Rental Car

[mercydisney]

I have never rented a car before. Where does everyone here rent their cars from. What is the best way and least expensive way to rent one. I will take any advice.
Thank You

 

[DizMe]

I usually fly SW so I check their rates against Costco. Sometimes one is better, sometimes the other. You can also sign up for the loyalty programs for different car companies but I don't rent a car often enough to get much out of that.

 

[kymom99]

I use aarp. Not sure if you are old enough for that. They offer a code for budget rental car. You can check the prices online by going to the aarp site to get the code. It redirects you to the budget site and enters the code for you.

 

[RockinDisney]

I use either Costco or Hotwire.com

 

[mel&me]

Last couple times I used Rentalcars.com last trip I had even reserved a car 2 months out but canceled it and re booked 2 weeks out with no penalty and got same vehicle for about 25% less than original reservation.

 

[tvguy]

Last 3 years I compared Southwest rates with the rental companies directly, and the rental companies were always lower. This was in Phoenix.

 

[Jimsig]

After you book keep checking back for price drops. In most cases as long as you don't do a pre-pay you can book a new reservation and then cancel the original one. Some of the pre-pays can be cancelled for a fee so depending on how much the fee it it could be cheaper to book a new reservation and then cancel the pre-paid one.

 

[TikiBabe]

In Florida, we use Alamo, it comes in handy because we don't have the rental past the first few days on property and it's convenient to return it on property to either the Dolphin Resort or The Car Car Center instead of driving all the way back to the airport and having to take are uber or something (which we refuse to do b/c of trust and safety issues).

 

[EACarlson]

Autoslash.com if you don't have Costco. They do all the work for you and let you know which is the cheapest. I try to stay away from the smaller companies, cheaper prices but higher ratio of things going wrong. Check the rental car coverage on the credit card you are going to use. Chase offers primary coverage on their Sapphire cards and American Express offers primary coverage for a much smaller fee than what the rental companies charge. Almost all the other coverage is going to be secondary to your personal auto insurance.

 

[Klayfish]

Your best bet will always be through the rental company directly. Costco will not get you a better deal. Sign up for the rental companies "program", which is free. Check rates frequently, they will change daily.

 

[Jaime4004]

I just booked a last minute car yesterday. Priceline was the best option this time. Usually I get a better rate through the rental companies. Costco has never had a better rate for me, so far.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

If you work for a large company, or one where a lot of people travel often, there might be a negotiated rate available for employees that you can take advantage of. On our employee discount page on our web portal, there's a short code to use for most of the major rentals National/Enterprise/Hertz/Alamo that usually puts the car below any price I can find online. You need to go directly through the rental company's website and then enter the code from there.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I used priceline, and the insurance was half the price from what the rental car place was charging. When you check your rates check away from the airport as well as in. Our rate was so much better 5 miles away, but I know that can change. It was still worth a Lyft most of the Lyft was free anyways with the new sign up credit.

 

[RockinDisney]

For what it is worth if this is for a Disney trip, I have always rented a car until my last trip and we ended up using lyft and uber. It actually came out cheaper then rental, parking and gas.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I just booked a last minute car yesterday. Priceline was the best option this time. Usually I get a better rate through the rental companies. Costco has never had a better rate for me, so far.

One of the nice things about Costco is that you get the second driver free, which is a consideration for some people. I agree that you can probably find lower rates yourself with a bit of searching, but the Costco rates are competitive with the basic rates and an easy sure thing for many people.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I love Alamo and I wait till about a week or 2 before our trip to book the car because I always find it is much cheaper the closer the trip I book. I love Alamo because I can check in online. Print off my rental page at home. We we arrive at the airport I walk out pick out my car. At the exit booth I show the rental paper, license and credit card and I am on my way. It is a lot better than standing in line for the rental counter and having the employee try to upsell us on the insurance. If you are booking the week you are leaving on Tue they release the last minute specials.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Your best bet will always be through the rental company directly. Costco will not get you a better deal. Sign up for the rental companies "program", which is free. Check rates frequently, they will change daily.

Eh Costco can and does get you a better deal. It does depend on multiple factors.

Sales that Costco has that the rental car company isn't running at the moment such as percent off base rates, free nights, etc
Additional driver fee for companies that charge for it AND don't have a free program that covers that part

*This is the same for AAA and other like companies.

When we rented a car for our Sep 2017 WDW/USO trip we originally booked through rentalcars(.com) but Costco had a cheaper price and for a car class above what we had originally booked. Rentalcars(.com) rental was through Alamo (and yeah the price was less than Alamo) and our Costco rental was through Avis (and for sure cheaper than Avis directly even if counting in my husband's corporate rate that he gets)--it had a free day plus 25% off Base rates.

Had we stayed through Rentalcars(.com) I would have had to pay the additional driver fee even as a spouse. If we had opted for the rental through Costco then Costco would have waived that fee for Alamo.

It just pays to check around really because each time may be different.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I love Alamo and I wait till about a week or 2 before our trip to book the car because I always find it is much cheaper the closer the trip I book. I love Alamo because I can check in online. Print off my rental page at home. We we arrive at the airport I walk out pick out my car. At the exit booth I show the rental paper, license and credit card and I am on my way. It is a lot better than standing in line for the rental counter and having the employee try to upsell us on the insurance. If you are booking the week you are leaving on Tue they release the last minute specials.

FWIW Alamo isn't the only company that allows you to pick your car.

National does, Avis does. The other companies I'm a bit fuzzy on in regards to that. I'm pretty certain you can print off your rental page at home with most if not all the large rental companies. The only company I've ever felt like the employees were attempting a slight upsell at the counter was Fox (when we were at the Denver airport). That's the one and only time we've rented from Fox though.

When booking with Avis my husband each and every trip checks the Exchange Aisle and depending on the cars there and the one he was given he may opt to take the exchange car. It's extremely easy to do that. Signing up for Avis Preferred (which is free) allows you to skip the counter too plus you'll get an e-mail (or there's often an electronic board) which shows your car location though again you can, if available that is, go to the exchange aisle and select a different car. You can also use the app too (which has some cool features to it).

The thing I don't like about Alamo is the additional driver fee even for a spouse. It's the #1 reason we opt to not book with Alamo if we can help it (meaning another reputable company is cheaper even if including the additional driver fee).

 

[Louie7080]

I use autoslash.com too which has always listed priceline as the cheapest option of those they offer. Through autoslash/priceline I have gotten Alamo, Enterprise, and National. I've looked into other car rental sites but autoslash has almost always had the best price. I think kayak beat them once for me. I am an Alamo member and it seems that times I have checked with them directly versus autoslash/priceline, an Alamo car was cheaper with the latter or the same. I do not have a Costco or AARP membership. I also stay away from those cheaper places, because it sounds like too much can go wrong. I have had bad costumer service with Alamo - mostly very rude employees that act like they would rather be at the dentist. I was treated like a moron because I declined their insurance. Tip: always bring proof of your own car insurance. Some companies make you get theirs if you don't. Also at Alamo I had to wait 45 minutes to talk to an employee and get the car I reserved event though there was only 1 other person waiting when we got there (that was in Anaheim), but that is about it. Another tip: bring change to use at the tolls if you don't want to use the sunpass system.

 

[Monykalyn]

I have never rented a car before. Where does everyone here rent their cars from. What is the best way and least expensive way to rent one. I will take any advice.
Thank You

Also check the transportation board for the month you plan on renting. Lots of helpful people will post codes, and find price drops that you can check for your dates. I save >$80 on our rental through that board (+a code for free extra driver, and car upgrade)