“Shop around for best deal on rental car” |
| Shop around for best deal on rental car Posted: 28 Aug 2010 03:00 PM PDT By Steven Cole Smith, ORLANDO SENTINEL Renting a car this summer? Don't make the mistake of thinking one rental car company is the same as any other. Depending on the vehicle -- and where you pick up your rental -- you could save a bundle by simply shopping around. So how much difference is there between rental car companies? A recent visit to Tulsa, Okla., gave me the chance to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the cheapest vehicle offered for a 48-hour period. Using the websites for the eight agencies doing business in Tulsa, I checked prices, and -- highest to lowest -- here's the results: • National (nationalcar.com) offered a Chevrolet Aveo for $100.65 for the 48-hour period I specified. • Avis (avis.com) had an Aveo for $84.20. • Enterprise (enterprise.com) offered a Aveo for $72.12. • Hertz (hertz.com), providing a discount for paying in advance by credit card, was asking $70.50 for its Aveo. • Alamo (alamo.com) had the ubiquitous Aveo for $70.23. --Budget (budget.com) had a Hyundai Accent for $68.96 (no Aveo available). The website said you could save money by paying in advance, but on this deal offered no discount only free photo service or a magazine subscription. • Dollar (dollar.com) and Thrifty (thrifty.com) -- owned by the same company -- had an identical deal on an Accent or Aveo that offered a 10 percent discount if you paid in advance with an American Express card, which provided the lowest price of all -- $65.97. The bottom line: By shopping around, you could save as much as $34.68 on the same car, same time period. The problem is you can't assume the companies that are the cheapest in Tulsa are the cheapest anywhere else. Many of the rental agencies are franchises and can offer local specials depending on the competition. And those locations can differ dramatically. The Aveo that Enterprise, for instance, offered in Tulsa for $72.12 would cost $83.84 at the airport in Charlotte, N.C.; $152.78 at the San Francisco airport; and a whopping $268.02 at LaGuardia airport in New York City. A startling amount of the money we spend on rental cars typically goes to taxes and various fees. Of the $70.50 Hertz would have charged at Tulsa, only $47.18 was for the car. The rest went to sales tax, rental car tax, an airport concession fee and a "customer facility charge." Most rental car websites will explain those fees. Hertz also charged $1.03 for an "energy surcharge," because "the cost of energy needed to support our business" has risen. Just like it has for everybody else, right? Also, all the prices quoted here do not include any optional add-ons, such as insurance or portable navigation systems. My auto insurance policy covers rental cars, and yours might, too. Some agencies will tell you that such insurance likely doesn't cover the lost income to the rental agency while a wrecked car is being repaired, so whether you want to opt for that insurance is up to you. Those options can really add up: Take everything that National offered at Tulsa, and the $100.65 Chevrolet Aveo skyrocketed to $326.52. It certainly doesn't hurt to check prices on rentals booked through travel websites such as Expedia.com or on airline websites themselves, but I always go online directly to the rental agency site to check prices first. Some organizations, such as AAA and AARP, allow members to book rental cars online, but as with travel websites, I check with the rental agencies first. The newest trend seems to be offering a discount for paying with a credit card at the time of the rental -- for years, agencies have complained that consumers will reserve a car and never show up. Since you are risking nothing -- the rental company usually has only your e-mail address -- a lot of consumers don't bother to cancel if they change plans. Thrifty and Dollar charged $4.86 less for paying in advance with American Express, and I don't see a downside to saving that money. So it pays to shop around for the best deal, which may not always be the lowest price. When the prices are very close, a tiebreaker may be the rental agency that, say, offers triple frequent flyer miles on your favorite airline. Tips for renting at the right price: A few tips for when you are shopping for a good deal on a rental car: • Book the smallest, cheapest car offered and ask to be upgraded for free. Most agencies stock only a handful of small vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Aveos or Hyundai Accents. • If you are renting a car at an airport, Google the airport for its website: Usually, that site will list the rental agencies that do business at the airport and tell you how to find their counters. • Need a portable navigation system? With prices as low as $100 for a good navigation system, consider buying one and taking it with you. Renting one from an agency for a week would likely cost you at least $100. • Refill the tank yourself, instead of opting to pay the rental agency the premium charged for gas. Some rental companies are offering good prices on a refill, but it's a deal only if you plan on returning the car with the gas tank close to empty, because you have to buy a full tank's worth of gas, whether the car needs that much gas or not. • Before you book a rental car, check with your insurance agent and see whether you are covered under your regular policy for rentals, and if so, for how much. By buying insurance from the rental agency, you could be duplicating coverage. • Most all agencies offer unlimited miles on regular rentals, but it doesn't hurt to make sure, so you don't get hit with excess mileage fees. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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