine. I got a rate of $194 on my rental for Feb. vacation when I booked in August, now the price is up to $777 for 9 days, for a compact no less! I can't believe the prices are that high, well over $500 for little cars! All the sites are too.

I was able to get Southwest's best price by going online 2 hours before the expected opening window for booking. By 9 am, the price had gone up $100. (I think)

I'm glad I enjoy planning.

 

[shellspb]

We have found that we book our car about 6 months in advance and get a good price BUT about two weeks before we go, I go on Priceline and offer a lower price and see what they give me, it is ALWAYS an even cheaper deal. Try it.

 

[CaptHomer]

Always the last week or two the prices go down. My current rental went down $100 from the first time I booked it.

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

We have found that we book our car about 6 months in advance and get a good price BUT about two weeks before we go, I go on Priceline and offer a lower price and see what they give me, it is ALWAYS an even cheaper deal. Try it.

Thanks for this advice! I'm going to tuck it into my memory for our next trip!

 

[briangib]

We always look for deals or coupons as well. I just saved over $100 for a weekly rental in April by using a coupon code I found online.

 

[briangib]

We always look for deals or coupons as well. I just saved over $100 for a weekly rental in April by using a coupon code I found online.

 

[rhax07]

Wow, that's great information everybody. Thanks for the info. We are travelling this year and were looking to rent a car and that info will really help. Keep the good info coming!

 

[skm]

We had the same experience by renting about nine months out. We got a rate from National for about $350 with all fees included for two weeks. Recent quotes from National for that same period was well over $1000. It does pay to plan ahead!

 

[sajetto]

We have found that we book our car about 6 months in advance and get a good price BUT about two weeks before we go, I go on Priceline and offer a lower price and see what they give me, it is ALWAYS an even cheaper deal. Try it.

Great tip! I'm going to have to write this down so I don't forget it. We usually don't rent a car because we have always driven to FL in our vehicle, but now that we have a 16 month old she can't tolerate the 10 hr drive. Getting a flight and booking a car will fix that problem.

 

[rillsung]

I agree! We got our rental car for just over $400 for almost 3 weeks! By the time we left on our trip it was up to over $1500 We book the car almost a year in advance but then keep checking all year to get an even cheaper rate.

 

[maciec]

We are more than likely staying at SSR in October when we go. We took the bus last time we stayed there and I think that the only real problem that we had was after the MNSSHP when the bus que was packed.

I booked a rental car for October, but do you really think it's necessary and I just need to be more patient? I think it felt like 30 minutes before we ever left the resort on the bus. We were in the Grandstands building.

 

[Donna M]

Booking a rental car is really up to you. We don't always need one, but we like having it. On this trip we are heading to the supermarket, off site restaurants and church, so the car will be helpful.

That was a great tip about Priceline!

 

[CarolynMink]

I like to check what the prices do after I book mine. I got a rate of $194 on my rental for Feb. vacation when I booked in August, now the price is up to $777 for 9 days, for a compact no less! I can't believe the prices are that high, well over $500 for little cars! All the sites are too.

I was able to get Southwest's best price by going online 2 hours before the expected opening window for booking. By 9 am, the price had gone up $100. (I think)

I'm glad I enjoy planning.

I love to plan as well.

Just curious how did you know the expected opening window for booking on Southwest?

 

[Donna M]

Just curious how did you know the expected opening window for booking on Southwest?

Go to Southwest.com then on the bottom, go to Customer Service, then go to Travel Tools

I got that great piece of information here on the Dis

 

[CarolynMink]

Go to Southwest.com then on the bottom, go to Customer Service, then go to Travel Tools

I got that great piece of information here on the Dis

Wow

I took a look and what a big help that will be getting airfare.

Thank you for sharing.