10 Helpful Tips When Booking a Car

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Topic: Car Rentals

All things considered, renting a car is usually the easiest part of making travel arrangements for your trip.  But here are ten things to keep in mind to help you maximize your car rental.

1. Last-minute rentals are often the cheapest.  Unlike booking a plane ticket, booking a car closer to your travel dates often offers lower rates than booking in advance.  That’s because there is a lot of supply in the major car rental markets.  Check for these last-minute specials in the “Special Offers” or “Deals” sections of each car rental company website.
2. Don’t be afraid to reserve ahead of time.  Yes, we just told you that last-minute reservations are often the cheapest.  But if you find a decent rate while you are making your other travel arrangements, go ahead and reserve that car because with nearly all of the major rental companies, you can cancel at anytime with no penalty if you find a better rate later. (Please note: This does not apply to Priceline and Hotwire car rentals, which are final.)
3. Use promotional coupon AND corporate codes for rate discounts and bonus miles.  All of the large rental companies have partnerships with certain airlines so you can earn valuable frequent flyer miles with your car rental.  So find out which airlines are applicable to your rental, and make sure to provide the rental company with your frequent flyer membership number at the time of booking or rental pick-up.  In addition, you can earn double or triple miles if you search on the airline’s “special offers” section for those promotional and corporate booking codes.  Southwest Airlines often runs double and triple credit promotions with Hertz, Alamo, and Budget where you not only get bonus miles, but also get a corporate discount on your total car rental when you enter their specific corporate code.  And finally, remember to compare rates using the rental company’s promotional codes found on their “special offers” section to see what discounts they have on daily and weekly rates.
4. Use Priceline or Hotwire to book your car rental.  Both Priceline and Hotwire have very good rates on car rentals for most markets, so you can save yourself some time by simply booking through them.  Remember to use a site like BiddingForTravel.com before buying to give you an idea of the current rental rates and car types for your given market. (Please note: Bookings on Hotwire and Priceline are final, so make sure your dates are set before booking.)
5. Book a car together with a flight and/or hotel.  The large online travel agencies, like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz, have good negotiated rates on car rentals and hotels since they do a lot of sales volume.  So you can often save by booking your car rental together with a flight and/or hotel.
6. Decline the pre-paid gas option if you have time to fill it up yourself.  The pre-paid option is a big money maker for the car rental companies.  That’s because even though the fuel prices on the pre-paid option are less on a per gallon basis than the local gas station, the rental companies charge you for the full tank.  And rarely do renters manage to return the car back on an empty tank.  So unless you don’t need to save money or will be short on time when you return the car, decline the pre-paid option and fill up the tank yourself before you return the car.
7. Check if your credit card or personal auto insurance covers car rentals.  This is another big money maker for the car rental companies.  But often your credit card company and/or personal auto insurance provides coverage, so you should definitely look into what coverage you already have if you want to save money on the expensive insurance rates provided by the rental companies.
8. Weekly rates (on a daily basis) are cheaper than daily rates.  If you need a car for more than three days, you may be better off asking for the weekly rate.  So make sure to find out what the current weekly rate is instead of the daily rate when booking your car rental to get the lowest total car rental price.
9. Book your car in 24-hour increments.  The car rental agencies always ask for a pick-up and drop-off time to better manage their supply of cars.  But keep in mind that your car rental is charged another day for a total of 2-days even if you rent the car for 26 hours (the grace period is usually one hour, and anything greater is charged another day).  So enter a drop-off time in a 24-hour increment because you never know if you’ll end up changing your travel plans and need the car longer.
10. If possible, rent your car at a non-airport location.  If you can pick up at a non-airport, neighborhood car rental location, you can often save a lot of money because the airport concession fees and taxes are always unbelievably high.  They often make up 20% to 30% of the rental costs.