How to drive down costs on your next car rental

List out potential rental car companies

• Make  a list of at least seven rent a car companies that offer competitive prices in the city that you want to rent in.   For example  Avis, Alamo, Hertz, Thrifty, Dollar, Budget, National, Enterprise rent-a-car, etc.

Look for discounts on rental cars

• If you are a costco member, check out the costco web site under their travel section.  They offer really great discounts from most rental car companies.  Discounts will vary by care hire company.
• Are you a AAA member?  If so, you may be entitled to discounts.
• Have you purchased an Entertainment  Book?  If so, look for coupons inside your book.
• Are you an airline frequent flier member?  If so, you may qualify for discounts.  It’s also possible that  can redeem your airline mileage points for free car rentals.

Compare car rental car value (questions to ask).

• Will the car rental company waive the additional driver fee?
• Will the car rental company allow you to personally select the car you want at pick up time?  Some companies will check you in, send you to the garage and let you choose the vehicle that you want to drive.  The keys are left in the car, so you just hop in and give the guy at the gate the paper work and off you go.
• Are the vehicles that that the company rents  safe, fuel efficient, clean and in good overall repair?
• Will the car rental company provide you with a free car seat?  If not, this could add on a significant cost to your daily rental charges.  So, you may want to bring your own car seat with you.
• Can you earn frequent flyer bonus points for the airline program(s) that you are a member of?

Insurance costs.

• Contact your auto insurance company ahead of time and ask them if they will fully cover you in your rental car.  If so, you may choose to waive the coverage that the rent a car company offers.   Remember, make sure that you confirmed that you are already covered by your auto insurance carrier (be sure to get it in writing).

Fuel costs.

• Consider the mileage of the vehicle that you are renting and how that will impact your overall rental car expenses.
• Figure out if the pre-paid fuel option makes good “Cents”.   To do this you need to know the average cost of the gas in the city that you will be driving the car in.  Also, consider if you will be able set aside enough time to re-fuel the car on the day that you will  return the car.   Finding out if there is a well priced gas station on the airport grounds may help you to make up your mind.

Coupons

Coupons are not created equal.   So you really need to pay attention how much of a discount that you’re actually receiving.

Examples of good coupon offers include

• Free (if none or very little strings are attached).
• Provides a discount of 15% or greater.
• Buy one get one free.
• A coupon that will allow you to combine it with other coupons and offers.
• A coupon of a product or service that you were planning on obtaining anyway.

Less desirable coupon offers will require you to spend a lot of money while yielding you a comparatively small discount.

So, do the match on how much money that you are actually saving.