Low cost car rental tips

[Al18]

Taking a vacation on Oahu and Kauai next month. Trip and rooms are booked, but not the car rental. I read about Turo today, but this thread scared me off https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/turo-car-rental-119222.html

Any other options? I normally rent a car thru Expedia, but the total rental price on Oahu is $100 per day plus gas - which seems high.

 

[Aerides]

Taking a vacation on Oahu and Kauai next month. Trip and rooms are booked, but not the car rental. I read about Turo today, but this thread scared me off https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/turo-car-rental-119222.html

Any other options? I normally rent a car thru Expedia, but the total rental price on Oahu is $100 per day plus gas - which seems high.

That doesn't actually seem high, given it's high travel season and on the islands. I don't think I ever want the cheapest car, but I do use membership discounts by staying in the same programs.

Check your credit cards for partner rates perhaps?

 

[njhowie]

autoslash.com

 

[Ian S]

autoslash.com

+1 You put all your affiliations into their system (including Costco) and they will come up with great prices often lower than Costco but not always. One thing you should not do is prepay to save a few bucks but risk that prepayment amount if your plans change. Also, after you confirm your reservation, it pays to check every week or two to see if you can get a better deal. That strategy paid off for us on our last trip to Hawaii since it saved us $300 and gave us a nicer car!

 

[Plantman]

I've had good luck with carrentalsavers.com. The time I tried autoslash they wanted me to drop off the car twenty miles from my house at a place that was closed on weekends. With carrentalsavers I can choose exactly where and when to pick up and drop off.

 

[Montecfo]

I used Turo when I'm Kauai last year with good results.

As far as conventional rentals,. Autoslash or Costco travel.

Make a reservation and keep shopping at every few days.

 

[njhowie]

+1 You put all your affiliations into their system (including Costco) and they will come up with great prices often lower than Costco but not always. One thing you should not do is prepay to save a few bucks but risk that prepayment amount if your plans change. Also, after you confirm your reservation, it pays to check every week or two to see if you can get a better deal. That strategy paid off for us on our last trip to Hawaii since it saved us $300 and gave us a nicer car!

I've had excellent experience with autoslash and using their prepaid offers - which can be $100 or more lower than the best alternative. You can cancel up to 48 hours before the reservation. The very first time I was hesitant, but quickly became comfortable with it. I'd prepay, then a day later when the rates dropped, cancel for full refund and do another prepaid. They credit it back to your card immediately - you see it next day.

We had the same type of experience with Hawaii about 9 months ago. Started out around $600 for the week reserving about 6 month in advance. Within a week or two of the travel date was able to get it down to just about $200.

Not that OP was interested, but I've also used their hotelslash which they introduced last year and it also works very well. Gave rates that were better than anywhere else for the same properties. Some had no refund restrictions, but hotels have those kind of rates available so you do need to be careful when booking those.

 

[RetireBy90]

DW uses Costco and we get a small rebate check each year for all $$ spent including travel. She has checked and reduced rates a couple times when booking our current trip in Fla Keys.

 

[hmrambling]

Came here to say Costco. I used to check all the sites but Costco travel usually beats the other sites.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I consistently have the best deals from Priceline. Every once in a while Costco beats them, but not usually.