Too early to reserve car rental?

[DisneyClown]

I need to rent a car on July 3rd, 2010 when we are at WDW. Is it too early to reserve a car?

 

[CarRentalSavers]

If you have a pretty good idea of your times and dates I would book now. Normally you don't find the best rates this far in advance but being the fourth of July week it is a good idea to get something reserved.

There are several reasons:

Rates always seem to start going up at that time of year.
Many deals are blacked out for holiday periods anyway.
Rental inventories have been lower in the past so most agencies will sell out for the holiday weeks.
There are some decent rates - $220 per week at a major and $128 at a smaller agency.

Some advice:

Do not prepay as you may be able to find something better.
Keep checking back as you can cancel and rebook at anytime.

 

[dudspizza]

I need to rent a car on July 3rd, 2010 when we are at WDW. Is it too early to reserve a car?

If you see a good rate, book it. As long as you don't pre-pay, you can always cancel and rebook. I tend to rebook 10-15 times as a trip gets closer......

Also, keep in mind many coupons for 2010 won't come out until 2010......

Duds

 

[Disneyfanatic108]

If you feel the price is right, go ahead and book it, just dont prepay. With it being a holiday weekend the sooner the better as inventory may go quickly as they do not keep a lot in stock now. We usually will change our reservation at least 5 times before we stick with one.

 

[RainbowsMist]

We're going in March...I just happened to be doing some ballpark pricing back in April when I came across a Minivan for 2 weeks for $528 taxes/fees included Now they're wanting 1100-1500

I wasn't sure of our exact dates but knew it was with a 3 days window so I booked 2 weeks from all three dates .. I'll cancel the other two bookings once we get our airfare within the next couple of weeks.

My 2 cents..if you come across something now and it seems like a good price....book!

Good luck!

 

[DisneyClown]

Thanks for the advice. I have never rented a car before and wasn't sure about any of it. I took the advice about booking but not prepaying, because I do want to make sure I get a car, especially around the holiday, so I have it booked now and I'm going to keep an eye out for discounts. Thanks again!!

 

[mommy*RN]

I did this for our upcoming trip. We are leaving in less than 2 weeks and I booked our rental car 12/31/08. The only issue I'm having now is the times. I did a noon-noon rental...but our flight home doesn't leave until evening so I need the car till 4pm. When I try to modify our ressie the price almost triples. It's crazy. Hoping the late fees aren't too outrageous.

 

[Dan Murphy]

......

I like the tie-in.

http://www.carrentalsavers.com

 

[DisneyClown]

I did this for our upcoming trip. We are leaving in less than 2 weeks and I booked our rental car 12/31/08. The only issue I'm having now is the times. I did a noon-noon rental...but our flight home doesn't leave until evening so I need the car till 4pm. When I try to modify our ressie the price almost triples. It's crazy. Hoping the late fees aren't too outrageous.

After you booked, when did you start seeing deals/discounts? I'm not sure there will be too many deals for a holiday weekend like July 3rd, but I'm still gonna' keep an eye out.