I know this thread is old now, but hopefully this will still be helpful.
Two major things to understand about car rentals is that in order to know what car you might get, ask the local agency where you will actually pick the car up if they are franchise or corporate. Corporate offices will carry the makes of car advertised nationally on TV and in magazines, ect. Franchise locations are not required to and frequently do not.
Where this gets sticky is that you usually reserve on a national 800 number, and the agent will tell you the corporate standard. Many times even if you call a franchise, they will say; "You have a reservation for a full-size car like a Taurus" even though their actuall full-size cars are all Camery's or Subaru's. Even if it is corporate, no guarentees that the Taurus is what you'll actually get. Know your car types. They may say "a mini-van such as a Dodge Caraven" and when you arrive, it is a Kia or something that is much smaller with less space for luggage ect.
The more luxery the car, the easier it is to pin down the agents to what exact model car you will get. This is because they carry a much smaller volume of LX cars on average.
As to rate, most car rental agencies rent on a 24-hour clock. In other words, if you pick up a car Monday at 9:00am, Tuesday at 9:01 you begin to be charged for a 2nd day, Wednesday at 9:01 a third, ect. Also, the rack rates are usually set up so that after 3-5 of these 24 hour periods, the daily rate exceeds the weekly rate, depending on the season. This also means that if you bring it back on Tuesday at 2:30pm, you will most likely be charged for two full days.
So, for you Monday to Saturday, Assuming you pick up and drop off at exactly the same time (many agencies do allow a "grace period" of 30 minutes to 2 hours), you are paying about $67 a day.
Your best bet with a car rental agency is honestly exhausting.
Call the actual office everyday. Insist that you just want to check availability and rates. Don't forget to mention any discounts, such as
AAA, AARP, Diner's Club, or military. You would not believe how dramatically a rate can change in that industry. Also, if you must rent at an airport I understand. But you can get way cheaper and more steady rates at locations away from airports. Locations at airports are affected by the amount of flights for that day. The more people coming in, the higher the rates.
Sorry to go on and on. I'll give you two guesses what I did for a living before becoming a stay at home mom?
We rented from Alamo that time.
