December 2023 Rental Car Thread

[Akck]

My full size car from Budget via Costco dropped to $305. Offers from Alamo also dropped including a mid size car for $318, full size for $331 and elite SUV for $339. I personally prefer Alamo because you sometimes find larger size cars in your row. I never see that with Budget.

 

[Maliki2]

$810 cheapest for my dates

 

[Leigh L]

My full size car from Budget via Costco dropped to $305. Offers from Alamo also dropped including a mid size car for $318, full size for $331 and elite SUV for $339. I personally prefer Alamo because you sometimes find larger size cars in your row. I never see that with Budget.

Great prices! How many days?

I agree and we almost always book Costco/Alamo and, unless the Budget price is significantly cheaper, will always go with Alamo.

Another problem we once had with Budget was we had the transponder set to off and planned to pay cash tolls and it didn't work. What a headache to resolve with that company! They finally did refund the $100 or whatever it ended up being.

We've GPS our way around toll roads any time we rent from Budget. It's a pain to go the roundabout way, but worth it lol.

 

[Maliki2]

Great prices! How many days?

I agree and we almost always book Costco/Alamo and, unless the Budget price is significantly cheaper, will always go with Alamo.

Another problem we once had with Budget was we had the transponder set to off and planned to pay cash tolls and it didn't work. What a headache to resolve with that company! They finally did refund the $100 or whatever it ended up being.

We've GPS our way around toll roads any time we rent from Budget. It's a pain to go the roundabout way, but worth it lol.

Alamo is always my go to. I ended up buying the Sunpass Pro. Around 25 bucks.

 

[Akck]

Great prices! How many days?

I agree and we almost always book Costco/Alamo and, unless the Budget price is significantly cheaper, will always go with Alamo.

Another problem we once had with Budget was we had the transponder set to off and planned to pay cash tolls and it didn't work. What a headache to resolve with that company! They finally did refund the $100 or whatever it ended up being.

We've GPS our way around toll roads any time we rent from Budget. It's a pain to go the roundabout way, but worth it lol.

Our rental is for 6 days. I ended up getting a Uni pass from cfxway.com for tolls. You do have to set up an account and put funds in it. Nice thing is that you pay discounted tolls.

 

[SWofDisorder]

Costco is dropping, we now have a med SUV for $371 8 days. Check your prices daily as we are getting closer and prices are dropping.

 

[Akck]

I now have a full sized car from Budget via Costco for $283. I’m hoping that Alamo will drop to around $300, as I prefer their options in the garage.

 

[etzmn123]

Costco dropped another $13 for our 12/3-12/12 minivan (at $532 now) so I rebooked and switched back to Alamo from Avis.

 

[keishashadow]

i have a rental that starts on 11/25, ends 12/6. pricing defaulted to ‘two weeks’, due to arrival & departure time.

A month ago, the first price drop I had was just north of $600.

I’ve been pricing it repetitively, auto slash & carrental savers (they’ve been the winners for my travel all year)…

It finally started to appreciably drop approx 10 days ago. Thot the rate i found this weekend would be my best, nope…

today, it’s $351, Mid sized SUV, thru hertz (gold).

Not sure what code paid off for me. Suggest when pricing thru a 3rd party to just select all the options you qualify for and hope for the best.

Not sure if I’ll see any other drops, will be checking thru this friday tho. Nice to have a few extra bucks to work with on this trip’s budge.

 

[Maliki2]

Costco dropped another $13 for our 12/3-12/12 minivan (at $532 now) so I rebooked and switched back to Alamo from Avis.

Mines solid at $810. Adding the 30 and 31st of Dec and January 9th. Over doubles my price!

 

[Maliki2]

Mines solid at $810. Adding the 30 and 31st of Dec and January 9th. Over doubles my price!

I guess I will stick with my Jan 1st-9th which is just over $300!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Do contract ID's and coupon codes for Alamo not exist anymore? I has some for earlier this year that no longer work and can't find anything that works.

I've whittled down my rental with Alamo from $440 to $299...6 days first week of the month. This is though Costco.

I just wanted to give a little warning for those booked with Budget. The counter at MCO can be an absolutely horrendous experience. We picked up a car there earlier this year and had to stand in line at the counter for more than 2 hours....I think it was actually close to 3 hours, can't remember exactly but from the time our flight landed to getting to our hotel was 4hr 45 min. They had closed the Fastbreak counter that day with no explanation so everyone was at the main counter. Their computer system is VERY old and slow and the staff thought it was a joke that they were making people wait so long. We always rent from Alamo but that time we were getting a one way rental out to the port. The price difference was $200. Had I known what could happen with Budget I would have gladly paid the $200. In fact, while standing in line I tried getting a car from the other companies but other people had done the same and there were no cars available with anyone. Since this happened to us I have read many similar stories. I know I will never rent from them again unless I'm arriving in the morning with no plans for the day....and the price would have to be that much better to justify wasting my time.

 

[Rich M]

Do contract ID's and coupon codes for Alamo not exist anymore? I has some for earlier this year that no longer work and can't find anything that works.

I've whittled down my rental with Alamo from $440 to $299...6 days first week of the month. This is though Costco.

I just wanted to give a little warning for those booked with Budget. The counter at MCO can be an absolutely horrendous experience. We picked up a car there earlier this year and had to stand in line at the counter for more than 2 hours....I think it was actually close to 3 hours, can't remember exactly but from the time our flight landed to getting to our hotel was 4hr 45 min. They had closed the Fastbreak counter that day with no explanation so everyone was at the main counter. Their computer system is VERY old and slow and the staff thought it was a joke that they were making people wait so long. We always rent from Alamo but that time we were getting a one way rental out to the port. The price difference was $200. Had I known what could happen with Budget I would have gladly paid the $200. In fact, while standing in line I tried getting a car from the other companies but other people had done the same and there were no cars available with anyone. Since this happened to us I have read many similar stories. I know I will never rent from them again unless I'm arriving in the morning with no plans for the day....and the price would have to be that much better to justify wasting my time.

Has anyone else had this problem with Budget FastBreak Lately at MCO? In my area they now got it where you get your car spot on the APP and you can even scan a bar code to get out the gate. I was hoping that MCO had this now also since that long wait I have seen before. With being a FastBreak member they charge your card the day of the trip and so even if I change to a different company day of most likely will have a large hold on my credit card for a few days. Trying to avoid this for sure.

 

[CarolynFH]

Has anyone else had this problem with Budget FastBreak Lately at MCO? In my area they now got it where you get your car spot on the APP and you can even scan a bar code to get out the gate. I was hoping that MCO had this now also since that long wait I have seen before. With being a FastBreak member they charge your card the day of the trip and so even if I change to a different company day of most likely will have a large hold on my credit card for a few days. Trying to avoid this for sure.

We had the app QR code, car location, and quick exit process at MCO with Budget FastBreak in January of this year. I've been told in this forum (a different thread) that the process has changed since then. Hopefully it will work for you the same as it did for us in January - it was the best rental car pickup process we've ever experienced!

Please come back and post here, whatever your experience was!

 

[dancin Disney style]

We had the app QR code, car location, and quick exit process at MCO with Budget FastBreak in January of this year. I've been told in this forum (a different thread) that the process has changed since then. Hopefully it will work for you the same as it did for us in January - it was the best rental car pickup process we've ever experienced!

Please come back and post here, whatever your experience was!

I have Fastbreak but like I said they had closed it. We dragged all our luggage out to the garage and then had to drag it all back in. There were only two staff working the counter inside while several others were hanging around talking. I was hoping that they had just relocated inside as it was evening but no. They were actually quite rude about me just asking about FB.

 

[Rich M]

I have Fastbreak but like I said they had closed it. We dragged all our luggage out to the garage and then had to drag it all back in. There were only two staff working the counter inside while several others were hanging around talking. I was hoping that they had just relocated inside as it was evening but no. They were actually quite rude about me just asking about FB.

That really does suck. I hope the FastBreak is working with the APP where you don't even need to stop at the booth or anything. When it works it really is the simplest rental car transaction possible.

 

[keishashadow]

today, it’s $351, Mid sized SUV, thru hertz (gold)

A other $28 drop this afternooon for me.

 

[SWofDisorder]

Costco intermediate SUV is still $370 for our 8 days but now we get a $25 digital gift card. Yes, I did cancel for the 7th time and rebooked for the gift card. Every bit helps.

 

[SWofDisorder]

A other $28 drop this afternooon for me.

I tried and could not get a reasonable offer. What codes should I use?

 

[Shannon G]

Prices with Costco discount down a bit more this morning for our trip starting on Friday 12/1. Alamo compact SUV for $272 for 6 days. Budget intermediate was down to $254, but for less than $20 more I think it's well worth it to stick with Alamo and get a bigger vehicle.