Car Rental help!

[CantGoEnough]

Hi - Going to WDW May 5 - 12, but will need a car for this trip. I have never rented a car before and had no idea it was going to be so expensive - I'm getting rates of about $300 for the week for a compact/economy car for pickup and drop off at MCO! Does that seem right?? I've been searching for coupon codes, etc but still come out in that price range. If anyone has any tips, sites, codes, etc they know of that may help, please let me know!!!
THANKS!!
PS - adult driver (well) over 25 with valid US license

 

[Hakunamatata]

Hi - Going to WDW May 5 - 12, but will need a car for this trip. I have never rented a car before and had no idea it was going to be so expensive - I'm getting rates of about $300 for the week for a compact/economy car for pickup and drop off at MCO! Does that seem right?? I've been searching for coupon codes, etc but still come out in that price range. If anyone has any tips, sites, codes, etc they know of that may help, please let me know!!!
THANKS!!

You may not find many codes or discounts for that time period at an airport location because of spring break. The rate you are being quoted does sound accurate. You also will want to make sure to find out if that includes taxes and fees. There are a bunch of them on rental cars, and in some areas of the country can increase the cost by about 20%. So if you are on a tight budget, be sure and get the estimated total cost, not just the weekly rate.

 

[nepalostparks]

www.mousesavers.com for sure, there are tons of codes for all of the companies there.

Keep checking every week for new codes and keep checking the old codes as car rental companies keep changing their prices. The best thing, unless you do a prepaid rental, you can just book a new reservation if you find a lower price and cancel the old one without any penalty.

In 2007, we got an intermediate car for the second week of May for around $120 for the week, that was from the airport. This past year, we went the same week in May and got full size for less that $100. Those prices are total - all taxes and fees included. And for last year's car, the final reservation with the best price was made about a week before our trip.

While there are no guarantees, the rates for your car rental that week should go down over the next few months.

 

[ddbowdoin]

I have to ask an honest question... I usually dont fall for BS, I was born at night but not last night

in 2010, I rented a car... and Hertz (I think it was them) made me get insurance on the vehicle claiming that my insurance here in MA covers my vehicle, not me as a driver.

I fought for about 20 mins and ended up talking to a manager who told me insurance was required by law. At that point I was getting daggers from the wife and I swallowed my pride and dished out the 23 bucks a day. I wasn't happy.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I have to ask an honest question... I usually dont fall for BS, I was born at night but not last night

in 2010, I rented a car... and Hertz (I think it was them) made me get insurance on the vehicle claiming that my insurance here in MA covers my vehicle, not me as a driver.

I fought for about 20 mins and ended up talking to a manager who told me insurance was required by law. At that point I was getting daggers from the wife and I swallowed my pride and dished out the 23 bucks a day. I wasn't happy.

Most states liability policies will cover you in a rental car. I would check with your local agent to make sure. Rental companies pull that line all the time because its a huge money maker for them. I rent all over the country and never buy it, but of course its business rentals for me mostly.

 

[nepalostparks]

I have to ask an honest question... I usually dont fall for BS, I was born at night but not last night

in 2010, I rented a car... and Hertz (I think it was them) made me get insurance on the vehicle claiming that my insurance here in MA covers my vehicle, not me as a driver.

I fought for about 20 mins and ended up talking to a manager who told me insurance was required by law. At that point I was getting daggers from the wife and I swallowed my pride and dished out the 23 bucks a day. I wasn't happy.

It really depends on your insurance policy and what it covers. Hopefully someone comes along and can answer that question specifically... I don't pretend to know anything about different state's insurance laws.

But what we do when we travel, is take an actual copy of our insurance policy, including the pages that show coverage and specifically what it says about rental car coverage. We've never had a high pressure pitch like you're talking about, but if we did, we have the proof right in front of us as to what our insurance really did cover.

 

[lebeau]

Those care rental guys are thieves. The one time we rented a car at MCO (pretty sure it was Herz) the guy tried to tell me we wouldn't all fit in the car we had selected. He told me he could offer me a discounted price on the next size up, but if I walked away from the counter to see if we fit in the car the discount would expire. I had to upgrade right then and there to get the discount. Needless to say, I walked away and we all fit very comfortably into the car we selected. He lept badgering me and telling me what a horrible mistake I was making and how sorry I would be when we could not get the discount on the larger car we would need "for the baby".

It was shameful. If I hadn't been in a hurry to get on with my vacation, I would have complained to a manager. But I also figured for this guy to be such a brazen scam artist, his manager must be aware of the tactics he was using.

 

[Nemo14]

Hi - Going to WDW May 5 - 12, but will need a car for this trip. I have never rented a car before and had no idea it was going to be so expensive - I'm getting rates of about $300 for the week for a compact/economy car for pickup and drop off at MCO! Does that seem right?? I've been searching for coupon codes, etc but still come out in that price range. If anyone has any tips, sites, codes, etc they know of that may help, please let me know!!!
THANKS!!
PS - adult driver (well) over 25 with valid US license

Have you tried Dollar? They usualy have "City Specials" that can save you quite a bit. Also, if you're a member of one of the warehouse clubs, we generally get good rates through them.

 

[wm49rs]

I have to ask an honest question... I usually dont fall for BS, I was born at night but not last night

in 2010, I rented a car... and Hertz (I think it was them) made me get insurance on the vehicle claiming that my insurance here in MA covers my vehicle, not me as a driver.

I fought for about 20 mins and ended up talking to a manager who told me insurance was required by law. At that point I was getting daggers from the wife and I swallowed my pride and dished out the 23 bucks a day. I wasn't happy.

I've never had a problem with my insurance "extending" to any rental. You should be fine going forward. Just don't rent from Hertz.

Those care rental guys are thieves. The one time we rented a car at MCO (pretty sure it was Herz) the guy tried to tell me we wouldn't all fit in the car we had selected. He told me he could offer me a discounted price on the next size up, but if I walked away from the counter to see if we fit in the car the discount would expire. I had to upgrade right then and there to get the discount. Needless to say, I walked away and we all fit very comfortably into the car we selected. He lept badgering me and telling me what a horrible mistake I was making and how sorry I would be when we could not get the discount on the larger car we would need "for the baby".

It was shameful. If I hadn't been in a hurry to get on with my vacation, I would have complained to a manager. But I also figured for this guy to be such a brazen scam artist, his manager must be aware of the tactics he was using.

I stopped using Hertz about 3 years ago when they tried to double charge me on a rental I had prepaid for through Priceline (I think). Between that and their blatant attempts to charge me for a GPS I've never needed, I refuse to rent through them any more.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I checked out car rentals the week of April 27-May 6 and found the rates at MCO to be ridiculous. It's not due to spring break. Colleges are almost out by that time and schools are still in session. No idea why it was so expensive.
Last year we used hotwire and did the pre-payment hotwire special rate. it was a lot less than the regular rate but it was pre-paid, non-refundable. And it also didn't tell you which company it was with until you booked it. It was between 5 of the major companies (Budget, Avis, Hertz, Enterprise or National and Alamo I think) It's a bit of a risk but we got Hertz and everything went fine with them. I feel like MCO can charge astronomical rates for car rentals because they know if you're staying off property you will NEED a car. We're driving in the spring because between airfre and car rental it was too expensive. But try Dollar and their "city special" offers. We held a rental with them and it was the least expensive option and I searched high and low. It's a lot less to pick up at off airport locations, unfortunately.

 

[lebeau]

I stopped using Hertz about 3 years ago when they tried to double charge me on a rental I had prepaid for through Priceline (I think). Between that and their blatant attempts to charge me for a GPS I've never needed, I refuse to rent through them any more.

Yeah, I had also prepaid through Priceline. Since I started sharing my story, I have heard similar horror stories. I always warn people to be prepared. Just know that these guys will tell you anything to scare you into giving them more money.

Oh yeah, this was during a hurricane. So he told me that there was no gas left in Orlando and tried to sell me on a pre-paid tank of gas. He seriously told me if I rolled off the lot without pre-paying him for gas I would be unable to fill the tank to bring the car back. He made it sound like Mad Max out there.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

Okay... don't worry you should be able to beat that price between now and your trip.

Here is what you need to do.

First don't look at rate that are only for a rental car at the airport. You can often find a rental car from a company offsite from the airport for considerably less money, and it will also not have the special Orlando airport service feed tagged on.

Next, don't assume that the economy car is the cheapest. In the past I have actually found a mid-sized SUV to be the cheapest option on some trips. Not often but prices vary on cars based on which ones they are trying to move. If a particular site has too many SUVs that are open they drop the prices.

Now, remember this... unlike a airline you don't have to pay to make a reservation. So make a reservation for the cheapest car you can find today. It will cost you nothing and you will lock in a price. Then each day or every few days go back and look for another rental car when you find a cheaper one make the reservation and then cancel the old one your replacing it with. I've gone through as many as 5 different reservations in 2 months because I was able to keep finding different better deals... avoid the deals that require you to pay for the car up front, they aren't enough of a discount off the normal rates to make it worth your while.

Once you map out the rental car sites you want to check on do it through the rental companies site and don't bother with things like Travelocity, the rental sites are much better because its easier to check on various rental locations in the same city. You will soon find that Avis can easily have 12 different prices for the exact same car in Orlando with the only difference being that they are in 12 different places around Orlando.

Lastly, remember when you are looking to rent from a location away from the airport that you book it for a return to the airport. That way you will avoid having to get a taxi to go from the rental car return to the airport and only have to pay for a taxi from the airport to your rental car pick up (yes a taxi sounds expensive but you can usually just assume it will be 20 bucks from where either the airport or Disney to the rental pickup).

Along those lines, you may find the cheapest car available from a site closer to WDW than to the airport, if you do use the Magic Express to go from the airport to WDW and then get a taxi to go from WDW to the rental car... saves you a little more that way.

Just doing a quick search on only Enterprise alone I came up with a high price of 244.89 and a low price of 189.52 for the date you are talking about by looking at only 4 of their locations all within 5 miles of the airport... those were all for the same compact size car. So just don't give up, it takes time and persistence but you can save a lot on car rentals.

 

[SAV]

I am currently looking at car rental for the first week in June and am also seeing astronomical prices. I am doing a 10 day rental and the cheapest I could find was thru Thrifty. I got a compact for the 10 days for $356. I looked back at my trip in 2010 for the same length of time and one week later in the month and I only paid $185.25 out the door for it.

I used discount codes on both, so I am going to just keep checking every week and hope to get that price down.

I checked the week after and still had that inflated price. The nice part is you can just cancel it without penalty.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

I am currently looking at car rental for the first week in June and am also seeing astronomical prices. I am doing a 10 day rental and the cheapest I could find was thru Thrifty. I got a compact for the 10 days for $356. I looked back at my trip in 2010 for the same length of time and one week later in the month and I only paid $185.25 out the door for it.

I used discount codes on both, so I am going to just keep checking every week and hope to get that price down.

I checked the week after and still had that inflated price. The nice part is you can just cancel it without penalty.

If you can schedule your trip so that you only need the car for the first 7 days or the last 7 days you will save a lot. Once you go beyond the weekly rate your added on days will make it very pricey, you are probably very close to the point where you are almost paying a 2 week rate.

 

[Diane Hughess]

Rental rates have been so high! I don't get it..with the state of the economy, you'd think rental companies would be hurting and begging for customers! That said, I never rent from MCO for 2 reasons: 1. The airport concession fees, etc. add @ $125/wk to the price and 2. I always stay on site, so I take Magic Express to our resort. We usually go for 10 days, and I rent a car for 7 days from the WDW Car Care Center (National/Alamo). In years past, I had paid $99 for a 7-day SUV! In Dec., however, I rented a compact for just one day @ $34, as I was only there for 3 nts. In August 2011, I had an intermediate for 7 days for $252 which was tough to swallow. We split our trip between Disney and Universal, so we needed the car as tranfers would have been $40+ each. My strategy is to look on Tues. nights--it seems to be cheapest then, and to use the Entertainment Card discount card. Out of all the codes, this seemed to give me the best rate. And check back constantly. When you find a lower price, just make a new ressie and cancel the last one. Also, delete the cookies in your browser..if the site realizes it's the same person all the time, the prices never seem to go down? Try using dif't computers too. Mousesavers often has good codes as well. Good luck!!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I recommend Hotwire. The cons are that it's prepaid/non-refundable and you don't know which company you're getting a car from until after you pay. With cars, though, you are guaranteed a car from a group of six major companies (hotel searches also give good deals, but can be just about any hotel). All of the rentals have unlimited miles and all of the taxes are included. We drove down in October and I rented a car for $12/day.

I did a search for MCO from 5/5-5/12 and got an economy car for $234 and a standard car for about $260. That's with taxes. Make sure you delete your cookies if you search again later and that really good deal you saw before is gone.

While researching possibly staying offsite for the first time this year, I also found that they can have some crazy deals on hotel/car packages. For instance, I just did a search for your dates and you can get an economy car and a room at the HoJo in Kissimmee for $314 including taxes. Sure, probably not the best hotel or location, but $14 more than what you're finding just for a car could get you a week's hotel, too!

 

[mjmyers10]

The closer you get to your travel dates, the more the prices will drop. Most of the coupon codes on mousesavers go until the end of March. I'm looking for a car the 2nd week of July and prices have been a little high. I did find a Mustang Convertible for about $300 for a long weekend. Just have the travel agent that booked your flight and rooms look for a car. Sometimes if you go away from the airport, prices are cheaper. There are a few locations on Disney Property that rent cars. You could take Magical Express from the airport and pick up a car at the Car Care Center. Then just return the car before you catch your Magical Express back to the airport.

 

[draybook]

I wouldn't blame it on Hertz in general, just some of the locations that you people use. I rent from our local Hertz and I've never had a problem. I've also never had to get their insurance either and I've had no problems with being charged too much. As a matter of fact, the guy that runs our local location usually hooks us up with a full size when we rent an intermediate.

Now I tried to rent from Enterprise once and they tried to force me to get their insurance. They even called my provider and said that my coverage did not cover the rental. I was only renting for the day(our Blazer was down) and it was going to run me like $100 + the deposit just to rent a fricking compact car. I was plenty po'd and made them drive me back to my house.


I don't have experience renting from the Orlando area but $300 for a week sounds high, unless you're renting a luxury vehicle or something. We're renting a intermediate(Corolla or similar 4 door) from March 8th until the 19th and it's only going to be $256.

 

[mbtohill]

Just be PATIENT, we go every year in MAY (will be there 5/4-5/12) and I always wait until the last minute to rent a car. Last year, like you I started looking early and saw crazy HIGH prices $300+....ended up with a Ford Edge for less than $150 for the ENTIRE 8 DAYS!!

PATIENCE will pay off in the end

 

[patricia27]

We flew in to Miami, the car rental guy at Alamo tried to get us to pay extra for sat nav. We were going to Key West. I told him no, as there was only one highway to Key West so I reckoned we wouldn`t get lost!!