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Watch out for Enterprise Car Rental -phone in rates

J

jfbookers

TUG Member
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Location
Norfolk, VA
Had a coupon from Entertainment for 20% off weekly rental and called to see how much it would save me. Was quoted $229 less 20% when I ask about internet rates and checked them myself the same car went for $117. Some savings. Of course I have found other internet rates that are cheaper than call in but this is hard to justify. Be warned. Yours Jim
 
That type of thing happens with all sorts of products, not just Enterprise Car Rental. Something I've found out about with Enterprise though is that if I book like a weekend special at 50% off on the internet it comes with limited mileage but if I call the local office six blocks down the street I get the exact same rate but with unlimited mileage. Labor Day weekend I rented a car from them for a run to see my parents in the mountainss for the weekend. Wanted the most economical best gas mileage vehicle for the 1000+ mile jaunt. Well, they were late "picking me up" I had to call them to come when they didn't show. They wanted to offer me an upgrade (didn't want it, wanted smallest car for gas mileage) so we settled on a day off the price. I did the math. I saved more on gas over my own car than the rental cost me and there was no 1000+ mile wear and tear on my car.
 
jfbookers said:
Had a coupon from Entertainment for 20% off weekly rental and called to see how much it would save me. Was quoted $229 less 20% when I ask about internet rates and checked them myself the same car went for $117. Some savings. Of course I have found other internet rates that are cheaper than call in but this is hard to justify. Be warned. Yours Jim
Click to expand...
There's nothing unusual about that. Nor is that situation limited to Enterprise.

All car rental companies have multiple rates that they offer, depending on what rental codes are used to make the booking, what corporate rates apply, etc. Very often coupons such as the one you cite are apply only for rentals made on a certain rate code, and often that code is not the cheapest one.

If the coupon you have indicates a code to enter to use it, then you should try plugging in that code while doing an internet booking, and check that price as well.
 
Something similar happened to me. I tried using the Costco coupon code for Budget Car Rental (10-25% off). Initially I forgot to apply the coupon at the Budget website and got a weekly rental of $134. But when I did apply the coupon, the rate went up to $139. Had I applied it initially, I never would have known.

Then I got the run-around at Budget. When I called them, I was told to go ahead and book the reservation, then call back and they would apply the discount afterwards. But when I called back later, I was told the internet rate was the best rate they offered and they refused to apply the discount.

I ended up finding a better deal at National anyway. I never seem to have luck with car rental coupons.
 
This was not an Enterprise experience, but with a different car company, sorry I can't remember which one.

I looked for an Internet rate, the price went down with Entertainment card discount, got same rate with AAA discount, but the price went up with the AARP code. I learned to try every discount I can use and compare, and compare.

Most recently, I called Avis I said I was asking for a quote the old-fashioned way over the phone before trying the Internet. I asked, is this the best you can offer? I was told that's the price.

I went to Hotwire and saved $122 and it turned out to be with Avis.
 
lanalee said:
Something similar happened to me. I tried using the Costco coupon code for Budget Car Rental (10-25% off). Initially I forgot to apply the coupon at the Budget website and got a weekly rental of $134. But when I did apply the coupon, the rate went up to $139. Had I applied it initially, I never would have known.
...
I ended up finding a better deal at National anyway. I never seem to have luck with car rental coupons.
Click to expand...
I used to spend a lot of time trying every code I could find. I decided overall it wasn't worth the time or effort. In the end, it appeared the rental company had two or three different rates available, and each of the codes I would try would return gave one of those raes.

There are several codes that I use now that seem to work best for me (Costco, several Alaska Airlines, AAA, and a few others I disremember right now), but I still have to try every one every time. Then I still compare the results with what I'm offered without using any codes. And, after doing all of that, I check what kind of an offer I can get from Hotwire, and do some Priceline bidding at levels below the lower of my best rental company offer or the Hotwire offer.

******

Getting back to car rental company offers, the code or option that works best one time will not necessarily be the best at another time. Similarly, the company that gives the best offer one time will not be the best at some other time.

If you want to get a good rate, there is no substitute for simply working through the various options to see what you get. And you will often find that the first rate you were quoted may be the best.

FYI - I always start my search at a site such as Orbitz, where I can see the offers from several companies displayed side by side. The companies that come up with the lowest rates at Orbitz will usually (though not always) still be the lowest after working my way through various options (though the rates I end up with likely not be the Orbitz rate). It's rare, though, for a company to be the cheapest alternative after Orbitz showed them twice as expensive.

*****

Another option to check is to see if you can contact someone who handles reservations at a local rental location without going through the main call-in center. There is often availability and rates available through local offices that does not show up in the National reservation system.

For example, right now I have a car rented from Budget on an itinerary for which Budget's national reservation system showed no availability. Further, when I checked the options through Orbitz, the cheapest offering was $65/day for a compact (high daily price because I'm dropping the car off at a different location from which I'm picking it up.)

By calling the Budget office at my pickup location, I was able to get a reservation for $33/day for a compact.

The "local contact" option probably works best at a location where the car rental operation is handled by a franchisee instead of by the car rental company itself.
 
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RumpleMom said:
This was not an Enterprise experience, but with a different car company, sorry I can't remember which one.

I looked for an Internet rate, the price went down with Entertainment card discount, got same rate with AAA discount, but the price went up with the AARP code. I learned to try every discount I can use and compare, and compare.

Most recently, I called Avis I said I was asking for a quote the old-fashioned way over the phone before trying the Internet. I asked, is this the best you can offer? I was told that's the price.

I went to Hotwire and saved $122 and it turned out to be with Avis.
Click to expand...
Because of the differences in how Hotwire (and Priceline) oerate, you should expect Hotwire offers (or successful Priceline bids) to be significantly less than what you are offered by the same rental. If not, there's no reason to accept the Hotwire offer (or to make a Priceline bid) for that amount.

IMHO, for most rentals, it doesn't make sense to accept any Hotwire offer (or make any Priceline offer) unless the savings is at least:

  • $5 per day (and a minimum total savings of $25) on a short term rental; or
  • at least 20% less on a longer term rental (e.g., if my best quote from a car rental company was $200 for a one week rental, I wouldn't take a Hotwire offering or make a Priceline bid at any amount higher than $160).

I do modify those rules some if there is virtually zero chance of having to cancel the trip ofr of having a change in itinerary. For example, if I need a car for one day, with no chance of cancellation, I might take a Hotwire offering at $25/day where the best car rental company quote is $40.

And, of course, never bid on Priceline or accept a Hotwire quote until your itinerary is certain and the chances of cancellation or change are minimal.

***

Another tip with PL and Hotwire is to always extend your return time to the end of the nearest full day period even if that is well past your scheduled departure time. E.g., let say you are picking up the car at 5 pm on Monday and dropping it off at 9 am on Friday. When using PL or HW, set your check-in time for 4:30 or 5:00 pm on Friday.

Most car rental companies charge PL and HW customers extremely high rates for late check-in. (I've seen overtime charges on some of my rentals that were as much as $30/hour and $80/day for late check-in.) By pushing back your check-in time to the end of the 24-hour period after you picked up the car, you are late (switch to a later flight, plane is rescheduled, whatever), you reduce your chances of gettinga large overtime charge.
 
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Enterprise again

Same trip as origional post but needed one more day. Had a $40 Discovercard cert. and figured I could use that to extend my rental. NO DEAL!
First I would have to return to the airport to do a seperate contract, then the 1 day rental was almost $80 less $40 or $40 for 1 day. Looks like my coupon is worse than worthless. Again I am fully aware that internet rates can be cheaper but am astounded by the differences. Beware.
 
Have found the same coupon code(s) used on different days, may very well come up with different pricing. Guess one has to check often and take what they feel is best, with no guarantees it is ... and will never know.
 
Last Enterprise post

I am the OP and after all of the above the Desk at Enterprise offered me one additional day at the pro-rated daily rate for the week. No trip back to the airport and a rate almost 80% off the phone quote. Happy now but why the aggrivation on the way to this point?
 
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