Car rental Question?

[New2WDW]

We are counting down to our next WDW trip for this Fall. We are 100 days out. This year we are planning to stay 10 nights and we usually have to rent a car since our personal vehicles can not make the trip.

Question: It has been and will be very expensive to rent another car. Does anyone know good rental companies (we have been using Enterprise) and does anyone know if there is a possibility of one way rentals down and back from the Atlanta suburb area? has anyone tried this?

Keith

 

[disneytopdog]

Keith,

this may not be the answer you are looking for. Anytime I rent a car I do the priceline.com thing where you name your own price. I give them some ridiculous low price. 80% of the time they accept it. If they dont I raise the bid by $5. Priceline uses the major car rental companies so your getting a good vehicle. The cheapest I ever got was a full size car in Omaha from Hertz for $15 a day for 4 days. As a Joke we showed up at the counter the day of our rental with a free upgrade coupon and they honored it so upgraded us with a Luxury Car for the $15 a day

Bob

 

[sissa216]

I used priceline for my upcoming trip (september).
We got a ridiculously good deal ($10/day, it says for a Ford Focus or similar, just the two of us).

I used priceline, since we had already booked our flights, etc, and everything seemed solid.

Until Airtran cancelled our flight, and moved us onto the only other nonstop flight that day, 12 hours earlier. (I could choose a later flight with one stop, but luckliy since I first book, my husband has decided to take the day off, so the earlier flight will now work for us)
I called priceline to see if anything could be done (I am willing to pay the difference); they say of course, just call Hertz.
I call Hertz, and they say "we have absolutely no control, call Priceline".

And back and forth it goes, and has been going for a few weeks.
And even if I had chosen one of the later flights, it still would have put me in at least 6 hours earlier than planned, as we were supposed to get in close to midnight. 6 hours or 12 hours early, I would still be in the same mess with the car rental.

So moral of the story: if your plans are absolutely 100% (like I thought mine were), Priceline is a great deal.

 

[disneydiva72]

Dollar rent a car always has the best prices. I always get a van for under $250.00 for a week.

 

[smk]

I have tried Priceline as well but never got what I thought was a good deal. One negative....I think you have to pay it all up front along with travel plans changing (posssible) and then you have hassles with Priceline getting the dates changed. If you have AAA or sign up for a frequent rental program thru a car rental place you can shop around for a deal. One way rentals are very expensive.

 

[Rob562]

I've found that Alamo has some of the best prices in Florida, especially if you use one of the discount codes available on Mousesavers.

-Rob

 

[disneytopdog]

I guess I have just been real lucky with priceline. I only fly American(I live in the Dallas area), they have the local business pretty much locked up. I also only do the priceline name your own price thing a day or two before my flight.

 

[kimmychad]

we usually use dollar rental car. if you don't use a code you'll pay too much though. codes can be found on mousesavers..com

 

[maryszhi]

We are counting down to our next WDW trip for this Fall. We are 100 days out. This year we are planning to stay 10 nights and we usually have to rent a car since our personal vehicles can not make the trip.

Question: It has been and will be very expensive to rent another car. Does anyone know good rental companies (we have been using Enterprise) and does anyone know if there is a possibility of one way rentals down and back from the Atlanta suburb area? has anyone tried this?

Keith

we always fly into orlando and rent from hertz. we always rent them when we rent cars. i have found them to be really great price and quality. we are gold club since my parents have been renting from there for years
i hope it helps

 

[pacochran]

We use National and like it because of the following:
1. Right at the Airport no shuttle.
2. Belong to Emerald Club (free to sign up) once make reservations you just go to the Emerald Club area pick out a car and check out, you don't have to sign in first to get the car.

My wife usually looks at Triple A and BJ's and sees what specials they are offering and uses them.

 

[SchultzFamily]

We usually use Alamo or Dollar. Hertz is outrageous as is Avis in prices for what we are looking for. We need at least a standard SUV this year because there are four adults and we need it for two weeks because we are going to Daytona for five days after we leave Disney. We finally got it down to $498 for that time frame (when I originally looked it was almost $600). I'm still looking at discounts.

 

[disneydiva72]

We usually use Alamo or Dollar. Hertz is outrageous as is Avis in prices for what we are looking for. We need at least a standard SUV this year because there are four adults and we need it for two weeks because we are going to Daytona for five days after we leave Disney. We finally got it down to $498 for that time frame (when I originally looked it was almost $600). I'm still looking at discounts.

Try renting a minivan instead, they are usually cheaper than an SUV, at least in my experience.

 

[New2WDW]

Thanks for the tips!

We usually get a car for a week at Enterprise and I have gotten deals each time and we paid around $350 for a minivan. The problem was that in order to maximize our trip we had to get the car early Saturday morning, drive down and then get back in town late Friday so that we could turn the car in the next morning for the one week rental.

Well we are trying for a dream stay for us of 10 nights/ 11 days. Enterprise gave me a price online for 2 weeks (it automatically did 2 weeks) for a Full size car for almost $500. I know this does not sound like a lot but along with many others we really have to scrape up change to make our vacation come true and we already have the Free Dining and a school schedule that has allowed us to try this. Plus you can not return a car on Sunday so I add the extra day or so onto the trip.

Any others have any luck with rentals?

Keith

 

[Jay & Sue]

Great prices and cars everytime through Orbitz. Usually end up with Thrifty or Hertz Simply Wheelz. With Orbitz you can easily cancel and rebook if you spot a better price. Got stung using Hotwire as the reservation is paid for in advance and can not be changed or cancelled for a refund - never again!

 

[Surf Fish2285]

Anyone use priceline to rent a convertible in September? If so what was the price you named?

 

[New2WDW]

I did some earlier research and found the rental companies closest to me and AVIS had the best deal by far at about $360 for a Full size for the same car type and dates. Enterprise is right at $500. I also saw some discounts for using American Express at Avis so I will check that out as well. Thansk for all the info and I am about to look into Orbitz and Priceline, but this Avis thing sounds really good for the location, timing and price so far.

 

[MouseearsDeb]

Even after you decide on the company, keep checking back for better deals. When we went down in '06, we booked with Thrifty and ended up revising our reservation 3 or 4 times because the closer we got to the time of our trip the better deals they ran. We also did this with our Southwest airline tickets and ended up with a couple hundred $$ in credit which we were able to get refunded to us after we traveled.

 

[jriddle]

We used Priceline for our 8 day trip, 3 weeks ago. Got a mini van for $25 a day from National. Over half off of what Alamo wanted.

 

[New2WDW]

Great info from all! I will keep looking into deals, etc. I did go ahead and reserve a vehicle at AVIS for now because I was able to get a great rate and a deal from American Express to get a full size car for 12 days at around $330 with unlimited mileage, the location is right near my house and I can get it the day before I leave so we can pack and head out first thing in the morning. Even better I was able to upgrade to a Intermediate SUV for about $30! So my total cost will be around $365 (about $30/day). This is soooooo much better than the $500 I thought I was going to have to pay. Again, thanks to all for the info and advice!

I did check Orbitz and it did not find anything for me and Priceline was higher than I got above even at the same location! Go figure.

Keith

 

[SAV]

I just got back and spent $112 for the week at Thrifty using the code AU11, which was found on mousesavers.com. Thrifty is off airport and you have to take a shuttle, but for that price it was well worth it.

Just try all of the codes listed for all of the companies at Mousesavers and you will get something to your liking. Priceline can't beat that.