Looking to cut costs on your next automobile rental? The following tips will help you save money on your next car rental. All of these methods for reducing travel expenses have been tried and tested by us.
We were taking a trip to Richmond, Virginia to visit with relatives and give a presentation at a conference.
With six people and a week’s worth of luggage, we set out on our journey. plus twenty-four book boxes.
Continue reading to find out what took place at the airport.
1. Compare Prices
To save money, we used a coupon for a free weekend day from the Entertainment Book and booked a minivan for seven days with Budget.
Discounted, the price of a rental car from Budget was $654.
Annette’s dad, who was also on the trip, booked a full-size SUV (a Ford Expedition) through Costco without using a discount code.
Renting for a week at Costco was only $485.77, a $168 save (25 percent cheaper).
In conclusion, it is advisable to compare prices across multiple rental car companies. But when it comes to saving time and money, Costco and Budget are our go-to’s every time.
2. Major Hack: Ask For The “Walk-Up Rate
An agent at the counter in Richmond, Virginia, gave us this recommendation when we were making our reservation over the phone.
Budget and Avis are now the same firms, so if you need a minivan or SUV, reserve it through Avis and then pick it up at the airport from Budget at the Walk-Up Rate.
If there were a surplus of cars at this site, the rental fee could be significantly reduced. The minivan we reserved was priced at $654, but the walk-up pricing was only $330, so we decided to go with the reservation. As soon as we learned this, we canceled our $654 reservation and continued on with our trip.
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The Rental Car Walk-Up rate hack worked!
Steve enquired about Avis’s walk-up fee for a huge vehicle when we arrived at the counter in Virginia.
A minivan was available, but there were no excess full-size SUVs available. The price was $250 total, which included tax and insurance.
The insurance agent had already begun drafting the contract when we decided to decline their offer. It was too late; someone at the Budget desk had already rented the minivan to someone else by the time she called to cancel.
We were able to hire a 12-seater van for seven days at a cost of $201 thanks to some creative negotiating on the part of the counter agent and the manager (albeit the van only got 16 mpg instead of the 20 mpg we’d have guessed a minivan would receive).
Before leaving, negotiate the best possible pricing for your rental car, but don’t forget to inquire about the “walk-up” fee when you arrive at the desk. It’s possible that you’ll earn a real bonus as we did!
3. Rent Off-Airport – Return to Airport
The airport rental rates in most cities are extremely high.
In order to get away from the airport, you should take advantage of the hotel’s airport shuttle service, if it is provided. The alternative is to order an Uber. The next step is to reserve a vehicle from a rental agency in a city.
You should expect a twenty to thirty percent cost savings.
For that price, you could take an Uber from the airport to the nearest “off-airport” rental vehicle facility.
Return the Car to the Airport
Vehicle returns at airports are typically free of charge.
4. Fill Your Own Tank
In most cases, you can return a rented car even if the petrol tank is empty. However, this ease of use does not come without cost. They often increase the price of gas by 20 cents to 30 cents per gallon.
It’s customary for us to get gas roughly ten miles from the airport. We have found that petrol stations located within ten miles of an airport are more expensive than those located further away. Check all the stations in your neighborhood on GasBuddy.com to find the lowest price on petrol.
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5. Video for Damage
Steve always shoots a video of himself walking slowly around a rented vehicle while he records it on his phone.
In the event that the rental agency later claims there was an issue with the vehicle, this can be used as compelling evidence of its condition.
When he hasn’t heard back from the rental car business after two weeks, he deletes the footage.
6. Decline Insurance
While in Chicago, we hired a car and were involved in a small collision. After deducting our deductible, our insurance fully covered the damages. The rental car agent indicated they would try to charge for the vehicle’s loss of usage, but that most insurance companies wouldn’t cover it.
7. Drive One-Way for Free
Steve, while still a student, used a service called AutoDriveAway to transport a Cadillac from Arizona to Chicago.
He was given permission to move the vehicle so that the wealthy family could fly instead of driving home.
Despite the decline in the number of businesses providing this service, it is still provided by a few.
Free One-Way Driving 7.
Steve, while still a student, used a service called AutoDriveAway to transport a Cadillac from Arizona to Chicago.
Since the rich family preferred to fly home, he was given permission to move the vehicle.
A small but dedicated group of businesses remain that specializes in providing drivers with the option of picking up and dropping off their passengers at their final destination.
1. If you’re ready to do the traveling yourself, you may score a car or camper for dirt cheap (or even free) on Transfercar, a website that advertises cars that need to be transported from one location to another.
2. The second choice is to use AutoDriveAway. Drivers with and without CDLs are needed for three different sizes of vehicles. Learn more about AutoDriveAway here.
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