Rental Car Savings

[Timeshare Von]

My experience as an AARP member is that my discounts for cars especially, have been the best found . . . and when compared with COSTCO, the very same. For my upcoming Hawaii trip, I booked cars for Kauai and Kona months ago (like February/March), and kept watching rates every few weeks. They continued to come down until probably midsummer, but since have continued to climb as our travel dates are coming up soon. Price checking yesterday, both cars are more than $200 more now than they were back in July/August. For me that is the trick . . . book early and monitor frequently. You'll eventually find the lowest pricing available in most cases.

 

[rickandcindy23]

What I find exasperating is the airport fees and taxes. Getting cars at the airport vs. a shuttle ride to another location and the off-brands was pretty much half of the cost because of the taxes added on at the airport in Orlando. There are lots of smaller companies with not-so-great ratings outside of the airport. Companies like Zezgo and a bunch of others. We rented our car at Advantage Rental Car with Autoslash's help for about $360 for 16 days for this trip. It was over twice that price at the airport garage.

 

[easyrider]

What I find exasperating is the airport fees and taxes. Getting cars at the airport vs. a shuttle ride to another location and the off-brands was pretty much half of the cost because of the taxes added on at the airport in Orlando. There are lots of smaller companies with not-so-great ratings outside of the airport. Companies like Zezgo and a bunch of others. We rented our car at Advantage Rental Car with Autoslash's help for about $360 for 16 days for this trip. It was over twice that price at the airport garage.

I'm not a fan of the off site little known auto rental companies. I have tried it out to help the locals out and a few times that things went bad I was on my own. The last time was at HNL where they wouldn't even answer their phone and no one picked us up.

I like things newer and I expect reliability which is what the main auto rental companies offer.

Bill

 

[dioxide45]

The last time was at HNL where they wouldn't even answer their phone and no one picked us up.

This is pretty much true of any rental company. You can always call main customer service, but there is no chance of getting hold of anyone working on site. That has been our experience several times when trying to contact a specific location by phone.

 

[easyrider]

This is pretty much true of any rental company. You can always call main customer service, but there is no chance of getting hold of anyone working on site. That has been our experience several times when trying to contact a specific location by phone.

Someone answers ever time you call when you rent from a major car rental company might be the point. No one answered the phone or bothered to pick us up at HNL using EZ Car which I think is a local company.

I have had mixed luck using local companies for car rental. I'm to that point in life that I will spend a little more for a newer car and reliable service.

Bill

 

[Luanne]

Someone answers ever time you call when you rent from a major car rental company might be the point. No one answered the phone or bothered to pick us up at HNL using EZ Car which I think is a local company.

I have had mixed luck using local companies for car rental. I'm to that point in life that I will spend a little more for a newer car and reliable service.

Bill

Someone doesn't always answer at the local location. I have tried to get information about some specifics at OGG (Maui) and no one answered. I would eventually get a phone tree that would take me back to their corporate location.

 

[easyrider]

Someone doesn't always answer at the local location. I have tried to get information about some specifics at OGG (Maui) and no one answered. I would eventually get a phone tree that would take me back to their corporate location.

Exactly. This is why I prefer the major rental companies. 24/7 help.

Bill

 

[Luanne]

Exactly. This is why I prefer the major rental companies. 24/7 help.

Bill

I am talking about the major companies. I had a question for Avis, which I believe you would consider major, and attempted to call their office at OGG. Nope, got routed to the corporate location. Yes, it's 24/7, but didn't help with what I needed.

 

[dannybaker]

we always keep checking on Costco drops and we got a great one for two weeks in Orlando. We were able to rent a bmw x5 hybrid for the same price as a compact car.