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Huge Rental Car Pricing Differences - Is there a catch?

3kids4me

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I need to rent a car at GSO (Greensboro airport in NC) and the price differences between the various companies amaze me. National wants $115 for two days and Dollar was $34 - same size car. I can't see how Dollar makes any money and I can't help but wonder if I'm missing something here. Do you always pick the cheapest price, or should I assume that the very cheap ones are going to be much more of a hassle in some way (and that's why they are so cheap?)

(All companies appear to have cars right at the airport, rather than a shuttle ride away - that was my first thought.)

Thanks for any advice on this!
 

Ty1on

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I need to rent a car at GSO (Greensboro airport in NC) and the price differences between the various companies amaze me. National wants $115 for two days and Dollar was $34 - same size car. I can't see how Dollar makes any money and I can't help but wonder if I'm missing something here. Do you always pick the cheapest price, or should I assume that the very cheap ones are going to be much more of a hassle in some way (and that's why they are so cheap?)

(All companies appear to have cars right at the airport, rather than a shuttle ride away - that was my first thought.)

Thanks for any advice on this!

Same as resorts. You can get the same resort for $700 for a week or $2,200. You have to shop.

I ALWAYS pick the cheapest car rental. Unless they send a masseuse on the drive with me, I don't see the advantage of paying more for the same darned car.
 

Ken555

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I've seen similar, though not quite as great, price discrepancies for Greensboro in the past. I would go for the less expensive option, and consider it's likely simply due to availability. National likely doesn't have as many cars for your dates in the class you want...but this isn't to say that there aren't times when the prices just don't make sense. Why fight it? Just rent from the cheaper option.


Sent from my iPad
 

Ken555

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By the way, Greensboro is one of the few towns I know that has a couple of wonderful independent hotels. If you need a recommendation, send me a PM.


Sent from my iPad
 

Luanne

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I always pick the cheapest rental, unless it's some company I've never heard of, or one that has really bad reviews.
 

Chrispee

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Dollar in Greensboro get's 1.5 stars on yelp whereas National gets 3 stars. I would probably still choose Dollar given the price discrepancy, but if it were less of a price difference I might make a different choice.
 

Luanne

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Dollar in Greensboro get's 1.5 stars on yelp whereas National gets 3 stars. I would probably still choose Dollar given the price discrepancy, but if it were less of a price difference I might make a different choice.

Besides just looking at the stars rating, read the reviews. If they are consistently bad, especially if it's for the same thing, that is more important to me than the number of stars they have. Many times the things that bother the other reviewers aren't things that bother me.
 

Jimster

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difference

Often the difference (I can not speak to this case) is whether the rental car company is on the airport and has to pay big taxes.

As mentioned above, maybe Dollar has a big unused inventory on that date and is simply trying to increase business.
 

sfwilshire

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Last year I rented nearly every week in Miami for several months. This year I'm renting nearly every week in Dallas. There is no apparent rhyme or reason to who will be the cheapest from week to week. The rates vary wildly.

I am required to rent the cheapest by company travel policies, but I have noticed a few things. Hertz always seems to be more if booked last minute. They also have the worst increases in costs if you have a change in your reservation, even if it is arriving a few hours later than originally scheduled. Thrifty has the worst tack-on fees for toll-by-plate charges. I'll never rent from them again in Florida. National, my favorite for years, is never cheapest any more. Too bad. I always liked them. Enterprise tends to hold you up by walking you to the car and going over everything. I've stopped renting from them in some cities because of the inevitable wait. Just point me to the car, thank you. I'm usually late for a meeting or trying to beat rush hour traffic.

For personal rentals, I use Costco and check often for better deals. The rate is usually not too bad in the beginning, but sometimes goes down a lot before the rental starts.

Sheila
 
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BocaBoy

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Do you always pick the cheapest price, or should I assume that the very cheap ones are going to be much more of a hassle in some way (and that's why they are so cheap?)

There are a few companies I would always avoid because of their much worse than normal reputations concerning bogus damage claims. Enterprise is the largest of these. Other than that, I will normally go with the best price among Alamo, National, Budget, Avis and Hertz, but I seldom use the others. The nice thing about Priceline's Name Your Own Price option is that these are the only companies they deal with for Name Your Own Price.
 

TUGBrian

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going thru this now looking for a rental in vegas for later this year...the price differences are pretty staggering.

what really burns me is the price advertised, and the price at checkout!

I clicked on one car to rent that showed a total price of $100 dollars for the entirety of my rental (5 days)....get to checkout and more than 80 dollars in taxes and fees were added to the total price...and that was from budget!
 

Jimster

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Price

going thru this now looking for a rental in vegas for later this year...the price differences are pretty staggering.

what really burns me is the price advertised, and the price at checkout!

I clicked on one car to rent that showed a total price of $100 dollars for the entirety of my rental (5 days)....get to checkout and more than 80 dollars in taxes and fees were added to the total price...and that was from budget!

That is the norm. Nothing unusual
 

TUGBrian

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geez...thats ridiculous.

been so long since ive dealt with that...what a joke.
 

winger

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going thru this now looking for a rental in vegas for later this year...the price differences are pretty staggering.

what really burns me is the price advertised, and the price at checkout!

I clicked on one car to rent that showed a total price of $100 dollars for the entirety of my rental (5 days)....get to checkout and more than 80 dollars in taxes and fees were added to the total price...and that was from budget!
This is why I like using Costco if at all possible, the price posted is the all-in price.
 

Fern Modena

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Vegas has very high car rental taxes, and they are more if you use the auto rental center which the shuttle takes you to (that is the airport;s car rental facility, there is none on-site).

Fern

geez...thats ridiculous.

been so long since ive dealt with that...what a joke.
 

Icc5

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Autoslash

I started using this and suggested it to relatives and we all have saved hundreds on our car rentals. I usually look for the lowest cost for the size I want at Costco Travel. I book it and then go and put my info. in Autoslash. There are different ways to use Autoslash but this is my way. As things come down I cancel and rebook. My last rental for 10 days in a standard car went from $480 down to $180 by the time we actually did the rental.
Bart
 
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