Car rentals: reserve & prepay ?

[Jerry1]

I find it ironic and amusing that I didn't think re-checking would help me. It turns out I have a car rental this upcoming weekend, I've re-checked twice, and both times I've been able to re-book the exact same car at a lower cost (I'm using Citi Thank You points and their car rental portal). I've gone from about 18,000 points per day to about 11,000 points per day.

So my thanks to everyone on this thread.

I agree. Never thought of looking once the original reservation was booked. Certainly will in the future.

 

[Lsbcal]

It is probably a matter of how good the first deal was and luck. When I've checked closer in to the rental date, it turned out my deal was a steal.

 

[brett]

We have been shopping for rental cars in various places in Greece and in Cyprus.

Usually, we find that autoeurope has the best offerings. You prepay but can typically cancel/ change up to 48 hrs prior. Which we often do.

This time we found the best prices on two of our rentals (really does vary by date and place) on the most unexpected places. One was on the AegeanAir site (you need to have booked an Aegean/Olympic flight). The other was on the Aeroplan site (need to be an Aeroplan member but no Aeroplan flight is required). The savings on both were about 20-30 percent. Both were basic rentals w/no insurance and both were brokered through well know international rental car brands. The Aegean site gave us a discount for prepaying one rental which we took advantage of because of the discount. One thing we did catch on the Aegean site was that some rentals had unlimited KM's, others only 180kms.

 

[PoorOldCountryBoy]

When we have rented a car it has been for a few weeks. Our last 2 rentals were with Enterprise in Florida and in Las Vegas. Both were very good experiences. They had a rep that actually walked us out to the car and helped us check it out and went over unfamiliar controls. Is this standard with them?

I think having a reliable car with fairly low mileage is a bit more important to me then getting the best pricing. But Enterprise was also competitively priced.

I believe it is, and it is the reason I prefer them, although I will rent from less expensive options as well if there is a significant price difference. One example of how this helps: We did a walkthrough in Denver last year just after a big hailstorm and the rental agent found very minor hail damage before we rented--the previous renters had not disclosed what happened. If I had driven off the lot with it, I could have responsibility for it. The policy of showing what damage they will charge you for (about quarter size) is also very renter-friendly.

For most of the rest, the hassle of having to walk back to the counter etc. is not very helpful.