Renting mini-van or full size car rates?

[jncvh]

I need to rent either a mini van or full size car to drive to Orlando in October. I have checked some rates and they seem to hover around $500 to $900 CDN for 10 days. All limit to 2000 kms and then 16 cents per kilometer after that. Does anyone have a place that they go to with unlimited kilometers and allowed to drive into the states?

I have heard about Alamo in Bolton and they seem to have good rates but advertise limited kilometers into the states. I did check through Costco.com and went throught the car rental link to Alamo and with their current discount the total came to $640.00 CDN.

Has anyone ever rented from Buf and drove down from there? I am going to be checking a few rental agency by the YYZ airport and try to arrange some type of deal for all Dis'ers . I believe that there would be enough people wanting to rent a vehicle to drive down to Disney to make it worth an agencies best interest to offer a special rate on mini-vans or full size cars.

 

[tmli]

If you are a caa member call an agency and ask about the Hertz Prepaid option. There is an inclusive program that includes unlimited km's, free tank of gas, all insurance, all taxes, service charges and an extra driver (provided they too are a member).

If you are not a member check the rate anyways...may still be cheaper to get a membership.

 

[Phoenix11]

I would definately be interested. If you find out anything please post back.

 

[CanadianGuy]

jncvh:

I'm from New Brunswick. I'm driving to Portland, Maine, picking up a rental car for an 8 day trip to Orlando.

The cost savings of doing this vs. renting up here are huge. My vehicle is older and I wouldn't trust it on that long of a drive, plus it sucks gas like crazy.

I am renting a mid-size from Portland, Maine, unlimited mileage for 166.57 for 8 days. And that includes taxes and fees. (I have my own insurance)

I don't see why you couldn't rent from Buffalo and go from there. I'm paying 7$ a day to leave my car at the airport in Portland. So.. a pretty decent deal really.

I priced out a full-size from Buffalo using October 10th to October 20th as dates for your 10 day trip and came up with 359.08$ US. at Alamo. (taxes and fees included). That may come down as you get closer to your dates so keep checking the rates. I booked mine at a higher rate originally, but then the rates came down and I booked the new rate and cancelled the old reservation.

The rate I quoted here for Buffalo is using the Mastercard discount (ID: 7012032) and a free car upgrade (Coupon AU3). You can get similar rates from a Costco membership, AAA membership or having an Amex.

The upgrade coupon can be printed out from the Mastercard.com site. Right here.. http://www.alamo.com/index.do?sourc...emplate.do&msg=AL_MastercardCardholders_offer

Hope this helps,

John

 

[CanadianGuy]

Also using rate code QVW in combo with the codes above you can get a minivan for 464.68 US.

 

[jncvh]

I have checked several car rental agencies in Canada and the average rental price for a mini-van to drive to DW plus extra kilometers runs around $900 CDN for 11 days. I checked in buffalo and received some better rates and did a cost comparison. Now I have a dilema. Here is what I found:

Driving out of Buf with a full size car for 11 days, parking at the airport, a hotel on each leg of the trip, and fuel came to $1013 USD and $1144 USD for a mini-van.

Flying out of Buf with Jet Blue with a full size car out of MCO plus parking at the airport and fuel came to $1740 USD. Plus, I would be able to spend two extra days in florida.

Which would you do? Save roughly 700 USD by driving or save the 48 hours of driving and fly. I do have a 2 year old and flying would make it easier on her.

 

[snickerboo]

If you rent from the airport in Buffalo, you can get unlimited miles. We never found anywhere in Canada that would give unlimited miles. As suggested above, there are such cheap flights out of Buffalo and cheap rental cars at MCO (we got a mid-sized SUV from Alamo for $150 for the week), you might consider flying.

 

[Charleyann]

renting a car from Almo, for 150.00 a week? Where did you find this? Geez, it'a about 100.00 round trip for a taxi to and from hotel!

Charleyann