Rental Car Prices are STUPID!

[elgerber]

It is but I can't justify the cost of the urs for it. I can't earn them as much as others. I have part of my 300 travel credit that I'll use too so even if it only goes down another 40 bucks it's still going to cost me less than 300.

I was looking at using my Cap One Travel credit, but their rates are even worse!
I used 43k UR"s for a premium car, I still have over a million LOL I still have 3 weeks to change my mind or find something else.

 

[SueInBoston]

Keep your reservation and check your rate weekly until you leave. In October I booked a compact thru Costco Budget for 5 days 1/2-1/7 for $480, Every couple weeks the rate will lower bit by bit, by 12/31, it was down to $187.

 

[afan]

I was looking at using my Cap One Travel credit, but their rates are even worse!
I used 43k UR"s for a premium car, I still have over a million LOL I still have 3 weeks to change my mind or find something else.

If I had that many I would but I'm under 100k. Being a p1 with low spend sucks sometimes

 

[MillauFr]

Just as stupid as the car rental rates are the stupid taxes and fees - facility charge, vehicle license fee, energy recovery fee, state tax, concession tax. That's potentially hundreds in taxes right there.

Well better to soak tourists to pay for those sports stadiums than local residents. The alternative would be for the billionaire owners to pay for the stadiums out of their own pocket but we can't have that now can we?

 

[lovesmurfs]

Yep -- Because my daughter was exposed to Covid (long story), she drove our car home to Illinois from Maryland. We had to rent a car, one way, from MD to IL, over New Year's. 4-day rental (economy car) was $835. Unbudgeted. Crazy.

 

[cjnix29]

got ours for next week at 211 all in through aaa. Cheapest I've found. But it's been a LONG time since we have been under 180 for the week, I think it is still early for decent rates for April.

 

[GoofyCdn]

I would suggest anyone look at Turo. I used them in California prepandemic and saved a couple hundred dollars. Be careful to read the fine print for each renter. The one we rented from was actually a large business that started doing this to compete with the big rental companies.
I think it's a great alternative.

 

[kathy884]

I booked my rental car for March in Orlando almost a year in advance (I only go with mainstream rental car companies with good reputations) and was happy to get a rate of $350 for my standard sized car for the week. I went with Alamo. I now have more extended family coming and later looked at getting a minivan, but with a reputable car company it was $1050 for the week, so I am just doing the standard car and will supplement with Uber and Lyft. Those have worked really well for me in the past in Orlando (my last trip, though, to Orlando was pre-pandemic). We also for some days will have my nephew who lives in Orlando doing some things with us (six of us visiting now plus him, so for some excursions we'll have his car available too). I'm not comfortable with going with non major rental car companies that have less expensive rates -- too many horror stories and bad experiences (my parents even with one of these places personally experienced a common issue of practically bald tires with one blowing out and needing to waste vacation time getting it fixed - a very common issue I read about for the off brand company they chose to save dollars). I may look into Turo for future. I've never done that before, though.

I've checked a few times, but those minivan rates haven't come down. I'm not sure they will with it being spring break, but I'll check again closer to to the trip now about 60 days away. I'm not counting on that though and am planning on what I currently have.

I'm doing a rental car for a summer trip to Southwestern Colorado and there I had to pay $651 for the week (ouch - almost $100 a day for seven days from the Montrose, CO airport, but I grabbed that). Sometimes at those smaller airports in particular people have had issues even getting a car and have had to pay way more than what I am paying. And on that trip a car will be essential (with the traveling around we are doing and more remote areas where uber/lyft is not in any way a viable option. It's a trip where a car is essential. On that trip there are just four of us and we have a condo with our own washer and dryer, so I'll just tell everyone they need to pack light. I'll probably add my son who is 26 as a driver too on top of me and my husband and that's another extra $10 to $15 a day.

The higher costs of air and rental car for me just means that now I am typically just doing one full week vacation a year and not to a super exotic place - picking somewhere appealing to us that fits in the budget (can still squeeze in a mini driving trip somewhere too - extended weekend trip) and some driving trips to visit my dad with my vacation budget. It used to be two bigger trips a year. Costs have just gone up so much that I have cut back on the number of days I vacation and where I vacation (Cost have gone up, but my vacation budget has not gone up). With COVID testing requirements to get back to the US I don't want to go international and take the risk to get back to the USA too. With costs greater too those places aren't good for the ole vacation budget either. For 2022 -- Goodbye Paris - Hello Orlando. Goodbye Puerto Vallarta - Hello Southwestern, Colorado.

 

[kathy884]

The past two years we’ve paid $1800 a week for SUVs for our western US trips!

Some friends of ours in Montana paid about $2000 last summer for two standard sized cars for a week. Wanted a larger vehicle, but couldn't get it. Just paid the price.

 

[kathy884]

I booked my rental car for March in Orlando almost a year in advance (I only go with mainstream rental car companies with good reputations) and was happy to get a rate of $350 for my standard sized car for the week. I went with Alamo. I now have more extended family coming and later looked at getting a minivan, but with a reputable car company it was $1050 for the week, so I am just doing the standard car and will supplement with Uber and Lyft. Those have worked really well for me in the past in Orlando (my last trip, though, to Orlando was pre-pandemic). We also for some days will have my nephew who lives in Orlando doing some things with us (six of us visiting now plus him, so for some excursions we'll have his car available too). I'm not comfortable with going with non major rental car companies that have less expensive rates -- too many horror stories and bad experiences (my parents even with one of these places personally experienced a common issue of practically bald tires with one blowing out and needing to waste vacation time getting it fixed - a very common issue I read about for the off brand company they chose to save dollars). I may look into Turo for future. I've never done that before, though.

I've checked a few times, but those minivan rates haven't come down. I'm not sure they will with it being spring break, but I'll check again closer to to the trip now about 60 days away. I'm not counting on that though and am planning on what I currently have.

I'm doing a rental car for a summer trip to Southwestern Colorado and there I had to pay $651 for the week (ouch - almost $100 a day for seven days from the Montrose, CO airport, but I grabbed that). Sometimes at those smaller airports in particular people have had issues even getting a car and have had to pay way more than what I am paying. And on that trip a car will be essential (with the traveling around we are doing and more remote areas where uber/lyft is not in any way a viable option. It's a trip where a car is essential. On that trip there are just four of us and we have a condo with our own washer and dryer, so I'll just tell everyone they need to pack light. I'll probably add my son who is 26 as a driver too on top of me and my husband and that's another extra $10 to $15 a day.

The higher costs of air and rental car for me just means that now I am typically just doing one full week vacation a year and not to a super exotic place - picking somewhere appealing to us that fits in the budget (can still squeeze in a mini driving trip somewhere too - extended weekend trip) and some driving trips to visit my dad with my vacation budget. It used to be two bigger trips a year. Costs have just gone up so much that I have cut back on the number of days I vacation and where I vacation (Costs have gone up, but my vacation budget has not gone up). With COVID testing requirements to get back to the US I don't want to go international and take the risk to get back to the USA too. With costs greater too those places aren't good for the ole vacation budget either. For 2022 -- Goodbye Paris - Hello Orlando. Goodbye Puerto Vallarta - Hello Southwestern, Colorado.

 

[EACarlson]

I would suggest anyone look at Turo. I used them in California prepandemic and saved a couple hundred dollars. Be careful to read the fine print for each renter. The one we rented from was actually a large business that started doing this to compete with the big rental companies.
I think it's a great alternative.

Be careful of your insurance as well. You're CC insurance won't pay, and your personal may not either since you're paying someone to borrow their vehicle.

I've got a week long rental in 4 days from Thrifty at MCO for $150, in October I got a week long rental from National for $240, in 2020 I got a week long rental from Hertz for $240. There was an offer from a lower end company for less than $100 for next week. I'm not willing to go off the airport to get a car but if bottom dollar is your deal it can be done. www.autoslash.com has helped me find a rental car at a price I'm willing to pay and then keep looking to bring the price down.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I'm paying $43 for a 24 hour rental with Budget in March in DC as I need to be somewhere super early and the trains don't start to run until 7 AM. I then fly to Orlando and have $37/day all inclusive through Budget for March 30-April 2($111 total).

 

[DISJeff74]

I book through Costco and about 2 months ago I started out at about $600 for a Camry in February. I’m down to about $500 now checking and rebooking multiple times. I was in the $425 range for an Edge SUV for a week on my previous trips last year. My February trip is only 5 days!

 

[vinmar4]

I don't think I've ever paid more than $150 for a week in a midsize car from MCO. It's usually more like $120. Now the pandemic has created a huge shortage of vehicles and inflation is spiking and for an "on airport" rental car for a week in April the prices are $560 and up! What are you guys doing to avoid these price spikes? Uber might be okay for traveling to and from the airport, but we are staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and I don't want to pay for like 20 separate uber rides so we can go to the store, the parks, the resorts, Disney Springs, etc. etc.

Should we go with an "off-airport" rental car company? The last time we did this the shuttle was a pain in the butt and the line was ridiculous at the rental counter. After a long day of air travel from Detroit with our 7 year old son, the last thing we want to do is get on another shuttle and wait in a some insane line. In my experience there is no counter on earth slower than the rental car counter because it's a full on sales pitch and most the customers are clueless. After that there's the entire check in process and waiting around at the resort for our room to be ready. I'm exhausted just thinking about this.

Anyway- should we just wait and pray that prices go down? Drive from Detroit in our own car? It almost seems like actually having a relaxing and enjoyable vacation is a thing of the past and the whole experience is just one frustrating and insanely expensive situation after another.

National has some last minute deals that are great sometimes.
You need to sign up for free with the company.

But I feel you pain, we are driving from Dallas in March but we don't have children anymore, only young adults. We are glad we made that decision with all the airlines cancelling flights at this time.

I hate the drive, but less stressful than worrying if our flights will get cancelled, plus the issue of increased car rentals.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[crisi]

From your resort, Uber and Lyft rides are going to be $10 most of the time, meaning you can take a lot of them for $500. If you're just doing things around Orlando I think it's worth taking the 20 rides. You can use Disney busses once you're on property.

I tend to avoid the really cheap rental car companies. They can be notorious for adding on extra cleaning or damage fees after you turn in the car that are difficult to fight. My next trip in April I am probably going to try Turo.

We've had that issue even with fairly "reputable" rental car companies. But its almost a certainty with the cheap ones.

 

[DCLMP]

I booked through UCT. If you bundle tickets and car rentals you get 50% off your car rental. I bought a movie ticket and got an economy car through budget 297.00 for 10 days in May. You will need to pay in full, but you can add your fast break number to the reservation once you get your confirmation.

 

[happiestpoe]

Rakuten has cashback for a number of rental companies, including Hertz (2.5%), Thrifty (3%), Sixt (4%), Budget and Avis are 1%. It doesn't help too much, but you'll get something back at least.

 

[jaybee1026]

I second UCT. Did exactly the same as @DCLMP; minivan, Nov 26-Dec 10 for ~$790.

 

[mcottingham]

I booked through UCT. If you bundle tickets and car rentals you get 50% off your car rental. I bought a movie ticket and got an economy car through budget 297.00 for 10 days in May. You will need to pay in full, but you can add your fast break number to the reservation once you get your confirmation.

How exactly did you add your Fast break number I have been trying All Day

 

[DCLMP]

How exactly did you add your Fast break number I have been trying All Day

If you log into your fastbreak account and add your reservation that seems like all you would need to do. I have the budget app on my phone when I log in my reservation that I booked through UCT is there along with all my account info. It's like adding tickets or a resort booked through a third party to MDE.