Finding the best price on car rental

[daughtersrus]

What sites do you use for the best price?

 

[PhoenicianThanker]

Are you a Costco member? I have been using their site to book rental cars for several years now and found their prices are better than elsewhere, plus you get a free second driver. Also they have free cancellation. I have booked a reservation and seen the price go down, so i cancelled and re-booked for the cheaper rate with no problems/fees.

 

[Klayfish]

As someone who rents cars fairly frequently, the best rates you're going to get are directly through the rental companies themselves. Better than Costco (we are members), better than or equal to any of the other websites (many of the websites just look at the rental companys' website for prices to display). Look at smaller brands like Fox, Sixt, Advantage, E-Z, etc....sometimes you'll find steals there.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We used priceline, when I went to pick up the car they asked me how I got the rate so low, also the insurance was 10 dollars cheaper a day. I think its a hit and miss thing sometimes the prices they quote are not as low as I want.

 

[mrsstats]

I find Costco the best for rates. I use autoslash.com to track my rates but I also check frequently.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We always find the best rates using Costco.

 

[adamak]

+1 on autoslash. Esp in Hawaii which I booked the car rental very early on (once I have the dates).

 

[MomToOne]

autoslash.com
AAA (be sure to check for Hertz coupons you can apply)
For Hawaii, discounthawaiicarrental.com
Whatever airline I booked through
CapitalOne Venture rewards

I am more of a Hertz fan (although will book with any of the major players if the price difference is more than a few dollars) and Costco is in the Avis camp, so I find AAA tends to work better for me than Costco.

No one site seems to be the "best" all the time - I am renting in Hawaii next week, and there were various points in time where each site had the best deal. In the end, AAA won - they dropped for one day just over a week out to the lowest price if you applied one of the standard Hertz coupons listed on the AAA site. (Even though I had identified I was a AAA member on Autoslash, they didn't pick up that lower rate for some reason.) And since it is just a normal booking I could put my Hertz Gold number on it so I will get express pickup - unfortunately you can't do that on some of the Autoslash bookings.

But that in and of itself is a lesson - keep checking multiple sites on a regular basis (weekly should be good) for a drop in rates. As you get within 3 weeks of the trip, check every day.