Rental Car Rates in Orlando

[pumba100]

We're making an 8-day trip to WDW in April and have found that rental car rates are over $700 for every major rental company except Dollar and Enterprise. They are $122 and $196 respectively. This is for a full size car.

This is one of those things that appears to be too good to be true. I have to wonder what the catch is. What's wrong with these two companies that prompts them to rent a car for a quarter of the price of everyone else?

 

[Tigger 68]

The difference was 300 bucks more at the Dolphin or 300 bucks less?
I'm assuming less..yes?

Picking up a car at the Dolphin was $300 less then picking up at MCO. Also, they mentioned there is a AAA car rental center near the Magic Kingdom. A free shuttle will pick you up at your resort and take you there.

 

[lilclerk]

We are going to Disney in July then driving to Tampa to see family and flying out of TPA. I asked Disney if the Magical Express would take us back to MCO even though we don't have a departing flight for I could pick up a rental Car. Disney let me know that the Dolphin Hotel has a Alamo and National Car rental desk inside the hotel. I priced out the difference between picking up at the Dolphin vs MCO and almost in every category of car the savings was atleast $300 picking the car up at the Dolphin.

Wow, it's always been way cheaper for me to get a car from the airport rather than the Dolphin or Car Care Center.

I'll usually make a reservation for the cheapest rate I can find, then start bidding on Priceline about 2-3 months out. I'll bid anywhere between $8 - $10/day and always had luck. Of course, it's been about a year since my last trip, but it doesn't hurt to try.