April 2018 Car Rental Watch

[BostonEd]

I got a minivan from Hertz for $369 (incl tax) for the week of April 15.

Try Autoslash for discount codes. I have Hertz intermediate SUV (Rav 4, Ford escape) for $183 that week (including tax and fees)

I got it down to $318 including tax using Autoslash. Huzzah.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Alamo-Minivan-April 20-23 (long weekend for Star Wars running)-$71 total through Costco. Cars/SUV's slightly higher. Prices have jumped all over the past few weeks, but seem to be collapsing the past few days. If you have an upcoming April rental, definitely take a few minutes to reprice.

 

[zilp]

Woo! Looking at this thread for last minute codes and deals, and my price dropped by $113! Went through AAA to get perks, but have minivan rental for $330 all in for 8 days. No special codes. Got same price through Dollar and Thrifty direct, also no codes needed.

 

[cel_disney]

Alamo-Minivan-April 20-23 (long weekend for Star Wars running)-$71 total through Costco. Cars/SUV's slightly higher. Prices have jumped all over the past few weeks, but seem to be collapsing the past few days. If you have an upcoming April rental, definitely take a few minutes to reprice.

This is an AMAZING price! Are you using the Costco site or Alamo for this?

 

[cel_disney]

I’m still at 260 with Alamo thru Costco. Recently best price I have been able to get is $290...

April 17-24 for mini van...

 

[PatMcDuck]

I am sitting on Costco Alamo, Standard SUV, April 22-29 for $196. The mid SUV was about $10-12 less, so I went for a tiny bit more space.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

For haha's did one last check today for picking up a car tomorrow for 4/16-4/22. Used Costco Contrad ID plus the Alamo $30 off coupon and got a standard car for $154. Will replace the Intermediate SUV I had for $165 with costco thru Avis and we'll see what there is in the Standard/Full size aisel!

 

[kydisneyfans]

This is an AMAZING price! Are you using the Costco site or Alamo for this?

I'm using the Costco site. It dipped to $68 on Saturday but has increased since then.

 

[ashleyrm]

Got an Autoslash notice today for my trip that starts Thursday. Full size with Hertz for $162 (5/19 - 4/23). Still more than I paid with my Priceline deal ($117) but way better than where it started. Still a little concerned about having to use the rental counter due to taking the Priceline deal. I'll make sure I report back after Thursday.

 

[n2mm]

I struggled this time. We leave next week for a 9 night trip. I only rent from Alamo and national. Alamo had been running about $280 for a full size and national is coming in at $266 for 8 nights. We prefer national but lost my executive status last year because of my cancelled sept trip (Irma). I have some free days to use with national. So will pick up at the airport and drop off at Dolphin after a 8 day rental. Then pickup a one day free rental the next morning to drip ourselves to the airport. We are trying to get our executive status back, so thought we would do this. We are staying at Bwv so no big deal turning our car in at dolphin and pick up the next day. If we pickup at mco and drop off at mco, the price goes up $150 more. That would be easier.

 

[keishashadow]

I struggled this time. We leave next week for a 9 night trip. I only rent from Alamo and national. Alamo had been running about $280 for a full size and national is coming in at $266 for 8 nights. We prefer national but lost my executive status last year because of my cancelled sept trip (Irma). I have some free days to use with national. So will pick up at the airport and drop off at Dolphin after a 8 day rental. Then pickup a one day free rental the next morning to drip ourselves to the airport. We are trying to get our executive status back, so thought we would do this. We are staying at Bwv so no big deal turning our car in at dolphin and pick up the next day. If we pickup at mco and drop off at mco, the price goes up $150 more. That would be easier.

In Feb over Pres day weekend for a 9 day rental ran into same issue. First time @ CC center, surprised how easy of process & polite staff there. The free pickup shuttle worked fine for us from resort but only runs every hour.

You’d think they’d have made an exception to your Executive status due to your situation....especially, after your long-time standing.

I had given up on the solo day I needed pre cruise next Saturday until you suggested National. Cannot believe they are in area of $100 now vs the $37 for my res.

Luckily, did grab weekly alamo for 2nd week in May under $190 for midsize (AMEX+coupon) but rate may have been skewed since picking up @ Cape Canaveral.

It’s been a real struggle trying to find the rates we’ve all grown accustomed to in the past @ MCO. Of the standard rental car suspects, only Budget has been a repeated dud. Defaulted to Thrifty several times over last year, each time a nearly new Car & no issues. They have upped their game out of MCO.

 

[n2mm]

In Feb over Pres day weekend for a 9 day rental ran into same issue. First time @ CC center, surprised how easy of process & polite staff there. The free pickup shuttle worked fine for us from resort but only runs every hour.

You’d think they’d have made an exception to your Executive status due to your situation....especially, after your long-time standing.

I had given up on the solo day I needed pre cruise next Saturday until you suggested National. Cannot believe they are in area of $100 now vs the $37 for my res.

Luckily, did grab weekly alamo for 2nd week in May under $190 for midsize (AMEX+coupon) but rate may have been skewed since picking up @ Cape Canaveral.

It’s been a real struggle trying to find the rates we’ve all grown accustomed to in the past @ MCO. Of the standard rental car suspects, only Budget has been a repeated dud. Defaulted to Thrifty several times over last year, each time a nearly new Car & no issues. They have upped their game out of MCO.

It sure seems you and I’ve been doing this rental car dance for many years now. Yea, we’re bummed about losing our executive status this year. We can get it back if we stick to National the rest of the year, but it depends on the price. I sure do miss that Disney club discount on National we used for many years. We are lucky to be at boardwalk for most of our trips, so we are dropping off a dolphin and walk back to boardwalk. We’ve used the car care center too.

 

[lpol]

Got an Autoslash notice today for my trip that starts Thursday. Full size with Hertz for $162 (5/19 - 4/23). Still more than I paid with my Priceline deal ($117) but way better than where it started. Still a little concerned about having to use the rental counter due to taking the Priceline deal. I'll make sure I report back after Thursday.

I have a question about renting through Priceline, and apologize if this is not the right spot. We arrive at MCO Friday, staying through next Saturday. I had secured a reservation through Alamo directly for standard sized car for $280 for that timeframe. Last week, through Autoslash I got a better quote for $240 so I reserved that as well. That wound up being through Priceline and I made the reservation. With Priceline, will I have to go to the counter? Or can I check in ahead of time? We are arriving late on Friday, and to be honest, trying to see if the $40 savings is worth it, if I have to check in at the counter. I'd rather skip that, do the online check in and just go straight outside to pick up our car.

 

[keishashadow]

I have a question about renting through Priceline, and apologize if this is not the right spot. We arrive at MCO Friday, staying through next Saturday. I had secured a reservation through Alamo directly for standard sized car for $280 for that timeframe. Last week, through Autoslash I got a better quote for $240 so I reserved that as well. That wound up being through Priceline and I made the reservation. With Priceline, will I have to go to the counter? Or can I check in ahead of time? We are arriving late on Friday, and to be honest, trying to see if the $40 savings is worth it, if I have to check in at the counter. I'd rather skip that, do the online check in and just go straight outside to pick up our car.

I’ve yet to be able to figure out a way to skip the counter at least when doing the old name your price method that they dropped

Same for Hotwire. No credit toward reward status either

 

[cel_disney]

I have a question about renting through Priceline, and apologize if this is not the right spot. We arrive at MCO Friday, staying through next Saturday. I had secured a reservation through Alamo directly for standard sized car for $280 for that timeframe. Last week, through Autoslash I got a better quote for $240 so I reserved that as well. That wound up being through Priceline and I made the reservation. With Priceline, will I have to go to the counter? Or can I check in ahead of time? We are arriving late on Friday, and to be honest, trying to see if the $40 savings is worth it, if I have to check in at the counter. I'd rather skip that, do the online check in and just go straight outside to pick up our car.

I have a hyphenated last name and often can’t go thru online check in. The desk inside took us 5 minutes today...we got our paperwork and walked out to pick our car and drive away. It took 30 seconds at the garage exit after we picked our car. I would pocket the $40 and not sweat the 5-10 minutes at the line. Heck - even if it’s 15 minutes in line - use that time to have folks use the restrooms etc.

 

[ashleyrm]

Got an Autoslash notice today for my trip that starts Thursday. Full size with Hertz for $162 (5/19 - 4/23). Still more than I paid with my Priceline deal ($117) but way better than where it started. Still a little concerned about having to use the rental counter due to taking the Priceline deal. I'll make sure I report back after Thursday.

This morning: same days (4/19-4/23) Hertz full size for $142 through Autoslash.

 

[Missyrose]

April 21-26, Alamo (using Costco ID and $30 off coupon), full size for $140 all-in.

 

[ashleyrm]

Reporting back on my Hertz rental experience. I used Priceline so had to go to to the rental counter. Luckily there was only 1 couple in front of me. I used the live phone kiosks there helped out by David. It's pretty efficient but they do walk you through upgrades, insurance, etc. Buy the time I had my paperwork, there were about 10 people in line so I assume that would have taken much longer. My reservation was for a full size so I had my pick of any car in that zone (which is Zone 1 at MCO). I always try to rent an Altima because I am familiar with them, but I noticed when I went out to the garage that the only Altimas in that zone were base models (which are not great). There were upgraded models in the gold zone but the first guy I asked said I couldn't have one of those. I wandered around a few more minutes until another Hertz guy came by and I very sweetly explained that I was used to the upgraded model and there just happened to be one sitting right there and could I please have it. He wrote something on the back of my paper work and said "go ahead". Check out was simple. Used the quick return - no waiting for scanning or anything. Overall a very positive experience but knowing that the autoslash price went down right before my trip and it would have only been $25 more to skip the counter and get the gold zone selection, I'm not sure I'll do the priceline thing again.

 

[PrincesCJM]

We've been home for almost a week and I wanted to report back on how I did.

I rented from Alamo at the car care center. I was able to schedule a shuttle for pick up (the day before) and they picked up at POFQ on the xx:40s so I arranged a pick up a little earlier then I had planned (not a big deal). My husband was able to ride in the shuttle with me and we were the only ones on it. We arrived at the car care center and left with our car within 10 minutes. No pressure for insurance but I also made it clear that I wanted the price to be what my quote was. We rented a mid SUV for 1 week and paid $287. I booked that reservation in January and was never able to get it lower. We were given a Nissan Rouge and it was great for myself, my husband, my two sons (one in a rear facing car seat and one in a booster) and my mom. We went to Kennedy Space Center, drove to 4 parks, and had a couple trips off site and used just under half a tank of gas. The gas station at the Car Care Center was under repair and closed when we picked up but was open we were rented. I had filled up with gas elsewhere. We did have to wait for shuttle back to French Quarter, as he was out doing a pick up. We waited 10-15 minutes. We brought our own carseats from home. I would certainly rent from them again.