You might wonder how to find the best deals on rental cars especially when you are out of town or on your vacation. Of course timing is the number one thing that can affect rental cars pricing, however there are still other ways that might not know. Here we will let you know secret ways that you can use to find the best on rental cars.
How to Find the Best Deals on Rental Cars? Use Rental Aggregator Website
When you search for online car rentals then it is better to use aggregator website instead of individual car rental website. That way you will be able to compare their pricing all at once. Furthermore you can even apply some filters on the search result to find one that more suitable for your need. For example filter companies that allows you to drop off the car in different country or allows you to rent a car when you are still under 25, etc.
Book the Rent Directly
Even though you use aggregator website to compare their pricing you should not book the rent on that website. Instead try to book the rent directly with the car rental company. Sometimes the car rental company also offer special discount and other deals that you can see on their official website. You will not find those deals on the aggregator website.
Find Rental Sites with Membership
If you are someone who often travel a lot or you have a lot of plans to travel then you might want to find rental sites with membership. With the membership you will get the best deals when renting their cars.
Besides the rental companies some travel companies will also offer great deal to their customer. They would not rent their own cars, but they usually able to negotiate better deals for their customers. For example Costco Travel which often offer lower rates compared to other online car rentals companies.
How to Find the Best Deals on Rental Car? Pay Attention to Airline Programs
If you often fly around the country then you can try to find some deals on frequent flyer program. This program is provided by the airline so you will be limited to only rent exclusively from their partners. Sometimes you will also be limited on the pick up or drop off which usually only allowed on the airports.
But even if there is no discount the program will still give you chance to earn points. Just make sure that they do not have some surcharge for you to rent the car later. One example is Delta and their partnership with Hertz through SkyMiles program. In this program when you spend $1 on Hertz then you will get 4 miles. If you are Gold member or Diamond medallion then you will get 6 miles or 8 miles respectively.
Going out from the airport
If you are not a frequent flyer who cannot benefit from the program we mention above then it is better for you to find car rental outside the airport. Even though the car rental in the airport is very convenient but it comes with premium price.
They will usually surcharge you with things like facility charge and/or in some percentage of the overall rent amount. This surcharge can go from several dollars each day to 3 figure charge if you rent the car longer.
So, how to find the best deals on rental cars is to just rent a car in downtown and not the airport. Even if you rent the car from the same company their airport location will cost you more because of the surcharge.
Use 2 Minute Trick
If you are patience enough and determined to get the best deal there is a trick that you can do for just 2 minutes but you need to do this every weak. To do this trick the first thing that you need to do is to book the car on the date that you need with whatever rate it is listed at that day.
Then you need to set an alarm to remind you to check their rate of the exact same car that you have booked before to see if it is cheaper. If the price dropped then you need to cancel the previous booking to then rebook it again with this lower rate.
However, you need to make sure that the rental car company will not have cancellation fee before you do this. Usually if you do not cancel it within 24 hours of the day of your booking then they would not have any cancellation charge. So, if you want to do it, then you need to book the car ASAP so you will have more chance to find lower rates.
Book Only Cheapest Car
If you do not travel in large group or need 4WD during winter then it is better to book only the cheapest car available. They might prompt you to upgrade it for a fee but it is better for you to not upgrade it.
Sometimes when you arrive to pick up your car they would not have any subcompact or economy cars that you booked. So, they will upgrade you to better car and you do not need to pay for it. But if you didn’t get the upgrade then it is still not a bad thing to drive economy car since the gas cost is less than other cars.
Do Not Accept Rental Car Insurance Offer
When you rent a car they will usually also offer to insurance the car which you can see in their rent form. However, before you accept this offer you need to first do some research with your credit card company.
A lot of credit card companies actually already include the insurance coverage when you use it to pay for the rent. Furthermore, if you only travel locally then your personal car insurance may also extend to the cars you rent. So try to check that first before accepting the offer.
Now that you know how to find the best deals on rental cars it is time to do your research and find the best deals.
