Rental car (Florida) - Price drop!! Aug.6

[jump00]

We are going to Clearwater Fl in August for one week and booked through WestJet. I saw that Costco has rental cars for about 228.00 US ( taxes incl.) per week. I have no idea if that is a good price - where else might I look? Thanks for any suggestions.

Jump00

 

[hardis5]

I've used Costco numerous times and Undercover Tourist (prepaid) when the price was right. Checkout the Transportation Forum of DISboards (here http://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/) and look for the thread for August to see the deals (and codes) people are using and the rates others are getting for the month/period you are renting for.

I always do a Costco booking at the planning stage (we have one months old for November) and then re-book as rates drop or a better (and watch) all-in rate is found. Costco rates are all-in and may look like more, but many rental sites themselves directly show the base rate (without concession fees, taxes, etc). Make sure if seeing a cheaper rate, it is the total rental cost and not a base rate to compare apples to apples. This year, rates are higher than previous and seem to drop up to a few weeks before the needed rental period. Just do not wait till the time needed to book - book early, re-book often (making sure to cancel the previous reservation) and watch rates, as they seem at times to go up and down more than a toilet seat at a spicy food eating contest.

 

[TraceyDisney2008]

U have used Car rental savers.com gives you a comparison between multiple sites

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Car rentals are tricky. Generally you need to check and re-check (rebooking new and cancelling old, in that order) to get the best rate.

I have a 15 day (2 weeks + 1 day) rental of a full size vehicle for October and we're at $282.00 including tax. But that's picking up and dropping off at MCO.....I have no idea if pricing is similar out of Clearwater. Generally, $150 a week, including all taxes and fees, is my target for a week's rental in Orlando. Nothing smaller for us than a full size, either. Quite often, we end up with a lower price than our target, too.

 

[jump00]

I've used Costco numerous times and Undercover Tourist (prepaid) when the price was right. Checkout the Transportation Forum of DISboards (here http://www.disboards.com/forums/transportation.16/) and look for the thread for August to see the deals (and codes) people are using and the rates others are getting for the month/period you are renting for.

I always do a Costco booking at the planning stage (we have one months old for November) and then re-book as rates drop or a better (and watch) all-in rate is found. Costco rates are all-in and may look like more, but many rental sites themselves directly show the base rate (without concession fees, taxes, etc). Make sure if seeing a cheaper rate, it is the total rental cost and not a base rate to compare apples to apples. This year, rates are higher than previous and seem to drop up to a few weeks before the needed rental period. Just do not wait till the time needed to book - book early, re-book often (making sure to cancel the previous reservation) and watch rates, as they seem at times to go up and down more than a toilet seat at a spicy food eating contest.

Thank you for the suggestions!!! I will book Costco and keep checking till we leave to see if prices drop. I will also have a look at the Transportation Forum for rates in August.

Jump00

 

[jump00]

U have used Car rental savers.com gives you a comparison between multiple sites

Thanks I will!!!

Jump00

 

[jump00]

Car rentals are tricky. Generally you need to check and re-check (rebooking new and cancelling old, in that order) to get the best rate.

I have a 15 day (2 weeks + 1 day) rental of a full size vehicle for October and we're at $282.00 including tax. But that's picking up and dropping off at MCO.....I have no idea if pricing is similar out of Clearwater. Generally, $150 a week, including all taxes and fees, is my target for a week's rental in Orlando. Nothing smaller for us than a full size, either. Quite often, we end up with a lower price than our target, too.

Hi Gina!!

We are flying into Tampa so the pick up is at their airport. If my memory serves me correctly you use RBC correct? Have you ever used Costco? In June it was 188.00 US (Costco) but I didn't "jump" on this fast enough. Lesson learned. I will keep my fingers crossed that Costco will drop before August 10th.

I'm hoping to be able to get it for under 200.00 US before we leave. If I had had more time planning this trip I would have been better organized. LOL!! My dh found an opening in his busy schedule so we "jumped" on it.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions! (Enjoying your PTR)

Jump00

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hi Gina!!

We are flying into Tampa so the pick up is at their airport. If my memory serves me correctly you use RBC correct? Have you ever used Costco? In June it was 188.00 US (Costco) but I didn't "jump" on this fast enough. Lesson learned. I will keep my fingers crossed that Costco will drop before August 10th.

I'm hoping to be able to get it for under 200.00 US before we leave. If I had had more time planning this trip I would have been better organized. LOL!! My dh found an opening in his busy schedule so we "jumped" on it.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions! (Enjoying your PTR)

Jump00

We are not Costco members so we don't qualify for their great rates. I often have considered buying a membership just for the car rental deals, though!!

 

[alc571]

We only use Alamo. You can sign up to be an Insider for free and automatically save 10% off the listed rates. I currently have a Standard booked for a week in September for $160.50 USD. We love Alamo because we can do the online checkin, print all our documents from home, and completely skip the counter. We just go straight to our car. The cars are always decently new and super clean as well. Also, at MCO they do not have a Standard aisle, so you get a Full-size car for the price of a Standard.

 

[SaraMc]

I often have to book cars for work stuff, online reservations ahead of time also gives you better rates. I have found through my costco membership often thats still the better rate.

 

[jump00]

I often have to book cars for work stuff, online reservations ahead of time also gives you better rates. I have found through my costco membership often thats still the better rate.

Good to know- thanks!!!

Jump00

 

[pigletto]

We are not Costco members so we don't qualify for their great rates. I often have considered buying a membership just for the car rental deals, though!!

I wouldn't. I've been a Costco member for a few years and have always done better through scouring for codes and using them on various car rental companies websites, or the RBC Visa rewards travel engine, or even Priceline/Hotwire. It's not that Costco is terrible, in fact they are often pretty good, but they aren't the lowest in my experience. I doubt you would do much better than you already do.

 

[bcwife76]

We have used Costco as well as Avis directly as my husband gets a corporate discount through them. So for example, we rented a car for a week in Maui and Costco was by far the best price we could find. And it kept dropping too so we rebooked a couple of times. However, for Orlando this coming January, my hubby's corporate discount with Avis is blowing Costco rates out of the water! Even if they keep dropping, Costco will still end up being more expensive so we're using his corporate discount that time. Weird, right? And at the end of August, we had one booked through Avis using his discount (again Costco was more expensive) and then my hubby did more research and found way better rates with a local LAX company (with excellent reviews online) so we're this private rental company.

 

[grantclaire]

Agree with all PP's. One thing I look for before beside price is if the car rental company is located in terminal and to they have a prebooking option that lets you bypass the main rental counter.

 

[Sue M]

I always book on Costco too. And prefer Alamo. We pick up car in Ft Lauderdale, we fly there to visit family first, then drive rental up to Wdw. Lots of tolls between Ft Lauderdale & Orlando! So I prefer Alamo. You can drive thru tolls in Sunpass Lane. They cap admin fee at a reasonable limit. Since we're there 10 days that's a good thing. Beware some of these so called budget companies. Their fees are higher than the major companies (Alamo, Budget, Avis).

After we check into our resort we return car. Alamo is conviently located in 2 places in Wdw. Across from TTC and at Dolphin makes it very easy to return car. And the Car Care return across from TTC has shuttles, they will pick you up or drop you off anywhere on Wdw property.

Costco gives you one free extra driver too. Most companies charge $10/day for that.

Prices do go up & down. So freq checking is a must. We have a 10 day rental picking up in Lauderdale & dropping off in Wdw for $230
I've been checking the site and price is now $460!!! $230 may be the best I can do for this year, we'll see. Last year I got it for $180. Sometimes price drops a week before or even days before. We leave in 2.5 weeks so I'm now checking 2x a day, lol. Morning & night. I've seen price drop at night, and the next morning go right back up.

Check with your car insurance if they offer rental insurance. We have a policy added on to ours with ICBC. It's cheap. Only $30 or $40/year. Rental companies rip you off. And credit card companies do have car insurance but not 3rd party liability so beware.

 

[jump00]

I always book on Costco too. And prefer Alamo. We pick up car in Ft Lauderdale, we fly there to visit family first, then drive rental up to Wdw. Lots of tolls between Ft Lauderdale & Orlando! So I prefer Alamo. You can drive thru tolls in Sunpass Lane. They cap admin fee at a reasonable limit. Since we're there 10 days that's a good thing. Beware some of these so called budget companies. Their fees are higher than the major companies (Alamo, Budget, Avis).

After we check into our resort we return car. Alamo is conviently located in 2 places in Wdw. Across from TTC and at Dolphin makes it very easy to return car. And the Car Care return across from TTC has shuttles, they will pick you up or drop you off anywhere on Wdw property.

Costco gives you one free extra driver too. Most companies charge $10/day for that.

Prices do go up & down. So freq checking is a must. We have a 10 day rental picking up in Lauderdale & dropping off in Wdw for $230
I've been checking the site and price is now $460!!! $230 may be the best I can do for this year, we'll see. Last year I got it for $180. Sometimes price drops a week before or even days before. We leave in 2.5 weeks so I'm now checking 2x a day, lol. Morning & night. I've seen price drop at night, and the next morning go right back up.

Check with your car insurance if they offer rental insurance. We have a policy added on to ours with ICBC. It's cheap. Only $30 or $40/year. Rental companies rip you off. And credit card companies do have car insurance but not 3rd party liability so beware.

Hi Sue,

Thanks for your input. We do have rental insurance with our policy and I also have First Class Visa that includes it -if you pay with the card. I always get nervous when you get to the kiosk and they "frighten" you with what could happen if you don't take their insurance. I've looked on the Dis Boards and can't find a Canadian who has had an accident in Florida and had to use their own insurance. Any insight would be much appreciated. (When I called Allstate -my advisor wasn't sure -that made me even more nervous!!!)

Enjoy your trip!!!

Jump00

 

[Sue M]

Hi Sue,

Thanks for your input. We do have rental insurance with our policy and I also have First Class Visa that includes it -if you pay with the card. I always get nervous when you get to the kiosk and they "frighten" you with what could happen if you don't take their insurance. I've looked on the Dis Boards and can't find a Canadian who has had an accident in Florida and had to use their own insurance. Any insight would be much appreciated. (When I called Allstate -my advisor wasn't sure -that made me even more nervous!!!)

Enjoy your trip!!!

Jump00

My Visa and Mastercard both have car insurance BUT they don't have 3rd party liability. So I buy an add on with my home car insurance that covers rental cars incl 3rd party.

Nothing will happen if you don't take their insurance. I've gotten an aggressive agent a couple of times, and I just tell them I have coverage. I suspect they get bonus or something if they up sell you!
At the counter once the agent tried to up sell me from mid size to full size, I declined and when I went into the garage, turns out they were out of midsize and had to give me full size anyway I'm glad I didn't fall for it, and was pretty mad. I should have phoned the agency and told them about that sleeze. But I was on vacation and just didn't feel like dealing with it!

Don't let them intimidate you! If you do get into an accident I was told you just contact your home auto insurance right away with all the details, same as if you were home. Then you'd have to contact car rental company, with claim #. I'll use my ICBC rental policy, because Visa isn't full coverage. Be sure you take a copy of policy or card with you with policy # and phone #. ICBC gives me a card, so I don't carry policy.

 

[jump00]

My Visa and Mastercard both have car insurance BUT they don't have 3rd party liability. So I buy an add on with my home car insurance that covers rental cars incl 3rd party.

Nothing will happen if you don't take their insurance. I've gotten an aggressive agent a couple of times, and I just tell them I have coverage. I suspect they get bonus or something if they up sell you!
At the counter once the agent tried to up sell me from mid size to full size, I declined and when I went into the garage, turns out they were out of midsize and had to give me full size anyway I'm glad I didn't fall for it, and was pretty mad. I should have phoned the agency and told them about that sleeze. But I was on vacation and just didn't feel like dealing with it!

Don't let them intimidate you! If you do get into an accident I was told you just contact your home auto insurance right away with all the details, same as if you were home. Then you'd have to contact car rental company, with claim #. I'll use my ICBC rental policy, because Visa isn't full coverage. Be sure you take a copy of policy or card with you with policy # and phone #. ICBC gives me a card, so I don't carry policy.

Thanks Sue!! I am going to call Allstate and make sure I'm fully covered. Great advice!!

Jump00

 

[grantclaire]

The aggressive counter agents are the main reason we book with a company that lets you prebook and allows you to go directly to the parking garage. With Budget it is called Fastbreak.

 

[OnceUponATime15]

We've never booked length of stay car rentals, we stay on property so for the most part we are using Disney transportation.

That said, we always book a car rental for 3 or 4 days each trip to accommodate off site excursions & shopping trips. . For those rentals we book using Aeroplan or Airmiles and depending on which, we use Alamo or Hertz. Total cost of the rental = zero dollars. (taxes are also included in the points rental) My car insurance policy covers me in rental cars - I always have them send me proof of insurance before traveling.