The car rental companies have gone mad!

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I just tried to book a car for 2 weeks. The weekly fee would be $174.33
The fees and taxes: $168.87
For a grand total of: $545.24 Ummm...that's more than what I paid for my airfare. hello?
The total for 2 weeks before taxes/fees would've been $376.37. That's an insane amunt of taxes and fees! I used to rent for 3 weeks and pay $300 total for the entire 3 weeks including fees! What the heck is going on here? Do they want our business or not? I tried to book off airport -- and I guess they've caught on to that. Because it would cost me $600 before taxes and fees if I booked it that way. Crazy!
Sorry for the vent/rant but this is insane!

 

[ToodlesRN]

I booked our car rental a few months ago for $157.00 and I looked last night to see if the prices dropped, nope the prices went up to $403.00 for 6 days!

 

[Huff]

Try all the specials on each of the car rental companies at the airport you're flying into. Avis, Budget, National, Hertz and all the others. I've gotten the best deals through Budget. Just look at their online specials and see which one would work for you.

If your own car insurance covers rentals (most do) or your credit card does (Most Visas or Master Cards do) then waive the absurdly high priced rental agencies insurance.

 

[PHXscuba]

Yeah, prices really seem to have gone up lately. Everyone I know is

I've found some great deals using some coupon codes I found online. The best so far have come from frequent-flyer forums, like flyertalk dot com. Those guys know how to work the discounts. I know some people use rental car momma dot com as well.

Try everything -- entertainment book codes sometime work for longer rentals. It's probably worth a little hunting if it can save you hundreds. Play around with type of car -- a slightly higher car category might come out to less if there's a better coupon.

Or (presuming this is for a DLR vacation), price out how much a shuttle to/from the airport to DL, and renting a car for just part of the time if you want to go offsite?

Good luck,
PHXscuba

 

[DangerMouse]

If you are a Costco member, I have found Alamo through Costco is usually a pretty good deal.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

I feel your pain! We are cruising and then want to pick up a car from SAN and drive Annaheim to go to DL for a few days and then return the car and fly out of OC....
Well my goodness CA is nothing like FL...Some of the car rental places want too charge a drop off fee for not returning to the same rental place of $175 or more!!! I was in shock.

I finally called Enterprise and with my entertaiment discount got a rate that is not too scary??? We pick up on a Wed morning and return on Saturday and it is $182 with the $40 drop off charge included...Still seems high, but what else can I do?? Other agencies were over $300??

In Florida we always rent in Orlando and have returned in Tampa and never have a drop charge???

I can not believe car rental rates...

You can always try Hotwire if renting and returning the same place. Sometimes I have good luck on there???

 

[MickeyManiac]

It's crazy! I have been playing around with prices everyday and they are just going up. Last November I rented a minivan for 203.00 for the week and thought that was high. Now I'm finding prices for a week to be 300-400 for a compact in June.
I got lucky a couple of weeks ago and got a rate from Budget for 187.00 through Delta.com . Try checking the airline websites even if you haven't booked your plane tickets with them.

I second Alamo through Costco. They usually have a little better rate AND you get a free additional driver.

I am also considering Priceline closer to my trip. I've never used PL so I'm a little nervous about that.

 

[ORMom2Four]

We have used Priceline twice during the past year for minivan rentals. We paid $22/day May '08 and $24/day Oct '08. Now they are saying that we will need to bid at least $39/day to have a chance of "winning". My $22 bid was rejected right away.

If we didn't need a car to get to Universal & Sea World, we just woudn't rent one.

I wonder if we could squeeze all 4 kids into a compact?

 

[oscarkitty1]

I feel your pain!! We were there with my family at the end of last April, and I got a minivan on Priceline for $25 a day. I just put in a bid for $40 a day for our trip coming up in July, and was denied!!

I don't understand how they are raising prices when everyone else in the travel industry is slashing??

I'm hoping I'll be able to get a minivan for our trip for $300 or less. Otherwise we will look into taking the shuttle, and just renting a car in DTD for our beach day.

BTW, for the PP who asked about Priceline... I LOVE Priceline!! It's the only way I rent cars, and we use it all the time. It's only from the major companies, and I don't have a preference of whether the car came from Hertz, Alamo, etc. As long as it has four wheels and an engine, I don't care which brand!

 

[KLR-wlv]

I reserved an suv in Jan for our trip in June - 12 days was $555 (thru costco's discount) and I thought for sure it would get cheaper as the dates got closer. Now the cheapest rate is $850! We have 5 people, car seat and stroller - so I don;t think I can go any smaller than an suv. I was very shocked! Last time we went to LA I had a great deal - none so far this time!

 

[redsox721]

That's nuts.

We booked our car in February for our May trip. Grand total for 8 days with taxes an fees $216.47. Now it is over $400.00.

 

[ACDSNY]

The rates for April at SNA seem to be way high. I've been checking daily for Apr 28 - 30 and I finally got the rate down to $76 at Thrifty's.

As others have said, check all companies and websites and hopefully something will pop up cheaper.

 

[SeansMom]

OMG...seriously makes one contemplate the shuttle option, just renting for a day or two to go offsite. Isn't there a couple of rental car agencies near DL? I seem to remember that. Seems crazy to pay more for a rental car then airfare.

 

[ACDSNY]

OMG...seriously makes one contemplate the shuttle option, just renting for a day or two to go offsite. Isn't there a couple of rental car agencies near DL? I seem to remember that. Seems crazy to pay more for a rental car then airfare.

I believe Alamo has one near DLH.

 

[jlmarr]

Here's a Google map of rental car locations around DLR.

 

[SeansMom]

I believe Alamo has one near DLH.

Here's a Google map of rental car locations around DLR.

Thank you ! I always think we need a car, then it hardly moves from the parking lot. This way, we could have one for a couple days and pay less.

BTW, I'm wondering if the prices are up because rentals are down. It seems it should be the opposite, but maybe the companies are trying to make up for lost $$$.

 

[tink713]

Both my DH and I are under 25 years old so we have to pay an extra $25 a day for our car rental! Crazy considering we both have clean driving records and have been both been driving for 6 years. This brings our grand total to $550 for 9 days!

 

[jlmarr]

Both my DH and I are under 25 years old so we have to pay an extra $25 a day for our car rental! Crazy considering we both have clean driving records and have been both been driving for 6 years. This brings our grand total to $550 for 9 days!

Do you actually need the car for each of those 9 days? If not maybe you should do what SeansMom is contemplating.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks for the responses everyone! For those who wrote about drop fees, I hear you. I haven't had to pay drop fees since the 1980s! All these years driving from LA-Vegas or other states in the surrounding areas there were no drop fees. Suddenly last year I noticed that they started instituting drop fees. I figured it was because of the gas prices. Now gas prices have gone down, but they still charge drop fees. I think, like the airlines checked bag fee, they figured out that people will still pay it if they need it. It's so sad how everything else related to travel is going down cost wise, but the car rental prices are the complete reverse. I remember just a couple of years ago the car rental companies in the surrounding areas would give you more of a discount to drive a car from one state to another and oftentimes, the airport access charges were completley waived because of that. Not so anymore.

Try all the specials on each of the car rental companies at the airport you're flying into. Avis, Budget, National, Hertz and all the others. I've gotten the best deals through Budget. Just look at their online specials and see which one would work for you.
If your own car insurance covers rentals (most do) or your credit card does (Most Visas or Master Cards do) then waive the absurdly high priced rental agencies insurance.

Thanks we always waive the insurance, although my friend's recent Fairfield Inn experience is making me wonder if I should continue to do so....I think I need to call my insurance agent and double check everything again for peace of mind.

I've found some great deals using some coupon codes I found online. The best so far have come from frequent-flyer forums, like flyertalk dot com. Those guys know how to work the discounts. I know some people use rental car momma dot com as well.

Try everything -- entertainment book codes sometime work for longer rentals. It's probably worth a little hunting if it can save you hundreds. Play around with type of car -- a slightly higher car category might come out to less if there's a better coupon.
Or (presuming this is for a DLR vacation), price out how much a shuttle to/from the airport to DL, and renting a car for just part of the time if you want to go offsite?
Good luck,
PHXscuba

Thanks for all listing those websites. I read about a particular code on the flyertalk boards in the Transportation forums. A lot of people were getting insane deals. That particular thread got heated and then disintegrated though...I'll definitely check them out. I'm actually taking a long trip that starts in another state, so I need the car for the entire 2 weeks. If I could find a way to not have the car for 2 weeks I would, but it would actually be more expensive with drop off fees, daily rate instead of weekly rate, etc.

If you are a Costco member, I have found Alamo through Costco is usually a pretty good deal.

Hi DM! Thanks for that info. I usually use frequent renter or express renter programs. If you do the same, is there a way to enter the membership number through Costco? I am a Costco member. Can these types of things be booked online or do I have to call them? I've never used Costco travel before so know nothing about it.

 

[PrincessYessenia]

I rented a car for my mom and I when we go in June. We rented a convertible and no one offered one for any less than $500. Hertz was asking almost $700, almost $200 more than our airfare!! But then I went to hotwire and got a convertible Mustang for $275 total! Normally we wouldn't have been so particular about the type of car, but we decided to go ahead and go for it! And SUV's were even cheaper to rent. By the way, the rental I got will be from June 13-20, so you can kinda see how much it would be for any longer. I also checked other sites like priceline and expedia, and Hotewire was wayyy cheaper than the others. But each case is different, so good luck!