Smaller, offsite car rental companies. Much cheaper, any opinions?

[Mom of three]

Ive tried for weeks now using Priceline, discount codes and any other means to find a mini-van rental for the time we are going. I made a tentative reservation with Alamo that is going to set me back about $600 for 5 days we are there.

We are flying into John Wayne and there are several smaller rental car companies that offer mini-vans for around $350-450.

Anyone have any experience with:

United Auto Rental
Rent 4 less
AM-PM Car Rental

From what Ive read, they all offer free shuttle service to their location and they are relatively close to the airport.

Is there anything I should be weary of or watch for? Am I missing anything?

TIA

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Just curious.....Why are you renting a car? Do you need one for the entire trip?

 

[Mom of three]

Just curious.....Why are you renting a car? Do you need one for the entire trip?

Because its me, my parents, and my 3 kids. We all wanted the flexibility of being able to transport the entire brood whenever we feel like it, rather than waiting for a shuttle and/or bus.

 

[godalejunior]

Just for fun, try pricing it out if you picked up the car once you got to Downton Disney at the Alamo rental agency there. I have heard the rental agencies at the airport can set you back a lot more than a rental facility away from the airport. You could take a shuttle or taxi from the airport to Downtown Disney. Just a thought.

 

[Brady's Mom]

If you are flying into John Wayne, we had good luck with Fox Rental. It was a short shuttle ride from the airport and we got a great upgrade. We were originally getting a sebring - but they were out of that car class and upgraded us to a Chrysler 300. NICE!

And our last car rental (May) was with Rent 4 Less and they upgraded us, too, since they were out of the car class we requested and we got a Dodge Charger. Cool car. My boys really thought they were stylin'.

I recently reserved a car for our trip in a couple of weeks and spent an entire morning trying to find the best rate. I had absolutely NO luck with Priceline and tried every which way to get the cost below $200 for 4 days. I finally found a discount code site and opened up a bunch of browser windows and used the discount codes in their original sites and ended up with a rate of $173 total including taxes and fees with budget. I tried all the sites - Alamo, Hertz, Avis, Budget, National. Whatever I could find. Some of the coupon codes gave up to 25% off. But it was a TOTAL pain to go through it like that. It was worth it since it saved me about $60.

 

[Mom of three]

If you are flying into John Wayne, we had good luck with Fox Rental. It was a short shuttle ride from the airport and we got a great upgrade. We were originally getting a sebring - but they were out of that car class and upgraded us to a Chrysler 300. NICE!

And our last car rental (May) was with Rent 4 Less and they upgraded us, too, since they were out of the car class we requested and we got a Dodge Charger. Cool car. My boys really thought they were stylin'.

I recently reserved a car for our trip in a couple of weeks and spent an entire morning trying to find the best rate. I had absolutely NO luck with Priceline and tried every which way to get the cost below $200 for 4 days. I finally found a discount code site and opened up a bunch of browser windows and used the discount codes in their original sites and ended up with a rate of $173 total including taxes and fees with budget. I tried all the sites - Alamo, Hertz, Avis, Budget, National. Whatever I could find. Some of the coupon codes gave up to 25% off. But it was a TOTAL pain to go through it like that. It was worth it since it saved me about $60.

Wow!! Thank you for sharing!!

Im seriously leaning towards an off-site location.

On a side note, what type of car are you looking to rent? I have a coupon code for Avis that saved us about $300!! I tried using it for this rental but it doesnt apply towards mini-vans or SUVS. It gave me a price of $144 for 4 days.

Let me know! I would be happy to pass it along.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Wow!! Thank you for sharing!!

Im seriously leaning towards an off-site location.

On a side note, what type of car are you looking to rent? I have a coupon code for Avis that saved us about $300!! I tried using it for this rental but it doesnt apply towards mini-vans or SUVS. It gave me a price of $144 for 4 days.

Let me know! I would be happy to pass it along.

I would LOVE the code. We are looking at compact-ish since it is just DH and I and we don't have to put kids/car seats or strollers in the car.

 

[Mom of three]

I would LOVE the code. We are looking at compact-ish since it is just DH and I and we don't have to put kids/car seats or strollers in the car.

Here ya go! Let me know how if it works! If I recall, this code is the Farmers Insurance code and they do not ask for anything. The "coupon code" is for an upgrade I believe but only for certain classes.

AWD Number: K199060
Coupon Number: UUWA029

 

[Brady's Mom]

Thanks for the code. The one I found for Budget saves me just a little bit more - about $5, so I am going to stick with it. Too bad that code doesn't work for you.

http://www.rentalcodes.com/

This is the link I used to find my coupon code. I just went to the links at the bottom and checked all of them for my dates and car choice. Hope it helps. I didn't check prices through the website, because I found that I didn't get the best deal. I just went to each car rental site and put in the dates and code numbers and that worked better for me.

 

[disneyscootergal]

bump

 

[AlabamaPrincesses]

I got a great tip from another user a few weeks ago. Book through Hertz.ca instead of Hertz.com I saved over $440 for our 9 day one-way rental!

Be careful in renting a "compact-ish" car. We have a family of 5 and stuggled to fit our luggage in a full size car. The Nissan Altima Hybrid has a small trunk!

 

[disneyscootergal]

.

Anyone have any experience with:

United Auto Rental
Rent 4 less
AM-PM Car Rental

From what Ive read, they all offer free shuttle service to their location and they are relatively close to the airport.

Is there anything I should be weary of or watch for? Am I missing anything?

TIA

WHere did you find that Rent 4 less offers free shuttle service? I DID find a pretty good deal from United Auto Rental: an economy car, 5 days for $168, much lower than anything else I've come across. Thanks!!

 

[Mom of three]

I ended up booking with United Auto Rentals. They are located 1/2 mile from SNA and offer free shuttle service to and from the airport/rental site.

Here is the breakdown:

Car Category: Minivan

Pick up Date: 7/28/2009

Pick up Time: 11:30 AM

Return Date: 8/1/2009

Return Time: 5:00 PM

Duration of Rental: 5 days

Rental Rate: $62.99

Estimated Total: $314.95 plus tax

After tax the charge is $343.

They also only charge $4.50 to rent a car seat should we need one. Thats less than half of what the other places are offering.

I will let everyone know how my experience is/was.

 

[Mom of three]

On another note, I made contact with AM-PM Car Rental, inquiring about the availability and price. Needless to say I will not recommend them.

Heres what happend in our email exchange....

Me: Im looking at renting a mini-van from July 28th approximately 11:30am-August 1st approximately 4:30pm. Can you please tell me what the total price with fees will be?

AM-PM: Thank you email for us.
7/ 28/09 ~ 8/1/09

(11:30am) (4:30pm Rerutn)

Price is $79.99/d $389/w

Total is $423.04($389/w+Tax8.75%)

Right now only One mini Van is Able to rent!

Me: Thank you for your response. I am also currently working with United Auto Rental, who is offering a mini-van as well for slightly less. I will be in touch soon.

AM-PM: 7Passenger is not able to rent long time right now coustmer renting now! If you want to rent you can go to United Auto Rental.



Dang!! Guess they did not like my response. Clearly someone needs to work on their english.