Why is car rental soo expensive?? Please help!

[fredflintstone]

I have been searching for days trying to find something less than $1000 for a car rental for us and I just can't seem to find one. We are military and are moving to Germany (car takes at least 1 month to get there). So we are leaving here (Columbus, GA) 09 June to head to Disney. Well we have to drop off our car in Atlanta to be shipped right before then. If we don't have a car rental right away, it's fine, we have lots of friends to help us get from ATL back down here to Columbus. We would need a car at least on 09 June to drive down to Disney, we are staying off property the first night and then staying at POP 10-15 June. We do not need a car there. We went in September and didn't need a car, so we are fine not having one. We will then drive on the 15th straight through to Lynchburg, VA to the inlaws until the 24th or 25th of June. Then we are heading to Delaware until the 5th of July. From there we are driving to Atlanta and getting a hotel until we fly out to Germany. Once in Atlanta, we are fine not having a car. While we are home, we can use families cars but no one will let us drive their cars up and down the east coast! haha So what is the best way to do this? I was looking at a month rental which is cheaper then do a few weeks. But I don't have any codes, or coupons or anything...should I do a few days between each state and use families cars while there, or is it just cheaper to suck it up and pay $1000 for the whole month? this is very stressful!!!

Any help would be sooo wonderful!! Thank you in advance!

Dani

 

[DVCconvert]

check out the orlando magic card and their thrifty rates..maybe better.
HTH

 

[fredflintstone]

Thank you...I am checking it out now!

 

[hollypoast]

I've heard that car companies used to give rental car companies a huge discount to rent their cars. However, with the bag economy car companies have lower or discontued these discounts so rental car prices have gone through the roof. Not sure if this is true... I read it in a blog. I've had good luck using Kayak.com to compare prices. Good luck!

 

[2luvmickey]

Go into http://www.mousesavers.com, and look at the rental car page.

I have always had good luck with the rates and codes listed there.

 

[hubofnucpharm]

I think you have several things to consider that may save you some $$$$. One, consider other rental locations than the airport. There are extra fees/taxes sometimes at airport locations. Two, look out for 1 way deals out of Florida. For example, if you rent a full size car for 21 days right now in May from Alamo, and return it 3 weeks later to Atlanta, the total cost is $300. (Using $50 ENT coupon as well.) Now, the same cost for June (which is your situation) is $1300. You still would have to get down to Florida, but would come out way ahead. The car rental companies are trying to move cars from Florida to other locations post spring break. Who knows, they may extend their deals into June. Three, look for last minute deals 1-2 weeks before you need to rent. If you pickup and dropoff in Atlanta for 4 weeks, you're probably looking at least $700 if you can find a weekly rate for $140-$150/week. Cost will go up or down some based on the type of vehicle. Good luck and safe travels!

 

[Drkaito]

If you are a member of Costco, then go on their website and click on travel. Then go to Rental cars and search for a coupon that would pertain to how many days you'll be there, etc. It will give you an ID # and a coupon #. Go to the Alamo website and type them in, after you've chosen the car you'd like. I will be going to Orlando and renting straight from the airport on October 27-November 2. My total for a full size vehicle came out to $253.12. Not bad at all!!! We've been known to pay high prices for car rentals in the past, so I'm really liking this deal!

Or, do you have an Entertainment book? Like the ones that kids sell for fundraisers at school?? Well, if you do, then you can do the same thing on their website. Get the ID # and coupon # and then enter it on the car rental website.

You can also do a search online for car rental coupons. In Google I typed in "Alamo coupons" and it brought up a few searches. You can do it for any car rental place you like, but we've had good luck with Alamo's prices and service in the past, so I'm going with them again.

Good luck!!!

 

[kidsister]

I think the Alamo site was offering car's at $10 per day IF you drove them to a location out of Florida state....wouldn't that be perfect for your needs?

(I didn't actually click on this to find the specifics, but I hope it might be of some help. Good luck!