The car rental companies have gone mad!

[mad hatter fan]

DH and I are going on our first trip sans kids in August. The prices of the car rentals are so high now that I think we will just use the Disneyland Express and maybe rent a car for one day. I know we want to go to the Character warehouse and we love the food at Pick up Stix but they are too far to deliver. Rats!

Anyone know if you can take a bus to the Character warehouse?

 

[pjstevens]

DH and I are going on our first trip sans kids in August. The prices of the car rentals are so high now that I think we will just use the Disneyland Express and maybe rent a car for one day. I know we want to go to the Character warehouse and we love the food at Pick up Stix but they are too far to deliver. Rats!

Anyone know if you can take a bus to the Character warehouse?

What/where is the Character warehouse? We'll be there in August and we have a car.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

DH and I are going on our first trip sans kids in August. The prices of the car rentals are so high now that I think we will just use the Disneyland Express and maybe rent a car for one day. I know we want to go to the Character warehouse and we love the food at Pick up Stix but they are too far to deliver. Rats!

Anyone know if you can take a bus to the Character warehouse?

There is a bus that runs up and down Harbor which would take you right to the mall where the CW is located... Not sure which bus it is though. Sorry! Hopefully someone else knows and can post a response.

 

[RuthieT]

try to use priceline that is what we have done many times for car rentals and are able to get cars for $14 a day and under

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

What/where is the Character warehouse? We'll be there in August and we have a car.

The CW is a place where they sell items that are being liquidated because they no longer sell them in the park or it's out of season. Sometimes they have awesome stuff, and other times it's all junk or stuff I wouldn't want anyway. I've been there in the last few weeks before Christmas and they had a lot of nice quality stuff (clothes mostly); jackets that would retail for a couple hundred more at least in the parks selling for $50. And then I've gone like 2 days before Xmas or just after the New Year and there was nothing but scraps left. (I guess they didn't get a shipment in.) I don't really go anymore, because if I have extra money, I'd rather not waste it on stuff I don't need. That will allow me to take more vacations, pay off debts and save a little more, especially in this economy. If you go I hope they have lots of good stuff!

store website:
http://www.ams-liquidation.com/listings.aspx

Driving directions:
http://www.killerorange.com/KillerRefs/Listings/d/disneycharacteroutlt.htm

 

[jenjersnap]

We booked a rental car for our upcoming May/June trip through National. The total cost for 3 weeks with unlimited mileage and all taxes included is $556. We had a booking with Alamo which we cancelled as their price was originally $777 and dropped to around $660 last week but obviously National is even better.

That is a fantastic price. Did you book many months ago? What contract code are you using? Our trip is also spanning May into June. For 12 days, the cheapest price I can find for a full-size is $613 with Dollar. There is a drop off fee because we are doing a one-way rental, but I much prefer National and if I could get it in that range, I'd be thrilled (National is $1000 for the rental right now!).

 

[bumbershoot]

I just got an email from hotwire that the car rental period I had previously searched for is now yielding lower prices than when I looked. I have NO idea if this is really true, but thought I'd put it out there that hotwire lets you know when prices start dropping for times you've searched.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK, that was interesting. I went to hotwire and did the same search as I had done before. It showed me the same rate as before. I was getting a wee bit annoyed, decided to click on the compact car, and it said "good news!" and told me the rate was not 33 like it had showed on the page before, but was now 24.

So if you're using hotwire, be SURE to click through to the car you're interested in, b/c 33 vs 24 over 5 days is pretty big IMO.

 

[Muddy Rivers]

We have been looking for a June minivan rental from LAX and the prices are indeed outrageous. Most coupons seem to expire end of MAy. Hopefully things change soon. Here's hoping.

 

[momto2nenas]

OK, that was interesting. I went to hotwire and did the same search as I had done before. It showed me the same rate as before. I was getting a wee bit annoyed, decided to click on the compact car, and it said "good news!" and told me the rate was not 33 like it had showed on the page before, but was now 24.

So if you're using hotwire, be SURE to click through to the car you're interested in, b/c 33 vs 24 over 5 days is pretty big IMO.

As in $24?! I just did a search w/ them and it was $63 a day for a week. We are at the point where we are going to have to take the DLand Xpress and forget about it.

 

[DahliaRW]

When is the best time to bid on Priceline? I need a car in July and I have tried bidding a few times and the prices are the same as if I put in a general search. Will they go down as it closer?

Yes. The way it works is that they find you a car because it hasn't been reserved and the rental company would rather get a portion of what they usually ask rather than nothing. You usually have the best luck bidding within a month of the date. But, since you can bid once per 24 hours, it doesn't hurt to bid real low every day, and then increas it a bit a few weeks out.

 

[Pir8girl]

The prices are so outrageous, I've decided not to rent a car. If I absolutely have to go to the beach or to one of my favorite OC restaurants, I'll rent a car for a day or two.

We rented a car on Maui for $21 per day. It's roughly $40 in So Cal and that doesn't include the fee my hotel would charge. It's crazy.

 

[bumbershoot]

As in $24?! I just did a search w/ them and it was $63 a day for a week. We are at the point where we are going to have to take the DLand Xpress and forget about it.

Yes, I was looking at May 25-29. First it showed me 32.95, but when I clicked through on the compact car link it said "good news" and that the price was now 24/day. Weird.