September 2021 Car Rental Watch

[georgina]

My Sept 25-Oct 4 rate has dropped (Alamo, Costco), switched from compact SUV to compact car, from $387 to $371.

 

[ashleyrm]

Current rental is with Thrifty through Priceline for a standard for 9/29 - 10/4 for $238.05. I also have a back up with National using my old corporate account - same date - Emerald Aisle for $259.36.

 

[ashleyrm]

How is Avis through MCO?

I can save about $10 extra while getting a $20 Costco card compared to my current reservation but I've never gone through them before.

For now I saved about $4 through Alamo and Costco but upgraded to a full size.

I've used Avis quite a lot at MCO. Usually it's fine. I also have the Avis Preferred so my car is ready when I arrive. I usually get a text even before my plane lands. The app also lets you see other cars that are available if you want to switch. Shows the mileage and what not but doesn't indicate if the car is an upgraded model (like a SL or DL). On my most recent trip in July the first car I got had a check engine light, the second had a "needs oil change" light. Not a big deal just wasted a little time. Also, for some reason, I've had free XM radio in the cars the last two times I rented with them.

 

[ashleyrm]

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've used National many times as I have a corporate discount with them. Never had any issues.

 

[holyrita]

My Sept 25-Oct 4 rate has dropped (Alamo, Costco), switched from compact SUV to compact car, from $387 to $371.

Hmm.. this is making me nervous. I'm there the week before you and my price has only gone up. But the 2 weeks before that are so much lower!

 

[Heather07438]

Has anyone used Sixt? Their rates have dropped considerably and now are lower than Alamo? I think they have a counter at MCO? Thoughts?

We’re using Sixt again. They are hard to beat if you need extra seats and cargo space. I find they’re not only cheaper for large SUV but then we also get premium luxury model to boot. Our BMWx7 in Sept is $423 Sun-Sat. The other companies can’t even beat the price never mind the model.

This is 6 or 7 times we used Sixt. Only once a better offer was found and that was Jan ‘21 during the Covid winter peak, Alamo was $432 for 9 days Infiniti QX80 so we went with that. I’ve never had a problem with Sixt yet. Alamo is great too but their prices are usually double the price of Sixt for large SUV.

 

[bluefunnel]

I have Avis Down to $563 through Costco for 15-30. No longer doing the card promotion but more than $20 less than it was.

My job has a deal through Hertz though that I'm holding on to, $564 including gas.

 

[holyrita]

Finally my week at the end of September saw some movement! Prices for all companies via Costco came down up to $25.

For the two reservations I'm keeping right now, Alamo came down $6.12 and Budget came down $13.85.

Probably won't decide until right before my trip, but Alamo is still $20.62 more than my Budget reservation. (I trust Alamo's skip the line more so I'm hoping that gap narrows even more!)

 

[PatMcDuck]

My best rate was booked a couple weeks ago, $407, Alamo on Costco, mid SUV, 9/25 to 10/3. I did see another that was maybe slightly better if you factored in a Costco GC, but I wanted to stay with Alamo.

 

[georgina]

My Sept 25-Oct 4 rate has dropped (Alamo, Costco), switched from compact SUV to compact car, from $387 to $371.

And down another $40 bucks today, $327 for a standard car, which was slightly cheaper than a compact.

 

[holyrita]

And down another $40 bucks today, $327 for a standard car, which was slightly cheaper than a compact.

+1 for another huge Alamo drop this mornin, $298 for 8 days with compact! Officially able to cancel my Budget reservation, woohoo!

 

[davper]

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!

What she said ^

 

[davper]

After more than a week of higher rates, my rate finally dropped $17. Then I checked in an hour and it dropped another $43.

I am currently at $490 for an 11 day +3 hour Alamo rental of Intermediate SUV from 4/22 to 10/3.

Edit: It appears that I made a mistake on the pickup time. which resulted in the $43 drop.
I am currently at $533 for an 11 day +3 hour Alamo rental of Intermediate SUV from 4/22 to 10/3. Come on $500!!

 

[holyrita]

+1 for another huge Alamo drop this mornin, $298 for 8 days with compact! Officially able to cancel my Budget reservation, woohoo!

Rebooked to save $6 bringing me to $292. I got an alert the price dropped to $279 between 12am-2am before going back to $292, but I was already asleep and missed it.

 

[davper]

Rebooked to save $6 bringing me to $292. I got an alert the price dropped to $279 between 12am-2am before going back to $292, but I was already asleep and missed it.

Is that alert from Costco or some other service? If from Costco, how did you set that up?

 

[holyrita]

Is that alert from Costco or some other service? If from Costco, how did you set that up?

Ah sorry, not through Costco but something my son made to check and monitor prices a few times an hour

 

[andigomeep]

Avis via Costco dropped to $387 tonight (budget was even lower), 9/4-9/15. I’m pretty happy with this price.

 

[andigomeep]

Avis via Costco dropped to $387 tonight (budget was even lower), 9/4-9/15. I’m pretty happy with this price.

Down to $336. I don’t remember finding drops this close to traveling before, I wonder if people are canceling.

 

[rlduvall]

Alamo finally had a nice drop today. Using AP discount and Free Single Upgrade, Standard vehicle 09/08 - 09/15 @ $252. I also have a Full Size Elite booked @ $359. I do like a nice car, but not sure it's worth $100 extra. Need to make decision today on which to keep.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hey all, just a quick heads up for those renting with Alamo and who would be completing the online check in & skip the counter processes before you depart: you may want to hold off until the last moment to do so.

After nearly 3 weeks of watching my lowest rate increase, I assumed that we had officially bottomed out and there was no chance for any further savings (we pick up our vehicle this Saturday....less than 48 hours to go, woohoo!). I did the online check in on Monday night, printed off our bar code, and thought I was done. Fast forward to today, I just happened to check rates and there was a $70 decline .... which is a tidy chunk of change!!! After a painful phone call with an Alamo agent (pretty sure their customer service agency is not in North America......communication was incredibly challenging) I was able to cancel the reservation for which I had already checked in, so now I can do the online check in with the new reservation sometime before we leave on Saturday a.m.

So if you can, keep checking those rates right up to the very end! You may be rewarded with a last minute price drop.

My new rate is $249 (down from $320) with the free extra driver. That's a $400 decrease from my initial booking in April, and I succeeded in getting our rate under $300. Super happy here!