car rental - fluctuating prices

My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

With the kids and all our luggage I need a 'premium' car - basically
something resembling the old 'full-size' American cars I remember from my
trips to Nth America in the '70s. It seems that Budget has the Mercury Grand
Marquis which would do nicely. The weird thing is that I go to their
website every so often, punch in the exact same set of dates (26/3 - 16/4)
and car type but I get a different rate almost every time.

Is this normal for the price to vary so much? It started around $750 USD a
few months ago, dropped to $650 around early Jan (shoulda locked in then!)
and has since gone to about $850 last week and into the $940 range this
week. Does the price tend to go up the longer you leave it? If so maybe I
should now book the other rentals we'll need out of Orlando and Newark later
in the trip so I don't waste another five hundred or so... Can anyone
explain this or offer any tips or advice on getting the best deal? It
doesn't have to be Budget, but I was told they often had the best deal and
as said earlier we want the big car rather than the smaller Intrepid or
Taurus etc that many companies seem to offer.

Cheers,

Dom

"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

With the kids and all our luggage I need a 'premium' car - basically
something resembling the old 'full-size' American cars I remember from my
trips to Nth America in the '70s. It seems that Budget has the Mercury
Grand
Marquis which would do nicely. The weird thing is that I go to their
website every so often, punch in the exact same set of dates (26/3 - 16/4)
and car type but I get a different rate almost every time.


You may want to consider renting a Mini Van instead, I just plugged in your
dates and it came back with $835 for that period and I suspect that
the class of vehicle (Ford Windstar is typical) may suit you better

Is this normal for the price to vary so much? It started around $750 USD
a
few months ago, dropped to $650 around early Jan (shoulda locked in then!)
and has since gone to about $850 last week and into the $940 range this
week. Does the price tend to go up the longer you leave it? If so maybe
I
should now book the other rentals we'll need out of Orlando and Newark
later
in the trip so I don't waste another five hundred or so... Can anyone
explain this or offer any tips or advice on getting the best deal? It
doesn't have to be Budget, but I was told they often had the best deal and
as said earlier we want the big car rather than the smaller Intrepid or
Taurus etc that many companies seem to offer.


One thing to be aware of is the issue of insurance cover

The standard cover that comes with the rental car is grossly
inadequate. It doesnt cover damage to the vehicle at all
and the thrird party cover is typically only for the minimum
value reauired in the state. The desk agents will typically try
and sell you their cover which can easily add $25-30
per day to the rental cost !

Its possible to get cover with your travel insurance (AMEX
offer it on some policies) or you may have cover through
your credit card (not common on European cards)

Get some quotes from agents such as Trailfinders or
holiday autos who can sell you a package including complete
insurance cover

Your visit includes the Easter Holiday so dont expect rates to go down

Keith

I agree that renting a minivan may be a better choice, both for room
and price. Minivans are quite common on rental lots nowadays, while
premium cars like the Grand Marquis still demand a, well, premium
price! How many adults/children will you have to seat in the car?
Something like a Ford Taurus or Toyota Camry (usually a full size car
class) will be almost as roomy as the Grand Marquis, and a lot
cheaper. Sometimes you may be able to get a station (estate) wagon,
too, which gives you more luggage room (but obviously is less secure
for your luggage as it is visible).

Rental prices do flucuate wildly, based on available cars and demand.
By all means, I would book now for Florida if you are going in
mid-March or April, as this is a very popular time for travel to the
area.

Will you be doing L.A., Florida, and Newark all on the same trip?
That's quite a holiday! Where are you planning to drive from Newark?
If you are just going into NYC, I wouldn't even think of renting a
car. Take a shuttle or something.

I always start on Travelocity.com, which provides a nice "total price"
function, including taxes, etc. I then go directly to the car rental
company's Web site to actually book the car, as it's easier to deal
directly with the company than through a third party. Always check the
specials/discounts page for the special codes you need to get
available discounts.

That being said, you may get a better deal by booking through a
consolidator in your country; often they include the extra insurance
(called CDW or LDW here in the USA) that can cost $20 or more per day
(this weekend I just paid $21.95/day renting out of Denver through
Hertz).

Brian Wasson
Philadelphia, Pa.

"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

In article ,
"Dominic Kelly" wrote:

My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

With the kids and all our luggage I need a 'premium' car - basically
something resembling the old 'full-size' American cars I remember from my
trips to Nth America in the '70s. It seems that Budget has the Mercury Grand
Marquis which would do nicely. The weird thing is that I go to their
website every so often, punch in the exact same set of dates (26/3 - 16/4)
and car type but I get a different rate almost every time.

Is this normal for the price to vary so much?

Yup, completely normal. Airline tickets and hotel occomodations also
fluctuate widely in price, even over a period of a few hours.

Hi
Cars have differant rates for each time of year
Consider a mini van get extra insurance tell the office how much driving
you expect.
You will only get a 30 day rental then you will resign at any office
make sure you lock your fee in on the first rental and have unlimited
mileage up to vehical max. ( most can only have 20K or 25K)
They do not like monthly rates so the more demand for daily they raise
the monthly to discourage.

You can consider a one way drive depending where you go ie: LA to
Seattle drop van pick up a mid west one if you heading that way its
cheaper some will waive the drop fee because you are returning another.

If you are staying in one state or two check max drive time some areas
only 60 days on out of country license.

enjoy

Dominic Kelly wrote:

My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

With the kids and all our luggage I need a 'premium' car - basically
something resembling the old 'full-size' American cars I remember from my
trips to Nth America in the '70s. It seems that Budget has the Mercury Grand
Marquis which would do nicely. The weird thing is that I go to their
website every so often, punch in the exact same set of dates (26/3 - 16/4)
and car type but I get a different rate almost every time.

Is this normal for the price to vary so much? It started around $750 USD a
few months ago, dropped to $650 around early Jan (shoulda locked in then!)
and has since gone to about $850 last week and into the $940 range this
week. Does the price tend to go up the longer you leave it? If so maybe I
should now book the other rentals we'll need out of Orlando and Newark later
in the trip so I don't waste another five hundred or so... Can anyone
explain this or offer any tips or advice on getting the best deal? It
doesn't have to be Budget, but I was told they often had the best deal and
as said earlier we want the big car rather than the smaller Intrepid or
Taurus etc that many companies seem to offer.

Cheers,

Dom





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I needed a rental for a few weeks in November for the Tampa, Florida area so
started my online search early to get the best deal. I was shocked at the
price variations, etc. so never quite knew when I should book. However, my
best prices were the ones I found by doing searches for "promo or discount
codes". These were always better than the "specials" listed on the car
rental websites. I think I still have some codes bookmarked for Florida, so
this might help you out for Orlando. You'll have to check these out,
though, as they might have expired. I just played around by entering the
codes on the price quote links on each of the car rental sites, and often
ended up with a good discount. Here are a few sites to check out (for
Florida), but it might also be worthwhile to do a search for "car rental
discounts" or "car rental promo codes" and see what you come up with. I
think I ended up getting the best deal from Dollar Rental and there was no
problem with them honoring the discount code price that I had booked online.

Good luck.

Carole

http://www.mousesavers.com/rentalcar.html
http://www.travelcouponsonline.com/dollar.html (I used a code from this site
to book)
http://www.travelcouponsonline.com/auto.html
http://www.flausa.com/ (link to Alamo code)
http://www.a2zcolleges.com/misc/carrental.htm
http://www.betterbidding.com/index.p...T&f=304&t=238&


--

"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

"Dominic Kelly" wrote in message
...
My family and I will be travelling in the 'States from late March to
mid-June this year. I have been researching car rentals, and am keen to
book one soon as we will be arriving in LA on 26/3/04.

With the kids and all our luggage I need a 'premium' car - basically
something resembling the old 'full-size' American cars I remember from
my
trips to Nth America in the '70s. It seems that Budget has the Mercury
Grand
Marquis which would do nicely. The weird thing is that I go to their
website every so often, punch in the exact same set of dates (26/3 -
16/4)
and car type but I get a different rate almost every time.


You may want to consider renting a Mini Van instead, I just plugged in
your
dates and it came back with $835 for that period and I suspect that
the class of vehicle (Ford Windstar is typical) may suit you better

Is this normal for the price to vary so much? It started around $750
USD
a
few months ago, dropped to $650 around early Jan (shoulda locked in
then!)
and has since gone to about $850 last week and into the $940 range this
week. Does the price tend to go up the longer you leave it? If so
maybe
I
should now book the other rentals we'll need out of Orlando and Newark
later
in the trip so I don't waste another five hundred or so... Can anyone
explain this or offer any tips or advice on getting the best deal? It
doesn't have to be Budget, but I was told they often had the best deal
and
as said earlier we want the big car rather than the smaller Intrepid or
Taurus etc that many companies seem to offer.


One thing to be aware of is the issue of insurance cover

The standard cover that comes with the rental car is grossly
inadequate. It doesnt cover damage to the vehicle at all
and the thrird party cover is typically only for the minimum
value reauired in the state. The desk agents will typically try
and sell you their cover which can easily add $25-30
per day to the rental cost !

Its possible to get cover with your travel insurance (AMEX
offer it on some policies) or you may have cover through
your credit card (not common on European cards)

Get some quotes from agents such as Trailfinders or
holiday autos who can sell you a package including complete
insurance cover

Your visit includes the Easter Holiday so dont expect rates to go down

Keith