Car Rental Rates Idea

[dec2009mama]

1) How did you get from airport (assuming LAX since you returned your car to LAX) to Disneyland area? Uber? Taxi? Shuttle service (what kind)? I read somewhere that Uber does surge pricing so sometimes taxi is cheaper?
We typically booked a shuttle but when LAX was packed on the Wednesday before Xmas I told our shuttle driver to give up and we took an Uber to our hotel - it was around $110USD (cheaper than the shuttle one way)

2) Price of transportation from LAX airport to Disneyland area. Depends on who you use, nothing is a set price

3) Did Avis charge more for picking up at Katella and then returning to LAX? I'm guessing there's a premium charged for this privilege. One Way Fees, are up to the vendor you rent from and where you plan to pick up and drop off. You are best to do your own research and do a cost comparison

Our CAD exchange rate is painful, do you have a no foreign exchange rate fee credit card? Not adding another 2% to 5% on top of the set visa exchange rate helps out.
A hotel charge of $2500USD would convert today at $3346.74CAD with no foreign exchange fee vs $3413.68CAD with a credit card that charges a 2% foreign exchange fee -- difference of $69.94, might not seem like a lot to some people but over an entire trip it adds up!

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

We used a shuttle service, MidWilShuttle, from LAX to our hotel near Disneyland. We had 5 people, including a 3-year old with his car seat, and a lot of luggage. We were afraid we wouldn’t all fit in one Uber XL, and it was so much more convenient to get the shuttle right outside baggage claim. For our group, the shuttle was $160+tip.

I don’t remember if I priced returning the car to the Katella location instead of LAX. I just know that it was hundreds of dollars cheaper than renting at LAX even with the extra shuttle cost.

Of course, I just put some random dates in now, and it’s actually cheaper to rent from LAX for some vehicles, so I guess it depends…

Thanks for the info. Really appreciate it.

I did the same thing last night ... enter some random dates and the premiums on returning the car to a different location (aka LAX). Unfortunately, the cost ended up more expensive than renting directly from LAX (about $400 - 500 more for my random dates). So, you are correct. It depends and I guess you just need to plug in dates and try different scenarios. However, appreciate this tip that you and the other poster recommended as it's worthwhile to check because you never know if you'll luck out & stumble upon a lower cost. . Thanks again!

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

1) How did you get from airport (assuming LAX since you returned your car to LAX) to Disneyland area? Uber? Taxi? Shuttle service (what kind)? I read somewhere that Uber does surge pricing so sometimes taxi is cheaper?
We typically booked a shuttle but when LAX was packed on the Wednesday before Xmas I told our shuttle driver to give up and we took an Uber to our hotel - it was around $110USD (cheaper than the shuttle one way)

2) Price of transportation from LAX airport to Disneyland area. Depends on who you use, nothing is a set price

3) Did Avis charge more for picking up at Katella and then returning to LAX? I'm guessing there's a premium charged for this privilege. One Way Fees, are up to the vendor you rent from and where you plan to pick up and drop off. You are best to do your own research and do a cost comparison

Our CAD exchange rate is painful, do you have a no foreign exchange rate fee credit card? Not adding another 2% to 5% on top of the set visa exchange rate helps out.
A hotel charge of $2500USD would convert today at $3346.74CAD with no foreign exchange fee vs $3413.68CAD with a credit card that charges a 2% foreign exchange fee -- difference of $69.94, might not seem like a lot to some people but over an entire trip it adds up!

Thanks so much for this info. Appreciate the replies in RED ... so easy to read!

Thanks for the tip on the no foreign exchange fee credit card. I don't have one but it might be worthwhile to look into.

1) Did you find the exchange rate fair when you used your no foreign exchange fee credit card VS the exchange rate offered by currency exchangers when you exchange CAD cash to USD cash?

2) Any suggestions for no foreign exchange fee credit card?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Just thought I'd mention this - it is possible to get from LAX to DL on the train but you'll need some time on each end. There is a LAX to Union Station bus shuttle that runs I think hourly. You can get on AMTRAK Surfliner at Union Station and take that to Anaheim. From there it's a quick Uber or taxi - there's probably even a bus.
OK, that said, it's also possible to take the Green Line light rail train, transfer to the Blue line in Lynwood and take that to Union station, to the Amtrak, to the Uber. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO THAT! The Blue Line and Green Line are not safe outside of normal business hours and it will take forever.

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

Just thought I'd mention this - it is possible to get from LAX to DL on the train but you'll need some time on each end. There is a LAX to Union Station bus shuttle that runs I think hourly. You can get on AMTRAK Surfliner at Union Station and take that to Anaheim. From there it's a quick Uber or taxi - there's probably even a bus.
OK, that said, it's also possible to take the Green Line light rail train, transfer to the Blue line in Lynwood and take that to Union station, to the Amtrak, to the Uber. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO THAT! The Blue Line and Green Line are not safe outside of normal business hours and it will take forever.

Thanks for this additional option. Always great to think outside the box! However, with kids and luggage, I think we will need to stick with car rental, uber or shuttle. . Thanks for the tip though!

 

[dec2009mama]

1) Did you find the exchange rate fair when you used your no foreign exchange fee credit card VS the exchange rate offered by currency exchangers when you exchange CAD cash to USD cash?
I don't take alot of cash with me (maybe $300USD) we charge everything to our credit card ~ currency exchange stores (not banks) have a similar exchange rates vs using a no exchange fee credit card
visa set their credit card exchange rates daily, this is what the credit card companies use to convert UDS to CAD -- https://www.visa.ca/en_CA/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

2) Any suggestions for no foreign exchange fee credit card?
https://princeoftravel.com/best-credit-cards/no-fx-fee/
we have Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card but it looks like there are a couple of mastercard options as well with no annual fee

 

[JulieBeeRN]

One thing I have found on the Costco (USA) site is the rates can change after initial booking.
When that has happened for my trip, I re-book at the lower price and cancel the other one.
I have re-book up to 3 or 4 time before my trip because of finding a lower rate on Costco.com

I do this all the time. Then I like to show my husband how much money I’ve saved from re-booking.

 

[felice]

We hired a car on our recent trip from the UK to LA / Orange area back at Christmas whilst we were out for a few weeks - a top tip is to avoid the airport rental rates AND also the rental rates close to Disney as well. If you avoid those, you can save a great deal of money. We managed to hire a car for 3 weeks at the rate of $200 per week from an Avis location - mobile only deal - just outside the old city of Orange. Fortunately the friends we stayed with were able to take us over to the depot but Uber / Lyft pricing wasn't that bad either.

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

1) Did you find the exchange rate fair when you used your no foreign exchange fee credit card VS the exchange rate offered by currency exchangers when you exchange CAD cash to USD cash?
I don't take alot of cash with me (maybe $300USD) we charge everything to our credit card ~ currency exchange stores (not banks) have a similar exchange rates vs using a no exchange fee credit card
visa set their credit card exchange rates daily, this is what the credit card companies use to convert UDS to CAD -- https://www.visa.ca/en_CA/support/consumer/travel-support/exchange-rate-calculator.html

2) Any suggestions for no foreign exchange fee credit card?
https://princeoftravel.com/best-credit-cards/no-fx-fee/
we have Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card but it looks like there are a couple of mastercard options as well with no annual fee

Thanks for the info!!

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

I do this all the time. Then I like to show my husband how much money I’ve saved from re-booking.

Great strategy! Better to look at it from the stand point of "how much you saved". I do this with my Costco warehouse grocery bills ... huge bills so it's always better to look at the "You Saved This Much" section and not the "final" total paid.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Great strategy! Better to look at it from the stand point of "how much you saved". I do this with my Costco warehouse grocery bills ... huge bills so it's always better to look at the "You Saved This Much" section and not the "final" total paid.

Right! “Pay no attention to how much I spend; look how much I saved!!!”

 

[MsChristy12]

Costco Travel is also our go-to for rental cars. We also have elite status with a couple of rental cars companies so I always compare all of them. Most of the time Costco is the cheapest, but it had happened to us once or twice that, booking direct w/ the rental car company was cheaper. If you don't have status, do you have any company/corporate discounts? It's worth the time to take a look.

 

[miksicnarf]

Autoslash.com is a good resource. Enter your info, including any memberships such as Costco, and they email quotes. You'll get email updates if prices drop. Be sure to note if the rate is "pay now" or "no deposit required."

 

[gmi3804]

Autoslash.com is a good resource. Enter your info, including any memberships such as Costco, and they email quotes. You'll get email updates if prices drop. Be sure to note if the rate is "pay now" or "no deposit required."

You can customize which rates, and which companies, that AutoSlash will search. When you get the e-mail confirming that they're tracking the rate, there's a link that will take you to a page where you can specify. I always do the "pay at counter" option (which is actually pay upon return with most of the big companies), as well as on-airport or rental car center suppliers. Those'll cost a bit more, but I don't play around with the small companies.

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

Thank everyone for the information.

 

[Joe DiRosa]

Any places not to rent from? I'm looking for a multiweek rental and some of these prices look fishy...