Car rental prices

[seagull]

I haven't rented a car in a couple years, never in California. I was hoping someone could tell me what price I should be looking for. We will be flying into John Wayne Airport (SNA) and needing a car for eight days. We are not going till March, so I have plenty of time to look and book.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

I like Priceline, they generally have low rates, and you can bid for even lower rates. Last week I picked up a car at the San Diego airport and dropped off at SNA for less than $30/day for a midsize through Priceline.

 

[mydisneymoney]

So to get the best rate, you have keep looking right up until the time you leave. Here is what I do to save money. First, I go through Ebates.com. You get a gift card just for signing up. Then you use their site to go to travel sites to book your car rental. When you do, they give you money back, sometimes 3-4% back in cash. We are flying into SNA also and I started looking months ago. We need a car for 8 days as well. Originally when I started looking it was going to cost $300 or more for a standard car. About 1 month ago I went into Hotwire and to see what they came up with. They showed that I could rent a car from Alamo for about $265 or so. I logged into Ebates and then went through Ebates to get to RentalCars.com to rent a car. RentalCars.com was offering 3% back through Ebates. I booked a car, no payment needed. Then I started watching things. A week later I saw on Hotwire that Thrifty was much lower, more like $225 so I went through Ebates again and used their connection to Thrifty to reserve a car plus got 3.5% back from Ebates. I cancelled the reservation through RentalCars.com. Then the next day I went in again to Ebates and saw that Thrifty was offering 15% off a mid size SUV PLUS the 3.5% back through Ebates. So I went in and booked a midsize SUV with the cost being (with taxes) $185 for 8 days.

The key is to keep watching the rates and don't go through someone you can't get your money back from. I use hotwire to see what the rates are for the various companies but I don't book a nonrefundable rental through them unless at the last minute they are cheaper.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Zbugz]

Costcotravel.com works for me. Also I check back daily and can reduce my rate by up to half eventually. Sometimes the prices change more than once a day.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Another vote for Costco travel. I almost always use Costco and book with Alamo. You can book without any payment or deposit. If the rate goes down, you can easily rebook. They often have "hot deals" the week of your trip, so check back often up until your travel dates. I've gotten as low as $15 a day.

 

[brerrabbit]

Can't tell you the best way to get one cheap but will give you this word of advice. Another couple and my wife and I flew into LAX late Friday night 10-12. Had reservations for a car at Alamo. Because of the arrival time and cost of shuttle for four we decided a rental car was cheaper. We drove it twice LAX to hotel on Friday. Hotel to LAX on Monday. We went through the kiosk at Alamo to rent because there was a line. Screen offered refueling for $4.69 a gallon. Based on LA gas prices at the time it was a reasonable price. I chose the option. When I returned the car on Monday and got my final receipt there was a charge for $79 for fuel. We used less than 1/8th of a tank! When I asked they told me on no when you chose that option is was for a full tank. I asked to speak to a manager and told her that I travel for business and many times I will choose that option with other rental companies because they charge usually 40 to 50 cents a gallon over normal gas prices and it is expensive but convienient. I see it as buying full serve gas. But they only charge me for what I use. The manager looked me right in the eye and said "if we did it that way then how would we make any money?" I told her I thought they made money renting cars, not selling gas.

After some debate she finally agreed to take the charge off and only charge me for the gas I used.


I said if that was the way it worked they should let customers know. She said oh, its on your receipt from when you picked up the car. I handed it to her and asked her to show me where, she could not because it was not there. Then she said, oh it's on the rental agreement.

Be carefule with pre paid fuel options and make sure how they work before you accept one no matter how good the price is.

 

[SGDisneyFam]

Never never ever ever get the prepaid fuel option.

Also make sure to signup for the frequent renter programs. They allow you to bypass the lines and sometimes even the counter.

Look over on mousesavers.com There is a good car rental section there with coupon codes.

 

[hpfan100]

I got a 3 day rental through Alamo for 33 dollars taxes and fees included-pick up and drop off at SNA. For an 8 day rental I would say 185 or less with taxes and fees is a good deal.
I have the free Alamo insiders membership and googled for codes that I could use. I ended up using a visa discount code and Visa coupon code since I paid with my visa at check in. I was even upgraded to a mid size for free when I arrived. Way cheaper than a shuttle.

 

[Princess Kila]

Another vote for Costco travel. We are going this December and I orginally booked our car for $230 for our 9 day stay. I kept checking back and it dropped to $181 total including all taxes. We are flying into and out of Long Beach, so I am not sure if that makes a difference. If it is a busy time I always like to have a car booked and then keep shopping around for a deal. You don't have to pre-pay when using Costco travel.

 

[melissac]

I have always used this rental site and seems to usually have the best rental prices. Sometimes I look then go into the actually car rental site but either way it is not a pre-pay like priceline or hotwire.

http://carrentalsavers.com/

 

[MamaChelle]

I always book through costcotravel.com cheapest rates I've ever gotten, and plus you can keep checking back to see if rates have gone down. Last year we got a suburban for 10 days for $550.

This year we are renting a van. My total started at $690 for 10 days and right now our total is $256!!! I can't believe it.

So my vote is Costco and always will be

 

[Porturican]

I love Costco travel & Alamo (for their policies no holdon credit card, etc...)
I have also used AAA travel (if you have that) and priceline name your own price and have gotten great deals!

Lately I have booked from a company called Advantage rent a car (division of Hertz) and have gotten great deals from them too. But sometimes they are not directly at the airport location and you need to take a shuttle to them. I see they listed SNA as a location but im not sure if they are on site.

And like other posters have said keep checking when I went to Vegas in April we used Costco travel and the price dropped dramatically. The day of our trip I cancelled and re-booked our reservation for like $36 for 4 days!

 

[cpalmer7]

I always check Costco Travel and then I use Priceline to name my own price for lower than what Costco is offering.

 

[Mr Snappy]

I was reading this thread with so-so interest until I decided to look at costcotravel.com and check the rates with my "super" company deal that I have booked for our trip TOMORROW.....uh, glad I did.

My discounted rate at National for a full-size car for 8 days was $336.41 total with taxes.

Costco had a full-size car at Budget for $98.67 TOTAL WITH TAXES AND FEES.

So yes, keep checking right up until you get on the plane!

 

[Porturican]

I was reading this thread with so-so interest until I decided to look at costcotravel.com and check the rates with my "super" company deal that I have booked for our trip TOMORROW.....uh, glad I did.

My discounted rate at National for a full-size car for 8 days was $336.41 total with taxes.

Costco had a full-size car at Budget for $98.67 TOTAL WITH TAXES AND FEES.

So yes, keep checking right up until you get on the plane!

Like It sure does pay to be persistent!

 

[damiel]

Great advice - I thought I had a great rate with Avis for $350.00 for our 10 day trip in March/April. I will looking into Costco and Ebates.

 

[mydisneymoney]

Great advice - I thought I had a great rate with Avis for $350.00 for our 10 day trip in March/April. I will looking into Costco and Ebates.

Yes, make sure you check them both out. I just went into CostcoTravel today to see what it cost through them to rent a car for our trip. The cheapest was $169 with Enterprise. I then went into Ebates to get to AirportRentalCars.com (Ebates is offering a 4% cash back) and found the exact same price for a rental through Enterprise for the $169 as well. So if you go through Costco only it will be $169. If you go through Ebates it will be $169 as well but Ebates will send me a check for $6.76 back. You can use Ebates for lots of stuff you buy online. Hotels.com has 3% cash back. I received cash back on Seaworld tickets as well plus used a discount code I found on another site to same money on the tickets. It adds up in money back just for going through their website to get to the other websites.

 

[Porturican]

Yes, make sure you check them both out. I just went into CostcoTravel today to see what it cost through them to rent a car for our trip. The cheapest was $169 with Enterprise. I then went into Ebates to get to AirportRentalCars.com (Ebates is offering a 4% cash back) and found the exact same price for a rental through Enterprise for the $169 as well. So if you go through Costco only it will be $169. If you go through Ebates it will be $169 as well but Ebates will send me a check for $6.76 back. You can use Ebates for lots of stuff you buy online. Hotels.com has 3% cash back. I received cash back on Seaworld tickets as well plus used a discount code I found on another site to same money on the tickets. It adds up in money back just for going through their website to get to the other websites.

I need to look into this ebates website and learn how to use it!

 

[PryncessChrysty]

We always book with the Costco discounts through Alamo when we go to WDW. Usually, about 2-3 weeks out from our arrival date the prices start to drop, but even though we're slightly further out, the prices are insanely higher than they normally would be at this time.

I ended up going to Priceline and bid $15/day for a fullsize and Budget accepted it. I've never used them before, so I hope they're OK. I know they're one of the big dogs, though, so I at least feel comfortable with that.

Sometimes we'll rent a car locally for various reasons and I've found that I always get great prices from the Alamo off Katella by Disneyland, vs. from SNA. Something you may want to look into if you can find cheap transportation to the off-site Alamo.

Good luck finding the best price! This part of our trips is always like a puzzle.

 

[Lucille1963]

Subbing to this thread. Thanks for all the great ideas!

I looked into our car rental for our January trip a couple weeks ago and couldn't believe how expensive it was, like $700 for 5 days. I know its tricky because we need to pick up in Anaheim and drop off in Oakland, and since we don't own a car we DO need to purchase extra insurance, but that is just ridiculous!

I'm heading out now, but I'll be back later to use your tips!!