short term rental

[cjnix29]

how do you get the best deal on a short term (3 day mid week) car rental? I have always rented for a full week, and am shocked at how much higher the daily rates are! Anyone have any tips to share?

 

[skelooch]

It quite possibly might be cheaper to rent for the entire week from the airport than for several days from an onsite location.
All you can do is check out all your options using all the codes you can find.

 

[Redarrow5150]

I'm in the same boat and have been checking quotes and the best I've seen is a two day for $114 and that's not including the taxes etc. I'm trying to work in a day for Universal Studios and will end up using MEARS with the early park entrance but would like the flexibility of using a car but the rates just don't justify. I don't want to spend an extra $300 on this trip for a week when using a rented car 2-3x during that time.

how do you get the best deal on a short term (3 day mid week) car rental? I have always rented for a full week, and am shocked at how much higher the daily rates are! Anyone have any tips to share?

 

[NotUrsula]

Priceline is usually by far the best deal for daily weekday rentals, though Hotwire is decent as well.

Weekday short-term rates are usually higher because they are prime time for business customers. Note that the weekend rates normally begin to kick in for rentals that are picked up after noon on Thursday, so if your plans are at all flexible and you are staying through Saturday, arranging to need the car closer to the end of the week than the beginning is usually your best bet.

 

[Redarrow5150]

That doesn't work for me as we are coming in on a Tuesday. Also using the hotwire or priceline I want to take the car back to a location on WDW so that there might be an issue in regards to who comes up and takes my offer. Please let me know if I'm missing something when it comes to utilizing a better way of getting car rental rates.

Priceline is usually by far the best deal for daily weekday rentals, though Hotwire is decent as well.

Weekday short-term rates are usually higher because they are prime time for business customers. Note that the weekend rates normally begin to kick in for rentals that are picked up after noon on Thursday, so if your plans are at all flexible and you are staying through Saturday, arranging to need the car closer to the end of the week than the beginning is usually your best bet.

 

[NotUrsula]

That doesn't work for me as we are coming in on a Tuesday. Also using the hotwire or priceline I want to take the car back to a location on WDW so that there might be an issue in regards to who comes up and takes my offer. Please let me know if I'm missing something when it comes to utilizing a better way of getting car rental rates.

With all due respect, you'll need to decide what you want most: low cost, or convenience -- you seldom get both if you are insisting on an itinerary that is an unusual one for a tourist.

PL does not allow pickup at MCO and dropoff in Lake Buena Vista on bid wins, but Hotwire does. As a test, I just checked a 3 day rental starting on June 6th with a pickup at MCO and a dropoff in Lake Buena Vista, and I found a rate of $36/day on a standard. Lake Buena Vista is going to mean the general vicinity of WDW, possibly including the hotels out on Apopka-Vineland Rd. or on Irlo Bronson in the Maingate area, but it most commonly means the hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd. near Downtown Disney. What that might mean cost/convenience wise is a $10 cab ride back to your hotel if you don't want to do some walking after your return the car. (It is possible to get the S/D rental desk, in which case you can just hop a WDW internal bus back "home" after dropping it off, but that's the luck of the draw -- you don't get to specify.)

PL bidding is likely to give you a much better price than that out of MCO; perhaps as low as $16/day plus taxes. The trade-off is that you have take the car back to MCO to return it and then take either ME or a Mears bus back to the resort. Mears will set you back about $20 for one person one-way. (Of course, PL bidding might also give you a daily price even lower than that if you choose to keep the car for your entire stay. Sometimes that is the best deal of all.)

 

[Redarrow5150]

Thanks for the info. Your test was this done on hotwire? Also I'm going in December so I'm expecting the rates to stay high for quite a while but possibly dropping as we get closer.

With all due respect, you'll need to decide what you want most: low cost, or convenience -- you seldom get both if you are insisting on an itinerary that is an unusual one for a tourist.

PL does not allow pickup at MCO and dropoff in Lake Buena Vista on bid wins, but Hotwire does. As a test, I just checked a 3 day rental starting on June 6th with a pickup at MCO and a dropoff in Lake Buena Vista, and I found a rate of $36/day on a standard. Lake Buena Vista is going to mean the general vicinity of WDW, possibly including the hotels out on Apopka-Vineland Rd. or on Irlo Bronson in the Maingate area, but it most commonly means the hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd. near Downtown Disney. What that might mean cost/convenience wise is a $10 cab ride back to your hotel if you don't want to do some walking after your return the car. (It is possible to get the S/D rental desk, in which case you can just hop a WDW internal bus back "home" after dropping it off, but that's the luck of the draw -- you don't get to specify.)

PL bidding is likely to give you a much better price than that out of MCO; perhaps as low as $16/day plus taxes. The trade-off is that you have take the car back to MCO to return it and then take either ME or a Mears bus back to the resort. Mears will set you back about $20 for one person one-way. (Of course, PL bidding might also give you a daily price even lower than that if you choose to keep the car for your entire stay. Sometimes that is the best deal of all.)

 

[NotUrsula]

Yes, the test was via Hotwire.