What rental car company should we go with?

[Dexican]

We are flying into ONTARIO airport which rental car company do you prefer?

 

[Jynxed]

IMO, all national car rental companies are similar so I would just go with the best rate. I find going to their site rather then Orbitz or similar to be better in getting good rates. Also, if you belong to AAA or Costco or BJ's they have discounts, so check around.

 

[mama2dutchies]

Yep I just go with whoever is cheapest for my needs

I check all the sites and then their individual sites, sometimes 100% same price.. other times I've saved hundreds just by checking around..

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

priceline name your own price

 

[marcemc]

When DH travels he always books through hotwire, it usually has the best price.

 

[Quinnie]

I have found Priceline the best the last three times that I checked them all. Do the Name Your Own Price. I haven't paid more than $15 per day the last three times.

Couple of days ago, I was booking for New Jersey trip. I put in $12/day for a Standard. It popped up and said that I didn't have a good chance with that price and that if I bid $53/day, I would have a good chance, and $55/day, a great chance. I clicked through at $12/day anyway, and GOT IT! So totally ignore their little warnings!

The trick with Priceline is to wait until about 4 days before you are leaving. The last minute prices are WAY BETTER than booked in advance. So what I do is make a reservation with a standard company (make sure there is no penalty for cancelling), then I do Priceline 4 days before. If you don't get what you bid, you can't bid until the next day, so that is why I give myself 4 days. It has worked great! Last trip we paid $12/day for car and $20/night for hotel in Jacksonville, FL. LOVE IT!

 

[taaren]

Sometimes with rental cars you get what you pay for though. We rented several times through Advantage, and the long lines with not enough staff, then taking forever to get and return your car, was not worth the savings we netted IMHO. If you have a Discover card, you can use your cashback bonus to turn $20 into a $40 off coupon with Enterprise, and we've always had wonderful service with them - well staffed in the LAX/SNA/ONT airports (and at the neighborhood locations I've used), so quick lines, they find me extra discounts (like an additional 10% with a Costco membership on top of your rate/other discounts). I've heard that Budget and Alamo are decent, not so great things about Dollar, but among the 'regular' national rental car companies, reports will vary its just a matter of how much you value good service for what is usually a similar price bracket.

 

[aurorae]

Dollar and Thrifty tend to have longer lines at the counters, they generally cater to tourists and have cheaper rates than the other majors (Avis, Budget, Alamo, and the most expensive, Hertz).

The last time I rented from Enterprise I had a really hard time convincing the guy that I didn't want their insurance (or any other add ons). We went around and around and I was really starting to get annoyed after he asked me for about the 5th time. Might have been just that one guy, and I've noticed other rental companies do a much harder sell on insurance, GPS, gas, and any other add on than they used to. I get annoyed by that, I generally just want to get the car and get out of there.

Whatever company you rent from, consider signing up for their free frequent renter program and getting that entered into the reservation. I've never flown into Ontario, though, so not sure if any of the companies there have the facility where you bypass the rental counter. But if they do, it is nice when it works correctly.

 

[CrazyDuck]

If all the prices are about the same I'd go with Alamo (and did) only because if something goes wrong with the car I can walk to their store in downtown Disney and switch out the car...

 

[Dexican]

Well did the Priceline name your own Price. Got a full size car for $18 for 8 nights, the total cost was a $198, was that a good deal?

 

[Dexican]

Is that a good deal?

 

[aurorae]

That's a very good price for a full size in Ont.

i just checked AARP, and the cheapest rate I saw for a full size in June was $156 a week, which would be $22.30 a day. That was at Budget which usually has cheap rates for AARP.

 

[Dexican]

Thank you

 

[CrabbyPatty]

I booked with Enterprise for our August trip. Using a Costco discount, we got a minivan for about HALF of what other car rental companies were charging.

If we hadn't had some real specific requirements for this trip, I would have gone with Priceline last minute. I've gotten some fabulous deals bidding just a day or two before I needed the car. I've gotten cars for $9 a day (for a weekend) and as another poster noted, you don't always need to go along with the Priceline suggestions to bid higher in order to get the deal. We've also used Priceline for hotels, and the same circumstances apply there. You get the best deals if you bid just a few days before you need the hotel and don't always accept the Priceline suggestions to up your bids.