September 2021 Car Rental Watch

[davper]

I am expecting a large drop today for my rental at Alamo. Avis and Budget are almost 15% cheaper at the moment. Will be checking several times.

Yeah, I could just get the Avis rental. But never rented with them and love the experience with Alamo that I am willing to pay more for it.

 

[andigomeep]

Down to $512 for a compact SUV with Alamo via Costco. We can deal with anything standard or larger so I’ll keep taking whatever is cheapest.

I rebooked this to $502 yesterday morning and now everything is back up about $25. Budget is down, but I won’t use them. Hopefully Alamo comes down a bit more.

 

[georgina]

I am expecting a large drop today for my rental at Alamo. Avis and Budget are almost 15% cheaper at the moment. Will be checking several times.

Yeah, I could just get the Avis rental. But never rented with them and love the experience with Alamo that I am willing to pay more for it.

Feel the same, especially out of MCO. I have used Avis and Budget other places just fine, one time Budget at MCO was really bad.

 

[PatMcDuck]

My Alamo dropped $11 today, was up about $30 yesterday, so I rebooked to get $401 for 8 days, mid SUV Costco. starts 9/25.

 

[davper]

I am expecting a large drop today for my rental at Alamo. Avis and Budget are almost 15% cheaper at the moment. Will be checking several times.

Yeah, I could just get the Avis rental. But never rented with them and love the experience with Alamo that I am willing to pay more for it.

Wow, Alamo head fake. Alamo just went up about 40 while avis and budget went down about 30. Avis is now $100 bucks cheaper for my 12 days in late September for an suv. I have to review the avis policies before I book.

 

[holyrita]

My Alamo dropped $11 today, was up about $30 yesterday, so I rebooked to get $401 for 8 days, mid SUV Costco. starts 9/25.

I have the same details as you, just the week prior, and my price is currently at $341. Will be interesting to see if the prices go down in parallel or meet at any point.

A lot of fluctuation over the last 15 or so hours with Alamo:
12am: same price as my reservation
2am: up $30
6am: down $30
12pm: up $23

 

[archdandy]

Is National a good company to use? I've only ever used Alamo and I keep hearing horror stories about Budget which is who I'm booked with currently. It's $10 cheaper than my previous rate. Worth changing over?

 

[davper]

Is National a good company to use? I've only ever used Alamo and I keep hearing horror stories about Budget which is who I'm booked with currently. It's $10 cheaper than my previous rate. Worth changing over?

I have no experience renting National. But they are part of the Enterprise group which includes Alamo and Enterprise Car rental Agencies. Both of which I have used with great success. I suspect the policies & experience would be similar.

 

[andigomeep]

I rebooked this to $502 yesterday morning and now everything is back up about $25. Budget is down, but I won’t use them. Hopefully Alamo comes down a bit more.

Alamo via Costco is down to $497 for a full size for 11 days. There’s something about being under $500 (barely) that makes it tolerable I’m hoping to get closer to $400, but I’m not holding my breath.

 

[bluefunnel]

I was sitting on $930 through Costco with Alamo for September 15-30 for an intermediate SUV. It was the cheapest non-compact at the time.

Today I got it down to $630 for a standard car through Costco with Alamo.

 

[EACarlson]

Is National a good company to use? I've only ever used Alamo and I keep hearing horror stories about Budget which is who I'm booked with currently. It's $10 cheaper than my previous rate. Worth changing over?

If you've been happy with Alamo it's 99% you will be happy with National. National is the top tier brand of the three they own.

 

[andigomeep]

Alamo via Costco is down to $497 for a full size for 11 days. There’s something about being under $500 (barely) that makes it tolerable I’m hoping to get closer to $400, but I’m not holding my breath.

Avis dropped to $465. I can skip the counter with them so I’ll take that and hope Alamo drops to match.

 

[archdandy]

I have no experience renting National. But they are part of the Enterprise group which includes Alamo and Enterprise Car rental Agencies. Both of which I have used with great success. I suspect the policies & experience would be similar.

If you've been happy with Alamo it's 99% you will be happy with National. National is the top tier brand of the three they own.

Thank you! I booked the National and now I'm sitting at $695 CAD for my 10 day rental. C'mon car rentals, go down in price!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Down another $10 for me today. Now at $358 for a midsized SUV with a free additional driver, Saturday to Saturday rental,, Alamo through Costco.

 

[holyrita]

Down another $10 for me today. Now at $358 for a midsized SUV with a free additional driver, Saturday to Saturday rental,, Alamo through Costco.

Are you an annual passholder? I ask because booking directly with Alamo using the AP discount code is $10-15 cheaper than Costco right now. Understand if you need the free additional driver from Costco.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Are you an annual passholder? I ask because booking directly with Alamo using the AP discount code is $10-15 cheaper than Costco right now. Understand if you need the free additional driver from Costco.

A Disney passholder, no. Glad to hear they are giving an even better rate, though! Hope a few of you can take advantage of it!

 

[georgina]

Down another $10 for me today. Now at $358 for a midsized SUV with a free additional driver, Saturday to Saturday rental,, Alamo through Costco.

Yay! Mine was down a whole $1.05, I decided not to bother rebooking today.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Yay! Mine was down a whole $1.05, I decided not to bother rebooking today.

I don't know about you, but I'm becoming a bit of a rate junkie these days lol. I think I may have checked rental rates 10 times today. I'd love to get my total price below $350, so as much as it's embarrassing to admit, I probably would rebook to save a dollar!! Pretty sure there are support groups out there for weirdos like me

 

[EACarlson]

I don't know about you, but I'm becoming a bit of a rate junkie these days lol. I think I may have checked rental rates 10 times today. I'd love to get my total price below $350, so as much as it's embarrassing to admit, I probably would rebook to save a dollar!! Pretty sure there are support groups out there for weirdos like me

Are you using Autoslash? They check the rates many times a day and send you an email if they find a lower one. They've already saved me over $200 on my MCO rental in October.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Are you using Autoslash? They check the rates many times a day and send you an email if they find a lower one. They've already saved me over $200 on my MCO rental in October.

No, we don't use Autoslash. We always rent with Alamo, and exclusively through Costco......they always give us the best Alamo rates, plus the free extra driver. After 22 trips (21 of which we have rented a vehicle), Alamo has gained our trust and our patronage. We are not interested in repeat experiences with Budget (never, ever again), we weren't wowed by Dollar, our son was completely let down by Fox, and that leaves us just not willing to experiment with the other agencies at this point. With Alamo, we know we get to pick our vehicle, and they have been great at remedying any hiccups that happen along the way.

With the exception of Budget....which is often cheaper for a reason....we rarely find a rate that is lower than Alamo through Costco, so we are very content with the pricing. I am down $300 from our starting rate (booked in April for September) and don't mind the checking/rebooking process . It's like my own little vacation Olympics LOL. And it may be the only sport I'm actually good at!