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Tricks of the Car Rental Trade



 
 
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Old February 10th, 2004, 12:47 AM
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Default Tricks of the Car Rental Trade

Sizzling strategies for low rental car rates
Step-by-step guide for getting the lowest rates on the road

CNN) -- When booking a business trip or vacation online, most people spend
hours concentrating on getting the lowest airfare or the cheapest hotel room
just to save 10 bucks here, or 20 bucks there.

Rarely is as much effort put in to finding the best rental car deal. And
that's too bad because your rental car bill could end up being the most
expensive part of your next trip if you aren't careful. Here's my advice for
getting the best deal possible:

First, know that car rental prices vary a lot from city to city due to
demand and increasingly prevalent (and hefty) local taxes and fees -- $40
per day might be a super deal in one city, but a complete rip-off in another
where cars are going for $19 per day.

Step 1 -- Your first step in finding a rental car deal is to determine the
"going rate" for the type of car you want by first checking travel agency
sites like travelocity.com, expedia.com and orbitz.com that compare rates
from a variety of companies. (To be sure you are comparing apples to apples,
check for rates that include all taxes and fees. I find Travelocity's "total
pricing" feature very helpful in this regard.)

Step 2 -- If you are traveling in less than a week, your next step should be
to check to see if there is any distressed inventory posted on last-minute
travel sites like hotwire.com or lastminutetravel.com. Keep in mind that the
cheapest cars may not always be the smallest ones since last-minute rates
are based on unsold inventory. That means a car rental company might be
offering full-sized cars at less expensive rates than compacts.

Step 3 -- Once you've determined the last-minute price on a site like
Hotwire, you should try your luck and bid an even lower price on
Priceline.com. (An even smarter strategy would be to first check in at
biddingfortravel.com, where consumers swap stories about their success or
failure at obtaining winning bids at Priceline.com.) Keep in mind that once
Priceline or Hotwire accepts your bid, no changes or cancellations are
allowed -- that's the price you pay for a great deal.

Step 4 -- If you can't find a decent last-minute deal, check rentalcars.com,
a regularly updated listing of last-minute deals on major car rental company
sites. Additionally, check the rental car company sites themselves; look for
a button or link on their homepage that says "Deals" or "Specials."

Step 5 -- If you're still faced with a steep rate, try getting discounts
based on your affiliations with organizations like AARP, AAA or others.
These discounts are usually not great, but they are better than no deal at
all.

Finally, don't ruin your great rate by allowing rental counter agents to
scare you into extras you don't need. Check your credit card or personal
automobile policy agreements and you'll likely find that you are protected
when driving a rental car, so decline the sales pitches for products like
collision damage waivers. (Red flags should appear when you hear acronyms
like "CDW" or "LDW" or "PEC".) Also, it is always less expensive to fill the
car up before you return it, so decline the money-losing "pre-pay your gas
now and bring the car back empty" come-ons.



--
***/***/***
When life gives you lemons
Skull**** everyone in sight!
http://wonderofitall.com/

***/***/***


 




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