The Official January 2010 Car Rental Thread

[mdurette]

I started the December thread and it seems to be working well. I am now on the hunt for our January rental. Anyone find something good? Please post here with codes if you can.

Best I have found for our Jan 21 - 28 trip for mid-size and up is:

Enterprise. Small SUV $214.96 base for $282.46 total cost. Used code from our car insurance company. 10AH005

 

[mdinme]

Best we can find is $228 for those dates. We may end up dumping them and trying to get 12/31-1/7 and use ME back to MCO.

Any advice.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I started the December thread and it seems to be working well. I am now on the hunt for our January rental. Anyone find something good? Please post here with codes if you can.

Best I have found for our Jan 21 - 28 trip for mid-size and up is:

Enterprise. Small SUV $214.96 base for $282.46 total cost. Used code from our car insurance company. 10AH005

Can I ask...who is your car insurance company?

 

[mdurette]

Can I ask...who is your car insurance company?

Plymouth Rock Assurance - I looks like it was only a 5% discount. But any bit helps!

 

[n2mm]

Still looking. I always have a hard time trying to find coupons for the new year, so seldom book early. Please post what company you are renting from and what codes and coupons you are using. That will help each of us better.

 

[taliategan]

I am happy we have an official thread now - I think those December travellers were starting to make fun of us because they had the official thread and we did not. Anyways - 8 day rental midsize from 1/16 to 1/24, at $ 222.00 with Dollar, using a 10% American Express code AX10. Rates seem to be slowly dropping - still hoping for lower price and to move up to a standard or full-size. Hotwire's rate is down to $ 197.00 for mid-size for my dates, but I am going to wait it out for a while before I try Hotwire or Priceline.

 

[pomlover]

So the rates tend to go down as you approach your travel dates on discount sites?

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

Subscribing.....
I need to actually book airfare first, I'm holding out for a deal. I haven't found anything yet. The good news it has not gone up, just stayed the same.

I'm going for Marathon weekend.

 

[BYC]

I have a National minivan from Jan. 4-15 for $477, using no coupons or codes. I booked it a long time ago, though. I am still searching for cheaper. I hope to get National or Alamo, because they do not charge for a second driver. I also like using a company that is in terminal.

 

[taliategan]

So the rates tend to go down as you approach your travel dates on discount sites?

You can never tell - I think it just depends on how the reservations are going for the various rental car companies & competition between them. I think its best to make a cancelable reservation and then keep checking to see if rates are dropping. With the discount sites, once you make a purchase, you are can not change because they are non-refundable. The prices on the discount sites will go up and down in a similar way to prices in booking directly with the company. Although Hotwire and Priceline just use the major companies, some do not like to use because you can lose some of the perks if you book directly with the company (such as knowing the company has a counter at the airport rather than off-site; not being able to use an express pick-up if you are a member of certain rental company's "express" program, etc.)

 

[TrustedTraveler]

I've posted this a couple times on other threads, but since this is the official January thread...
We got a minivan for 8 days, Jan 15 through 23, for a total with all fees of just $347 (works out to be $304 a week) by bidding on Priceline. I started out at $28 a day and was rejected. Two days later I was surprised to get it for $30 a day through Alamo.
I'm sensing larger than average crowd/travel levels for January. My feeling is that even with 10% unemployment (me included) the 90% that are working are getting tired of acting like they are broke and don't care to miss another vacation.
I'll be surprised if rates go down in January as they have in past years, but I am still hoping that flu hysteria will keep people out of the parks the week we are there.

 

[ednamag]

I've posted this a couple times on other threads, but since this is the official January thread...
We got a minivan for 8 days, Jan 15 through 23, for a total with all fees of just $347 (works out to be $304 a week) by bidding on Priceline. I started out at $28 a day and was rejected. Two days later I was surprised to get it for $30 a day through Alamo.
I'm sensing larger than average crowd/travel levels for January. My feeling is that even with 10% unemployment (me included) the 90% that are working are getting tired of acting like they are broke and don't care to miss another vacation.
I'll be surprised if rates go down in January as they have in past years, but I am still hoping that flu hysteria will keep people out of the parks the week we are there.

Just curious...when you bid on Priceline, how do you specify that you want Alamo? I saw your other thread and tried to place a bid, but I didn't see anything about choosing a specific company. I really like Alamo because of the kiosk and no shuttle so I don't want to risk getting an offsite rental. What am I missing?

Thanks!

 

[Mike2023]

Just curious...when you bid on Priceline, how do you specify that you want Alamo? I saw your other thread and tried to place a bid, but I didn't see anything about choosing a specific company. I really like Alamo because of the kiosk and no shuttle so I don't want to risk getting an offsite rental. What am I missing?

Thanks!

Your not missing anything. That's the risk you take with priceline.

 

[n2mm]

Still watching for some 2010 coupons to use with my National car rental for January. I can always use my free days, but often the generic everyone coupons are better. (Free days are only good if you use them for a short trip that does not have a Saturday night stay.)

 

[fab5friend99]

I got a minivan for $286 + all the excessive fees and taxes for a week with Thrify by using the Orlando magiccard code 004m001010. I believe that the same price is at Dollar when using oi1054. At least these were the prices last weekend. Haven't checked this week. Hopefully we'll start getting some better rates soon!

 

[anniem923]

We went through Government Employees Travel Opportunities website and got an intermediate for Jan. 30-Feb. 5 @ 179.00 plus tax. Total $241

 

[disneyfan123]

I just booked a mid-size or larger (I booked a "standard special") through Dollar via Travelocity from Jan. 23-30 for $201.37 tax/fees included. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

I will There from the 8th of January to the 21st.
As you can see I got this quote from expedia.ca So this is in Canadian dollars.
I was thinking of either a full size car or a standard 4wd....what do you think?

btw I took a screenshot, pasted into photoshopCS4, cropped it, photobucketed it, bada-boom bada-bing Im done!

 

[TrustedTraveler]

Just curious...when you bid on Priceline, how do you specify that you want Alamo? I saw your other thread and tried to place a bid, but I didn't see anything about choosing a specific company. I really like Alamo because of the kiosk and no shuttle so I don't want to risk getting an offsite rental. What am I missing?

Thanks!

When bidding on Priceline you will always get either Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, or National. Any of them is OK with me. That's how they can get you such a great deal - because they don't tell you in advance what company you are getting. But since they only use Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, and National for bidding, I don't think you have to worry.

Before you finalize your bid they do tell you the total cost. For example, I bid $30 a day for a minivan, that's $210 a week. Total with all fees and taxes was $347 for our 8 day trip. That works out to be $304 a week TOTAL.

On the Alamo site the rate has gone down a bit since my purchase. As of today the same rental is $655.37. I paid $347, so I saved $308

I believe their rates will continue to go down because January is a slow season like it is now in November. I just checked a similar rental for November and got a total price of $466.27 for an 8 day rental. With Priceline I'm still ahead by $120 over their last minute deals. My risk is I'm betting that no major brand at the airport will offer a deal of less than $210 a week for a mini van. Meanwhile, I'm very pleased with the deal I got and I don't have to work at it any more.

Quite frankly, I don't understand the hesitance to try Priceline. I use it all the time for car rentals and hotels and have never been disappointed. As long as you have time you can bid a really low number and use it for practice, getting familiar with the process. Start really low and work your way up a little bit every 2 days. You may be pleasantly surprised as I was with a really great deal.

 

[alecam]

Got this for my January 23-30th week.

Mid Size Car rental
Car daily rate: - Hotwire Hot Rate $16.95
Rental days: 7
Subtotal: $118.65
Tax recovery charges and fees: $60.74
Total price: $179.39