what is up with car rental prices???

[tlenzendorf]

i too need to rent a car for may17-24, so the best i have found is through hotwire for 167.00 everything in, should i just go ahead and book?, we could use our avion miles, but it only covers the cost of the car not taxes, and you have to book through the avion website, the total for a mid size car from avis would be 175.00, but then we have to pay the taxes at the car rental, the rep said the miles only cover car not taxes, so the taxes would be 50.40, sounds like a no-brainer, use the miles, and then pay only 50.00 for the car for the week, but we are thinking maybe it would be better to save our air miles for a later time, am i making any sense ???

My question would be are you actually going to use the miles before they expire and how many do you have? In my case I will not use them as it's hard to use my miles for the type of flights I use and I only have 16,000 miles. So if you do not see yourself using them I would get the car. If you are going to use them, save them. A round trip flight costs way more than the $167 car rental.

 

[kelkel03]

My question would be are you actually going to use the miles before they expire and how many do you have? In my case I will not use them as it's hard to use my miles for the type of flights I use and I only have 16,000 miles. So if you do not see yourself using them I would get the car. If you are going to use them, save them. A round trip flight costs way more than the $167 car rental.

thanks i never thought of that, i am not sure when the miles expire, we only have 19, 743 miles, so about $197.00.
i know we will never have enough to save for flights, but the miles do come in handy at christmas time for buying gift cards, etc, ahhhh decisions..
thanks for the input..

 

[kmacht]

.

I don't get the advantage to Hertz to have such high rates on their own website only to give the cars for less than half that via hotwire...

The answer to that is simple. When you book through the Hertz website you don't have to pay for the car ahead of time. You can have a reservation and not bother to pick it up and go somewhere else. When you book on hotwire or priceline you have to give a credit card and pay at the time of rental. They get their money up front and have a guranteed rental. This is just like buying a refundable vs non-refundable airline ticket.

Keith

 

[sharona]

The answer to that is simple. When you book through the Hertz website you don't have to pay for the car ahead of time. You can have a reservation and not bother to pick it up and go somewhere else. When you book on hotwire or priceline you have to give a credit card and pay at the time of rental. They get their money up front and have a guranteed rental. This is just like buying a refundable vs non-refundable airline ticket.

Keith

Hertz does have the option to pay in advance for a cheaper rate - it's not much of a savings. Though that may be cancelable (not a word I'm sure)...

 

[Obadiah Stane]

I was told that Hertz is not in terminal and you can walk over.

Can anyone confirm????????

Here is updated (Feb 2011) ground transportation list. Scroll down the left-hand side to the bottom.

http://www.orlandoairports.net/gt/docs/flyer.pdf

 

[branv]

They really have been nuts! We usually spend 3-4 nights at WDW followed by 4 nights on DCL. We rent one way from MCO to PC, keeping it for 3-4 nights, then another one way from PC to MCO which is just a day rental -- no big drop-off penalties and a free shuttle to the port. The most I ever paid was about $140 total, and it was always cheaper or break even with paying DCL shuttle fees.

But this year for our mid-May trip to WDW and DCL - WOW! I finally, after months and months of checking hit the "jackpot" with an Enterprise compact rental out of MCO for $153 through carrentalsavers.com. BUT, for that rate, I have to keep the car the entire trip (9 days) -- which means it will sit unused for four nights in the parking garage at the port, and I'll have to pay $80 to park. But even with all that it was STILL about $50 cheaper than what it would have cost to rent two one-way rentals. At this point it would actually be cheaper to do DCL transport from the resort to the port, then a one way rental from the port to MCO, but we want a car while we're at WDW, so it's just the price we'll have to pay.

I did just recently check again now that more codes have been released through May '11, and the price had jumped about $75 from the last time I checked. And that price I got for Enterprise had been long gone since I grabbed it in January -- haven't seen its match since. I am a little nervous about using Enterprise as I've not read the best reviews, and we're typically Avis people, but here's hoping for the best

 

[sharona]

Here is updated (Feb 2011) ground transportation list. Scroll down the left-hand side to the bottom.

http://www.orlandoairports.net/gt/docs/flyer.pdf

tyvm!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Hertz is with all the other car rental locations in the terminal now....

 

[Obadiah Stane]

tyvm!

You are most welcome.

 

[bumbershoot]

I priced out a car on National on March 6, and the price was basically palatable, though I would have hoped for a coupon code (no coupons yet for September).

I did not reserve it. Ugh.

Checked the other day, prices literally doubled. Impossible at that price.


I'm hoping that there will be lower prices in the months to come, and coupons and such, but still, ugh!

If you see a decent price, especially with something that can be canceled or changed, reserve it!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I just double checked rental costs for our upcoming trip in May ... WOW some of those rental prices are outrageous

... I'm so glad I booked our rentals for both our May and October trips a few months ago.

B

 

[kelkel03]

wow they are crazy, looks like priceline is the way to go!!

 

[Lilo&Stitch]

I just double checked rental costs for our upcoming trip in May ... WOW some of those rental prices are outrageous

... I'm so glad I booked our rentals for both our May and October trips a few months ago.

B

I find that websites prices always triple what you can get on each individual web site using codes

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

I find that websites prices always triple what you can get on each individual web site using codes

Yes, you can always get cheaper rentals using codes and coupons ... I meant base rates

 

[leeserw]

Prices for a week in August at Sanford airport in Orlando are outrageous. I miss the days of the visa magic code!

 

[n2mm]

I just checked the rates for April/May and they seem to be a little more normal than they were a few weeks ago. Folks should take a look again. I can get a rental for around $220 now (est) and that same rental was closer to $700 a week ago. So hopefully things will get back to a more reasonable amount. Don't know about cheap as in past years, but at least affordable. I crunched some numbers for both National and Alamo, and right now National is coming out better using the codes 5007160 and coupon ND8578ADT. But for my August and October trips, those are both still high.

 

[Belle599]

I just checked the rates for April/May and they seem to be a little more normal than they were a few weeks ago. Folks should take a look again. I can get a rental for around $220 now (est) and that same rental was closer to $700 a week ago. So hopefully things will get back to a more reasonable amount. Don't know about cheap as in past years, but at least affordable. I crunched some numbers for both National and Alamo, and right now National is coming out better using the codes 5007160 and coupon ND8578ADT. But for my August and October trips, those are both still high.

Looks like prices are coming down, but not low enough! I used your code/coupon combo for National and ended up with $376 all in for 12 days. I made an Alamo ressie back in January and it is $221 in comparison.....I have a feeling I will end up using that Alamo ressie!

 

[n2mm]

Looks like prices are coming down, but not low enough! I used your code/coupon combo for National and ended up with $376 all in for 12 days. I made an Alamo ressie back in January and it is $221 in comparison.....I have a feeling I will end up using that Alamo ressie!

Yea, they're not cheap, but at least they are not the prices they had been. And if they are to go down, they do then to do it gradually, so hopefully this is the start of that trend. I also have a reservation for 12 days I booked about 6 months ago on National for $240 ish, which is guaranteed full size-Executive Aisle, so I'm happy with that. But I have a friend going the first week of May and my DD is coming down the second week of May, so I've been watching for them. Lets hope this is the downward trend we've been waiting for.

 

[TamaraQT]

Ok, so I usually buy my tickets early. This year, I didn't and the prices for August from PHL to MCO are SCARY!!! There are no flights BEFORE 7am and the one at 7am that is non-stop will cost me $160!! Coming back Sept 3rd is 160 !!! OMG!!!

Usually I pay less than $1000 for our family of 5 round trip with non-stop early flights. This year looks like I am at $1500!! Oh dear, I guess I may have waited far too long this time around

AND.....I cant seem to find a mid-size rental under $400 right now!! I know gas prices are up but this is really ridiculous this year!!!

 

[ChisJo]

AND.....I cant seem to find a mid-size rental under $400 right now!! I know gas prices are up but this is really ridiculous this year!!!

The price of gas should not affect the cost of the car rental, since, essentially, we are paying for that separate from the car rental! And, if the tank isn't full on return, they charge us inflated gas prices to fill up the rest of the tank! And honestly, the price of cars haven't increased dramatically to increase the price of the rental either. And with less people travelling right now due to economic reasons, the supply should be available as demand will be down, although this could explain a moderate increase in car rental prices, but not the inflated 200%+ that we are seeing.

We were planning another trip as we are Universal annual pass holders in November, and are seriously contemplating driving from Western Canada, because, currently, the price of car rental and flights for 3 would be over $2500 and thats just ludicrous!