I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to book a 3 day rental last weekend (Fri-Sun) at Denver I

Rental car rental prices appear to be going through the roof. Especially for short-term rentals. Ironically, while most travelers are complaining about airfare and fees, rental car prices are taking off.
Here s just a few examples, a ONE midsized rental day with Hertz in San Francisco, $124 plus taxes and fees, totaling $175. (And trying corporate discounts ranging from AAA to the client s company discount to a United mileage plus number, finally to our travel agent consortium rate only brought it down to $105.00.)
This isn t an anomaly for one particular day either, while I was able to find another client a weekly rate for $244 plus tax also in San Francisco, a three day rate would be in that same range, $107 a day.
Car rental companies have been suffering along with the rest of the industry, so I understand the need to make a profit. But while it hasn t received as much notice as the airline mergers, the car rental business has also been consolidating.
While the companies say this gives them economies new orleans plantation tours of scale, it doesn t take a rocket scientist to know that the other side of economies for rental car companies is less competition for consumers. Usually, this brings higher prices.
new orleans plantation tours In some cases, a few smaller companies new orleans plantation tours have cheaper rates, but many business travelers are loathe to risk renting with companies like Ace and Advantage. new orleans plantation tours Partly because they don t know the names, partly because there are few customer service options if things go wrong.
Large rental companies new orleans plantation tours at least usually have 24 hour phone numbers and plenty of locations to change a problem new orleans plantation tours car. They also, quite frankly, seem to respond better to complaints. Plus, many corporations prefer to deal with rental companies they have contract new orleans plantation tours rates with for insurance reasons.
It s possible these new higher rates are the only way rental new orleans plantation tours car companies can stay in business. But in any case, travelers planning to get a cheap car for a few days this fall are in for some sticker shock. Or, heaven forbid, using public transit.
Last June I spent 8 days in Florida. The airfare to Tampa was around new orleans plantation tours $300, the really nice rental on the beach was $800, AND the rental car for the 8 days came to $475 for a mid-size with my corporate discount and no insurance fees, although that did include gas. In fact, the rental car company wanted to charge me an additional hour when I went to drop it off because I was 15 minutes over the 24-hour period, which was the time I spent sitting in the drop off line. That rate was one of the very best I could find. In fact, it was cheaper to fly into Tampa and drive 100 miles to my destination because the closer airports were even higher. I thought about getting an economy car, but I think they ve changed the classes of cars, making a decent car for luggage new orleans plantation tours and all fall into a higher category. If I had taken any of those insurance options the rental costs would have been close to $1,000! That s insane!
My husband, who flies weekly into BWA, takes a long term rental for a couple of weeks, because it s cheaper to do that and leave the rental car in long-term parking for a few days, than it is to rent it weekly. Even then, the car rental costs more than the airfare. It s making it hard to expense car rentals for business purposes.
If you fly into places where public transport is not an option, they ve got you. If the travel industry wants to attract people, the hotels, restaurants, and even I hate to say it the airlines are at least trying to offer deals. But, I almost didn t go on my trip because of the car rental costs. One place I stayed in recently started offering new orleans plantation tours shuttle service new orleans plantation tours to shopping, restaurants, the airport and entertainment new orleans plantation tours places so guests wouldn t have to rent a car. What does that say about the situation?
new orleans plantation tours Or the best rate at an O Hare rental was $45 for a weekend day using a corporate rate. A weekend rental six miles away in Park Ridge, IL was $15/day. The tax/fees rates off airport were 10% vs. 28% at the airport.
Actually, there are exciting staycation new orleans plantation tours possibilities new orleans plantation tours just about anywhere, although in many places it takes a little digging to discover them. That s just something to file away in the back of your mind, against new orleans plantation tours the day when the hassles and expenses of travel exceed the bounds of tolerability.
Some rental companies in the New York Metro region surcharge customers who reside in the boroughs of Queens, The Bronx or Brooklyn. The rationale is that New York state law permits persons injured as a result of a car crash to sue the registered owner as well as the drive (introduced to enable victims to sue the owner of a chauffeured car), and civil juries in those three boroughs are reputed new orleans plantation tours to side with victims. Not all car rental companies do this (Avis being an exception last time I checked), but I think it is a bit rich. The consequence is that if you re one of the bridge and tunnel crowd (like me) and don t have a car (not me anymore) you ll need to pay extra to rent from some car companies when you need to rent.
The idea of renting off airport is great provided you don t end up in one of the growing number of locations that will check your address on the driver s license and if it isn t a local one, charge you the same rate as their airport office. Additionally, you need to include the cost of transportation from the airport to the rental location. If you are saving $50.00 on the rental and the cab fare is $60.00, it doesn t make much sense.
One of the most surprising things to me has been National Car Rentals Travel Agent rate. I looked at renting a car for 2 days in a couple new orleans plantation tours of different cities and in every case, the Travel Agent Rate was $3.00 to $10.00 a day higher than the standard, non-discounted rate and significantly higher than any number of rates available through airline and hotel programs.
I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to book a 3 day rental last weekend (Fri-Sun) at Denver International Airport on Hotwire for $10 per day for an economy car. To add icing to the cake, the agent at Hertz offered me a deal I couldn t refuse an upgrade to the Cadillac STS for an additional $10/day. new orleans plantation tours That s an upgrade of 5 classes. Awesome!
I ve been searching online for a mid-size/standard car to rent at LAX for a week in late November. I am over 25 and will pay by credit card. The range of rates that I have been incredible. Most of the major companies are between new orleans plantation tours $300 and $400. Through Expedia, I was able to find a standard new orleans plantation tours car (between a mid-size and a full size) from Thrifty at $208. Strangely, Thrifty s price for a mid-size new orleans plantation tours car was a few dollars less than a standard car.
I also made a reservation with an outfit called Los Angeles Rent-A-Car for a Toyota Camry or similar for $120. I know nothing about this company and am reluctant to do business with them. However, I did check the website of the Better Business Bureau that covers the LAX area and learned that the company has an A rating with them. Has anybody out there had an experience with Los Angeles Rent-A-Car?
The funny little secret about rental cars is that nobody is expected to pay the published price. However, I sometimes find myself spending way too much time with coupons and codes only to save few bucks. My advice: use a search service, like RentalCarMagic.com to get your best discounted price, and then get on with your life.
I agree with Jim_J, it s well worth the effort (and it s kinda fun) to find big discounts, especially with these prices! I have tried lots of different search sites to help me find the lowest price. I tried Rental Car Magic today, but have not yet heard back from them. Rental Car Momma is also a good place to start a search. Any other advice for finding discounts? (I won t use a bidding site)
It s fun to look on different sites, new orleans plantation tours but the one caveat I would add about dealing with some small sites and/or companies is that rental car companies in general are some of the worst for extra charges and so called repair fees etc. As frustrating as it can be to deal with the bigger companies new orleans plantation tours to sort these things out at least there are people you can reach eventually. Third party sites make it more complicated.
new orleans plantation tours Also with mechanical problems there are lots of Hertz, Budget, Avis, National etc locations to change the car, if you rent from an office with only a few branches new orleans plantation tours you may be stuck until the car is fixed.
new orleans plantation tours Just an update and a question on my search for a reasonable cost rental in Sarasota, Fl for 2 weeks in late november. I tried rental Car Magic as suggested by Sam and they found a Dollar fullsize for a little less than $500 including all fees. The lowest price I could find is from Alamo at over $800. I understand that they just do the search and I make the rental myself. This is a big savings for me..Has anyone used Rental Car Magic?
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