Ugh. Remind me when the car rental booking sweet spot is.

[coastgirl]

We are going in August, so still 4 months out. I know Aug is higher season than we usually do, but still, we should be into "shoulder" at least. Rental rates seem really high to me.

What's the sweet spot? I know in the past we've found "x" weeks out is best but I can't solve for x! (Kid in gr 7, algebra on the brain!) 6 weeks? More? Less? I usually book early and then play around and cancel, but I haven't even found anything I'm willing to book interim.

Help?

 

[pigletto]

My last 3 trips I found the lowest rates at 6 weeks out. Alot of posters kept saying wait until a few days before but the rates never went as low as they did for one or two days at the 6 week mark. I was able with the very last one to find my cheapest price by doing a Priceline "Name your Own" price bid, however it was only a few dollars cheaper in the end and not worth the uncertainty of what company and car I would be getting.

I know for our trip last August (the last week of August) I booked the car on the 4th of July with Alamo. It dropped by little amounts all weekend, then it went back up on the Monday and never came down again. YMMV, but make sure to check several times a day once you see prices going down.

 

[letsgoreds]

Last January, with a minivan, it was around 5-7 days out. You can book, cancel and rebook as often as you like (without penalty) in most cases, unless you do the name your own prices. I did the name your own price for a couple of weeks leading up, but it never came down. Then rock bottom 5-7 days out with Budget out of MCO.


My advice, book now, then keep watching it. I usually book through car rental savers dot com or Costco (membership required).

 

[gilsan]

I have had luck with finding a great rental price a couple days out. I usually find a rate I can live with and rebook if I find a better rate.

Right now I have a week long mid size rental with National in September for $250 not great but I could live with it.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks for the reassurance, guys. 6 weeks out sounds right, I won't give up hope yet! I usually have a couple of bookings that I cancel (have to make a note in my calendar what to cancel when--forgot to cancel a hotel for a family weekend in January, got a $100 hit on my credit card! First time ever I've made that mistake.) And dh has "done better" on cars with last minute digging too. It's just gotten to be a chore to check all the possibilities, you know? Trying different co's and different codes...But while the kids are watching a movie tonight I'll surf around and try to get my baseline. Thanks for the ideas and the reference points.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

For our past trips, its varied as to when the best rate came up.

In January 2012, we got the lowest rate about 2 weeks out. In August 2012, it was about a week before. For Christmas, we booked using the Travelocity code with Budget about 6 months ahead and it never did get cheaper (we wanted a larger vehicle, though...an SUV or a van...so our needs were fairly specific).

We booked our rental for this coming August on January 25th. We have a mid-sized SUV reserved with National for a total of $266.97 including all taxes and fees. This rate also includes a the optional insurance coverages (loss damage waiver and supplemental liability insurance) which are nice peace of mind to have. Mileage is unlimited, and we can bypass the counter at the terminal with our free Emerald Club membership. For this rate, we joined the KLM Flying Blue program (also free) and used the Flying Blue/Air France KLM discount code. I also applied a $25 coupon from the Entertainment Book to bring the total down to the $267 US.

We will keep looking, of course, but I am totally okay with this rate for an SUV. We have reserved a full sized car once, and a compact car once, and we were not happy with the space in either one. So its worth it to know we have leg room and luggage room to spare. This rate is less than we paid for Christmas week, so we feel like we are getting a "deal" .

 

[gilsan]

For our past trips, its varied as to when the best rate came up.

In January 2012, we got the lowest rate about 2 weeks out. In August 2012, it was about a week before. For Christmas, we booked using the Travelocity code with Budget about 6 months ahead and it never did get cheaper (we wanted a larger vehicle, though...an SUV or a van...so our needs were fairly specific).

We booked our rental for this coming August on January 25th. We have a mid-sized SUV reserved with National for a total of $266.97 including all taxes and fees. This rate also includes a the optional insurance coverages (loss damage waiver and supplemental liability insurance) which are nice peace of mind to have. Mileage is unlimited, and we can bypass the counter at the terminal with our free Emerald Club membership. For this rate, we joined the KLM Flying Blue program (also free) and used the Flying Blue/Air France KLM discount code. I also applied a $25 coupon from the Entertainment Book to bring the total down to the $267 US.

We will keep looking, of course, but I am totally okay with this rate for an SUV. We have reserved a full sized car once, and a compact car once, and we were not happy with the space in either one. So its worth it to know we have leg room and luggage room to spare. This rate is less than we paid for Christmas week, so we feel like we are getting a "deal" .

I am using the KLM code to it is a fairly decent rate, I forgot about the extra insurance.

 

[vacation_junkie]

We are going in August, so still 4 months out. I know Aug is higher season than we usually do, but still, we should be into "shoulder" at least. Rental rates seem really high to me.

What's the sweet spot? I know in the past we've found "x" weeks out is best but I can't solve for x! (Kid in gr 7, algebra on the brain!) 6 weeks? More? Less? I usually book early and then play around and cancel, but I haven't even found anything I'm willing to book interim.

Help?

Start looking at discount codes. Try rental car mamma dot com. reserve one then if you find something cheaper cancel the 1st one. we actually changed ourreservation 4 times. 2 weeks before we left was the cheapest we had seen. And it was 1/3 of the price of the 1st ressie.

 

[jenne]

This might sound really strange, but try booking using your phone. I went last August, and rental car rates were reasonable about 3-4 months out, but once the trip was about a month away, rates went through the roof - almost to the point we were going to have to cancel the trip. I was waiting somewhere in line one day, and I decided to check the rates (through expedia) on my phone while I was waiting. They were less then half of what I was being offered when I checked on the computer. When I got home and checked the computer, they were still high. I even called Expedia to make sure that if I booked it on my phone, the rates weren't going to suddenly change. They couldn't explain why it was happening. I booked through the phone and everything worked out perfectly. If I remember correctly it was a price difference of about $450.

 

[Lizziejane]

Last January, with a minivan, it was around 5-7 days out. You can book, cancel and rebook as often as you like (without penalty) in most cases, unless you do the name your own prices. I did the name your own price for a couple of weeks leading up, but it never came down. Then rock bottom 5-7 days out with Budget out of MCO.


My advice, book now, then keep watching it. I usually book through car rental savers dot com or Costco (membership required).

may I ask what you ended up paying for the minivan? we are looking at next January, and last time I checked, the price was over $700 for a week. Just wondering what I could reasonably expect to pay

 

[dennise]

We got a full size for 12 days for $259 taxes in with Priceline, not the name your own, they would'nt accept our bid, but offered us a price.

 

[papertraveller]

For our past trips, its varied as to when the best rate came up.

In January 2012, we got the lowest rate about 2 weeks out. In August 2012, it was about a week before. For Christmas, we booked using the Travelocity code with Budget about 6 months ahead and it never did get cheaper (we wanted a larger vehicle, though...an SUV or a van...so our needs were fairly specific).

We booked our rental for this coming August on January 25th. We have a mid-sized SUV reserved with National for a total of $266.97 including all taxes and fees. This rate also includes a the optional insurance coverages (loss damage waiver and supplemental liability insurance) which are nice peace of mind to have. Mileage is unlimited, and we can bypass the counter at the terminal with our free Emerald Club membership. For this rate, we joined the KLM Flying Blue program (also free) and used the Flying Blue/Air France KLM discount code. I also applied a $25 coupon from the Entertainment Book to bring the total down to the $267 US.

We will keep looking, of course, but I am totally okay with this rate for an SUV. We have reserved a full sized car once, and a compact car once, and we were not happy with the space in either one. So its worth it to know we have leg room and luggage room to spare. This rate is less than we paid for Christmas week, so we feel like we are getting a "deal" .

Gina, you are the queen of budget (small b) kingdom!

At this point, I'm sitting on a $485 mid-size from Budget for eight days at the end of August, pick up in Tampa return at the hotel near Downtown Disney. Every week I pop onto car rental savers to see if I can get a better deal -- nothing so far, but hope springs eternal!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Gina, you are the queen of budget (small b) kingdom!

At this point, I'm sitting on a $485 mid-size from Budget for eight days at the end of August, pick up in Tampa return at the hotel near Downtown Disney. Every week I pop onto car rental savers to see if I can get a better deal -- nothing so far, but hope springs eternal!

Aw, thanks!

Have you tried running your dates and locations with the National code, just to see if it makes any price difference for you? Here's the thread with all the details:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2878667

 

[vacation_junkie]

may I ask what you ended up paying for the minivan? we are looking at next January, and last time I checked, the price was over $700 for a week. Just wondering what I could reasonably expect to pay

We usually score a mini van for $23-$40 a day in January each year. Or cheaper for the week.

Check the rental car places just about every day closer to the trip.

They usually throw a mini van special on there closer to the time.
We booked our January van 2 weeks out. You can find them usually for between $185-$280 a week on various sites. You just have to keep checking.

For our January 2013 trip.. I just looked at my old emails and I had reservations with 4 different places. (National, Budget , Dollar & Thrifty)

Reserved in April 2012 , July 2012 then August 2012 (as i found cheaper prices) then final reservation was 2 weeks out. We ended up paying $264.84 for 9 days!

I plan on finding another deal like this for our Jan 2014 Disney trip!

You can search out codes and check their website directly!

 

[vacation_junkie]

may I ask what you ended up paying for the minivan? we are looking at next January, and last time I checked, the price was over $700 for a week. Just wondering what I could reasonably expect to pay

What are your dates in January? We are January 25th-Feb 2nd.

 

[Lizziejane]

What are your dates in January? We are January 25th-Feb 2nd.

We are going January 4-11. We also want to rent from the Swan/Dolphin. We did that last time - did ME for the airport runs, but then walked over from BWV and picked up the car. We always get lost going to/from the airport - can you tell we're not used to the US highways?! LOL

Last time we scored a great deal the day before we left, but we only needed a full-size car last time. This time we need a mini van with child seat so I'm scared that's going to cost us big time!

 

[Sue M]

I've had Budget booked for a few months now for August trip. $561 for 10 days. I hope to get the price down. I try to check every week.
My problem us I pick up the car in Ft Lauderdale, and need to return it in WDW. Budget has a desk in the DTD Doubletree, and Alamo at CCC or Dolphin. So I need either Budget or Alamo. And usually the rates are higher if you do a one way rental, returning to a different location
I book thru Costco.

 

[yxe dad]

Hi Sue M,

I found if you can't get the rates down on a 10 day - 1 way, do a 1 day - 1 way reservation then a 9 day rental returning to the same location. This saved me $240 after a cruise from FLL earlier this year going back up to WDW.

 

[papertraveller]

Well thanks for that tip -- you guys continue to save me money!

I had originally booked through Budget to get us from Tampa to Orlando for an eight-day rental. Return was to be at a hotel near Downtown Disney. Total cost: $485.
Con: We will be shopping the last morning, and faced buying all our gear for family of 11, dropping it off at BLT, and then driving back to DTD to return the car. Oh, and then grabbing a taxi back.

Thanks to the tip about one-way rentals, I have now found a much better, and cheaper plan.
We are renting a car in Tampa through Alamo, and will be returning it the next morning at the car care centre, for $140. (I will be trying to get this one lower.)
Then we'll take the shuttle to the Contemporary, and walk to Magic Kingdom for the day.
When we're done, we will pick up the shuttle at the Contemporary again, and pick up our car for the week. Weekly cost: $250
Total cost: $390.
Pro: Not only does it save us almost $100, the later pick-up time gives us a later drop-off time, meaning less scrambling on that day. It also eliminates the need for a taxi.

You guys are great!