I've been meaning to share this information for a while. I usually never use DME, and always rent a car. A real timesaver to those looking for the best rental car rates is to use Costco Travel. You are limited to Alamo, Avis, Budget, and Enterprise (Sorry Hertz), but the price savings are tremendous compared with booking directly or using a third party search like Kayak, Priceline, etc. This doesn't take into account the off-brand or off-airport local providers, but I tend to stay clear of them anyway. In addition to the savings in the cost of rental, bookings made through Costco also include a second driver provision at no extra charge.
For comparison an "Intermediate SUV" category rental through Costco for 6 days was $239 (Taxes and Fees Included) with Alamo. Directly through Alamo it was $363, Enterprise was over $400, and Hertz was around $300. (All with Taxes and Fees Included).
One of the other important things to consider when making a car rental reservation, is that just like airfare the prices change frequently. The common thing that most people do is book their airfare, hotel, and car all at the same time. If you're doing Disney that can often be many months out. My recommendation is to wait until about 1-2 months before traveling to make your car reservation because the prices will go down and hit a sweet spot around this time. Also unlike airlines, you can cancel most car reservations at anytime without a fee, so you may find the closer you get to your trip the cost of your car rental can go down quite a bit, in which case it makes sense to rebook at a lower rate.
Also even though you book through Costco if you participate in frequent flyer programs, you can also redeem miles per your program's redemption policy, so you can also earn the additional airline miles as well. Unfortunately Alamo isn't teamed with United's MilePlus so I'm out of luck, but the cost savings alone compared to United's partner Hertz more than makes up for the miles lost.
I'd also be curious to hear any other strategies or tips people use as well.
For comparison an "Intermediate SUV" category rental through Costco for 6 days was $239 (Taxes and Fees Included) with Alamo. Directly through Alamo it was $363, Enterprise was over $400, and Hertz was around $300. (All with Taxes and Fees Included).
One of the other important things to consider when making a car rental reservation, is that just like airfare the prices change frequently. The common thing that most people do is book their airfare, hotel, and car all at the same time. If you're doing Disney that can often be many months out. My recommendation is to wait until about 1-2 months before traveling to make your car reservation because the prices will go down and hit a sweet spot around this time. Also unlike airlines, you can cancel most car reservations at anytime without a fee, so you may find the closer you get to your trip the cost of your car rental can go down quite a bit, in which case it makes sense to rebook at a lower rate.
Also even though you book through Costco if you participate in frequent flyer programs, you can also redeem miles per your program's redemption policy, so you can also earn the additional airline miles as well. Unfortunately Alamo isn't teamed with United's MilePlus so I'm out of luck, but the cost savings alone compared to United's partner Hertz more than makes up for the miles lost.
I'd also be curious to hear any other strategies or tips people use as well.
