3 ways to avoid sticker shock when renting a car for your summer vacation
Has anyone rented a car lately? Have you experienced sticker shocker? According to the New York Times, in mid-June, the weekly airport rental rates for a compact car averaged $347.44, compared with $210.38 a year ago. This is a 65 percent jump.
The culprit? Supply and demand: specifically, artificial shortages created by the rental agencies because they’ve scaled back fleets in this down economy. Here are 3 ways to find a less expensive option:
1. Book early. A lot of travelers use the book-at-the-last-minute strategy to find deals on hotels and airfare. This approach doesn’t work with car rentals. In fact, most times you won’t even find a car and when you do, it’ll cost you.
2. Try an independent car rental agency. The New York Times article points to mom and pop agencies that can be found at CarRentals.com and CarRentalExpress.com where the rates are typically 15 to 30 percent less than national agencies like Avis or Hertz.
3. Use virtual coupons:
Sites like FatWallet.com and CouponWinner.com list discount codes for car rentals, or type in the name of a car rental company and ‘œcoupon code’ into Google to see what turns up. Good deals also show up on airline Web sites under mileage partner offers.
And when you do rent a car, be sure and look out for these types of surcharges: cancellation penalties, energy surcharges and facilities fees.
In need of a few more ways to save? Here’s a slideshow of 11 Car-Rental Cost-Cutting Secrets that includes ideas for those renting abroad.
What are your plans this summer with vacation and car rentals? Do you have any other money-saving tips to share with Queercents readers?
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
Nina, in my experience it’s always a good idea to fill up the gas tank well before you get to the airport to return the rental car. The price the rental company charges for gas is highway robbery, and the stations closest to the airport usually have high prices for gas, too.
I have a question for folks – do you waive the insurance on the rental car, assuming that your own insurance will cover you? Or do you opt for the rental company’s insurance? What are the pros and cons?
It’s #1 on the slideshow, but since it’s my newest (and therefore favorite) tip, I’ll put it here, too: Hotwire. SO much cheaper, and since I really don’t care if I get Hertz vs Enterprise vs Avis, it was a godsend when travelling. The only caveat is if you’re going somewhere where individual companies’ policies matter – I was driving into Canada, and all the major companies have the same policies, so it wasn’t relevant, but it might be for someone else.
As for insurance, I always waive it. My Visa card covers rental cars for collision, and my personal policy covers liability, so it’s a huge savings. I am ludicrously diligent about circling the car before I leave, though, and often have to go back to have the agents mark down scratches and dings that are already there. I don’t want to pay for any damage *I* do to the car – I’m certainly not going to pay for damage someone else does! This article def. helped me decide whether I wanted to ‘risk’ forgoing the coverage, though: http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/beware-gaps-in-credit-card-coverage-for-rental-cars.html?id=2442326 It’s from 07, but it describes the typical process of making a claim w/ the credit card insurance.
I like the idea of booking early, but I’d like to add that it doesn’t hurt to go back to the website where you found the best deal and run your search again in a few weeks or a month. Your article reminded me to do that with a car I booked two months ago for our upcoming August vacation. I went back to Enterprise.com, ran the exact same search, and got a deal of nearly $40 less. I made a new reservation, then went in and canceled my old one. I’ll probably check again a couple weeks before we leave.
The great thing about rental cars is that most (if not all) sites don’t take any payment from you until you show up, so cancellation and rebooking is painless for you. So book early to lock in a good rate, but keep checking back to see if you can find an even better one.
For me personally, I always decline the CDW/LDW. Here’s more about how to assess your coverage status:
Thanks for the additional info, Nina.