Travel

Looking for a car rental discount? On this page we ve compiled lots of tips and tricks, plus there are links to pages that provide dozens of rental car discounts, coupons and codes that can potentially save you a hundred dollars or more on a one-week car rental!

General Advice on Car Rentals

Rental Car Codes, Coupons and Discounts

We’ve been recommending  Undercover Tourist  for years as a great source for attraction tickets. They re an exceptionally reliable company, and have excellent customer service. We can t say enough good things about them. Click here to read more about why we recommend them .

Undercover Tourist now offers fantastic deals on Alamo, Budget, Avis, National and Enterprise car rentals!

Their rates are often the best rates for these companies you can find, anywhere. They also have a great side-by-side interface where you can compare rates for all six companies on one page, making it easy to find the lowest overall rate they offer.

The catch is that you have to buy an attraction ticket in order to get their special rates. However, you can buy any ticket they offer, at any price, to qualify for the car rental discount . In many cases, the savings are large enough that it s worth it to buy an inexpensive ticket (some of them are as little as $10) just to get the discounted car rental. The car does not need to be rented in Orlando they offer rates nationwide!

• Click here to check out Undercover Tourist s great car rental rates! (You must first add at least one ticket to the cart, and then the add a rental car option will appear when you view the shopping cart.)

Walt Disney World

At Walt Disney World. if you are staying on Disney property the extensive Disney Transportation System can get you to any of the Disney resorts, parks, water parks and Downtown Disney by bus, boat or Monorail. The system for getting people between the Disney resort hotels and the theme parks is quite efficient, though it can be time-consuming. Some people find it relaxing to sit back and let Disney do the driving. Personally, we don t. (You can read MouseSavers.com founder Mary Waring s report on going without a car at Disney.)

If you want to get from resort to resort at Disney World (for instance, to attend a dinner show such as the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, which is at Ft. Wilderness Campground) it can be very frustrating to use Disney s transportation system. In that case, you may well want a car. And if you are staying off-site, a rental car can save you a huge amount of time in getting back and forth to the parks. Remember, you re paying a lot for this vacation your time is valuable!

By the way, if you will be renting a car and you own a GPS navigation unit or are considering purchasing one, click here for information that will make getting around Disney World even easier.

At Disneyland. everything is very compact. If you are staying at a Disney resort hotel or one of the many nearby hotels and motels, you can walk or use the hotel s shuttle service to get to the parks. However, if you want to eat off-site or explore other parts of Southern California, you will need a rental car (or you can take a taxi, if you plan to stay local).

Walt Disney World

At Orlando International Airport (MCO) all of the major rental car agencies (Alamo , Avis , Budget , Dollar , Enterprise , Hertz , National  and Thrifty ), plus a couple of less-known agencies, are located right in the parking garage across from the terminals. There is also a budget-priced agency, Firefly , which is owned by Hertz and shares cars and facilities with the parent brand. After going to the rental desk or kiosk in the terminal, you walk out to the garage and get your car. Most of the major agencies (Alamo. National. Hertz. Avis and Budget ) even offer frequent renter and/or online check-in systems that allow you to skip the desk or kiosk in the terminal and go straight to the garage and pick your car.

MCO airport also has over 15 less-known agencies that are off-site. For those agencies you ll need to grab a shuttle from Level 1. Of the off-site agencies, the most promising (based on our readers reports) are SIXT and Payless. They sometimes have excellent rates and they are both national or international chains.

In addition, there are Alamo /National locations on-site at Walt Disney World. which is very convenient should you wish to keep your car for only part of the trip. (For more information about renting cars on Disney property, click here .)

There are also rental car locations at several of the hotels in the Downtown Disney area .

At Orange County/John Wayne Airport (SNA). which is the closest airport to Disneyland, the on-site rental agencies are Alamo. Avis. Budget. Enterprise. Hertz. National and Thrifty. All others are off-site, so you will have to take a shuttle.

At Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). another popular airport for Disneyland trips, there are over 40 car rental agencies, many of which are small and local. Ten are allowed to send their shuttles right to the terminal: Advantage, Alamo. Avis. Budget. Dollar. Fox, Enterprise. Hertz. Payless. National and Thrifty .

We are frequently asked how someone can rent a car for one or two days in the Disney World area. A lot of times people plan to use their hotel s transportation system to get to and from the Disney parks, but they are interested in doing something outside of Disney during the trip (such as visiting Universal. SeaWorld or the local Disney outlet stores ) and the cheapest and easiest way is to rent a car.

Also, some people who are staying on Disney property like to use Magical Express to get back and forth to the airport, but they prefer the convenience (and sometimes lower rental rates) of picking up a car once they are at Disney.

• Click here to learn more about how to rent a car at Walt Disney World (or nearby) efficiently and cheaply!

Useful Tips and Tricks

We can t stress enough that it is worthwhile to check the rental car websites periodically for new rates. Like the airlines, rental car companies change their rates constantly. However, unlike the airlines, there is no penalty for canceling or making changes to your car rental reservation. We have saved as much as $150 on a one-week rental by rebooking our reservation when the rate dropped.

Always print out your confirmation when booking online, or request that one be faxed or emailed to you, if you make your reservation by phone. Take the confirmation with you on your vacation. It can be a lifesaver if the amount the car rental agency tries to charge you doesn t match the amount you agreed to when you made your reservation, or if they question a discount code, etc. This happens more frequently than you might think, because of errors in the rental car companies computer systems or even because one of their agents is not aware of a particular promotion. If you have a printed confirmation, it will be very difficult for them to charge you a different amount.

Join the frequent renter program of any rental car company you are going to use, even if you think you ll never rent from them again. It can save you hours in line. In fact, with some programs being a member allows you to bypass the counter completely! Joining these programs involves giving the company your drivers license and credit card information in advance. It can usually be accomplished online in a few minutes, though you should allow a week or two to get your membership card in the mail. When you join, you can also specify whether you want the CDW/LDW insurance. which can save a lot of hassles at the counter.

Stay over a Saturday night if at all possible. Like the airlines, most car rental companies offer the lowest rates (and almost all of their coupon specials) only to those who stay over a Saturday night. We learned this the hard way when doing a rental from a Sunday night through a Friday afternoon none of the coupons seem to apply.

Rent for 5 days or more (if it fits your travel plans). Usually weekly rentals require a 5-day minimum. Weekly rates are almost always cheaper than daily rates, and coupon specials often apply only to weekly rentals. Note that you cannot turn in the car early and still get the original rate.

Rent for 3 days or less, over a weekend (if it fits your travel plans). Usually weekend rentals require a 3-day maximum and a Saturday night stay. Weekend rates are almost always cheaper than daily rates, and there are often coupons for weekend rentals. Note that you cannot turn in the car late and still get the original rate.

Don t get stuck on size. If you re not finding any good rates for a compact or economy car, try pricing a larger vehicle. Sometimes the smaller cars sell out first and the agencies have a glut of midsize or fullsize cars. Depending on demand, it s not all that unusual to find a fullsize car or even an SUV for LESS than a compact!

If your departure time is an hour or two later in the day than your arrival time, it s worthwhile to play around with the return times when you are reserving the car online. A few of the rental car companies have a grace period before they charge you for an additional day. For instance, the no-charge grace period at Avis and Budget seems to be about 29 minutes. Hourly rates apply if you return the car within the period of 30 minutes to 2 hours past the pick-up time. Here s an example of how this could help you save: let s say you re arriving on a Monday and picking up your car at 4:00 pm. You re leaving the following Monday evening. Turning your car in at 4:15 pm might not incur any additional charge, turning it in at 4:45 pm would incur an hourly rate charge, and starting at 6:00 you d be paying for a full additional day. Thanks to Dan B and Paula H for the info.

If you have an American Express card that participates in the Membership Rewards program. be aware that the rental car rewards usually cannot be used with other discounts. You ll have to pay the standard rates, less the dollar amount of the reward certificate. For that reason, the rental car rewards are not usually such a hot deal. Thanks to Cathy D for pointing this out.

Best and Worst Agencies in Orlando

We pretty much stick to the big agencies: National. Avis , Hertz. Alamo  and Budget all offer some form of express pickup in Orlando for members of their frequent-renter program. They all have good service, car quality and speed of drop-off, and they are all conveniently located on the airport property. We have had good results renting from all of them and would not hesitate to choose them again.

Dollar. Enterprise  and Thrifty don t currently have a direct to the car express program or check-in kiosks that allow you to bypass the counter, at least not in Orlando, but the cars and service are fine and we will use them when they offer a much better deal. Joining Dollar s frequent renter program allows you to use their express counter, which saves time when picking up, and they typically have your paperwork all printed out and waiting for you. It s still not as good as going straight to the car or using a kiosk.

The other agencies occasionally offer lower prices, but we have usually found that by taking advantage of coupons and discount codes and by re-checking rates several times before each trip, we can get prices just as good or nearly as good from one of the big name companies, and with a tremendous time savings because of the skip the counter programs.

Understanding Rental Car Company Relationships

Many rental car companies have divided their business between two different brands. The brands are owned by the same parent company, but generally speaking, one brand is intended for business travellers and the other for leisure (vacation) travelers. Firefly and Payless are super-budget brands that are owned by Hertz and Avis/Budget, respectively. Enterprise is another business-oriented brand owned by Alamo/National.

The business brand often has newer, better-equipped cars and a higher service level than the leisure brand. (A significant exception exists: Budget. while marketed as the leisure brand of Avis. offers excellent vehicles and service equivalent to many business brands.)

If you make an effort to shop around, use discount codes, etc you can often rent from the business brand for the same cost as (or even less than) the leisure brand.