Good, bad and ugly of car renting

[BarkingGhostar]

So, went looking at prices for the range of vehicles to rent something for a week. This would be out of Login International Airport in Boston in early August. They have plenty available. Tried Avis first and looked at the rates. Just under $500 to over $1200. I find something, test-checkout on the $637 rental and it later shows $237 in taxes and fees.

Why on earth is industry allowed to get away with this kind of BS? What good is rate shopping do if I have to add 35% to it? What, they can't simply show the rate divided by 0.65 and present the end result? How hard is that? Anyway, thinking of either the BMW 328 or the Mercedes E350 and leaning away from the 328.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Use https://www.costcotravel.com/ if you have a Costco membership.

You plug in your dates of rental and where to pickup/dropoff, it shows you competitive rates (with good discounts applied) to like 4+ different car rental companies. Definitely been my go-to for finding the lowest prices.

 

[JulesMaximus]

The Mercedes will be more comfortable.

I'm going to rent a 6 series Grand coupe in October out of Orlando for a few days. That should be fun.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Use https://www.costcotravel.com/ if you have a Costco membership.

You plug in your dates of rental and where to pickup/dropoff, it shows you competitive rates (with good discounts applied) to like 4+ different car rental companies. Definitely been my go-to for finding the lowest prices.

Yup, I use costco travel for all my car rental needs. I find them to be cheapest unless you have some major corporate discount available to you.

 

[Xstatic1]

I use hotwire.com for car rentals.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I had been looking at the Costco Travel site as well as Avis. I just looked again and noted two examples for the same make/model vehicle and compared Costco to Avis' prepaid pricing. On the Ford Taurus LTD I could save $314 for the duration, but for the Lincoln MKZ I could save only $100. Aside from the fact I wouldn't be caught dead in either vehicle I noticed a lot of the specialty vehicles (BMW, Mercedes) are not offered through Costco Travel when looking at Avis discounts. Nice, discounts but only on boring products.

 

[Exterous]

Yup, I use costco travel for all my car rental needs. I find them to be cheapest unless you have some major corporate discount available to you.

They can be weird with one ways sometimes. Occasionally I've seen really high prices for those compared to various OTAs.

 

[herm0016]

On the Ford Taurus LTD I could save $314 for the duration, but for the Lincoln MKZ I could save only $100. Aside from the fact I wouldn't be caught dead in either vehicle

That being the case don't you have ATOT money to throw around? do they have silver car over there? hell, just hire a limo!

 

[Banana]

Be careful - National Car Rental has a mileage limit on specialty luxury vehicles. Or at least they did when I considered renting a fancy car from them last year. Read the fine print.

 

[MrDudeMan]

On average, I pay between 22 and 34 per day including fees unless I'm in one of the few exceptional places, e.g. NYC or Tokyo. I rent cars for business travel every other week and sometimes more frequently. Boston seems to be one of the more expensive places to rent a car, but the specific type of car is obviously influencing the price. I never look for a luxury car.

I use Lyft/Uber to get to an off-site rental location in some situations. For example, I found rental cars in Boston around $370 for a week after briefly searching, but I didn't pick the airport as the location or a specific type of car. The fees were around 15%, which seems typical to me.

 

[BoomerD]

So, went looking at prices for the range of vehicles to rent something for a week. This would be out of Login International Airport in Boston in early August. They have plenty available. Tried Avis first and looked at the rates. Just under $500 to over $1200. I find something, test-checkout on the $637 rental and it later shows $237 in taxes and fees.

Why on earth is industry allowed to get away with this kind of BS? What good is rate shopping do if I have to add 35% to it? What, they can't simply show the rate divided by 0.65 and present the end result? How hard is that? Anyway, thinking of either the BMW 328 or the Mercedes E350 and leaning away from the 328.

Don't blame the industry for the various taxes and fees. State and local governments see car rental as a cash cow...fleecing travelers who are more-or-less fucked without a rental car.
You MIGHT be able to save a bit by not renting from an airport location...but that will require you to take a shuttle from the airport into town...then find your way to a car rental location.

 

[Svnla]

MBs and Bimmers as rentals? You guys sure like to burn money.

Whenever I need a car for an out of town weekend, I would pick up a cheap economy car (Camry/Maxima) either from Hertz or Enterprise for about $20 per day plus fees/taxes with unlimited miles. Total cost of 3 days rental would be around $70-$75 total. Less if I have a discount couple applicable for the rental.

FYI. Do not rent from the airport location if you can help it. The extra fees are ridiculous

 

[ultimatebob]

MBs and Bimmers as rentals? You guys sure like to burn money.

Whenever I need a car for an out of town weekend, I would pick up a cheap economy car (Camry/Maxima) either from Hertz or Enterprise for about $20 per day plus fees/taxes with unlimited miles. Total cost of 3 days rental would be around $70-$75 total. Less if I have a discount couple applicable for the rental.

FYI. Do not rent from the airport location if you can help it. The extra fees are ridiculous

It doesn't matter where I live. Once they see you're from out of state... BAM, tourism fee. Even if you rent from some place in the boonies.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Rented a Kia Optima for a week in May. A full size car, IMO. $312 after fees. From AVIS at a very small airport in Texas. Drove it out to Atlanta and back.

 

[turtile]

Why on earth is industry allowed to get away with this kind of BS? What good is rate shopping do if I have to add 35% to it? What, they can't simply show the rate divided by 0.65 and present the end result? How hard is that? Anyway, thinking of either the BMW 328 or the Mercedes E350 and leaning away from the 328.

They aren't getting the fees. If you don't want to pay a ton of fees, don't rent a car at the airport. Just get yourself outside. If a car rental place is next to the airport, the fee goes to the airport.

 

[madoka]

MBs and Bimmers as rentals? You guys sure like to burn money.

Whenever I need a car for an out of town weekend, I would pick up a cheap economy car (Camry/Maxima)

Camry or Maxima!?!!? Man, I think I'm splurging when I upgrade to the Corolla.

 

[madoka]

Why on earth is industry allowed to get away with this kind of BS?

Don't try to book a room in Vegas then. 35% markup is nothing to them. Last month, I was tempted by $25 rooms, but when I tried to reserve it, I saw $40/day in resort fees! And you still have to pay for parking on top of that!

 

[RossMAN]

Camry or Maxima!?!!? Man, I think I'm splurging when I upgrade to the Corolla.

Same here. We recently rented an intermediary, a Hyundai Elantra hatchback and I hated it. Switched it for a Chrysler 200 which was marginally better.

 

[NutBucket]

I use Lyft/Uber to get to an off-site rental location in some situations. For example, I found rental cars in Boston around $370 for a week after briefly searching, but I didn't pick the airport as the location or a specific type of car. The fees were around 15%, which seems typical to me.

This is smart. The fees at the airport are ridiculous. I actually need to rent a car next week as one of ours will be in the shop. Looks like Enterprise is about $20 a day for a compact. Luckily there's Enterprise, Avis and Hertz within walking distance.

 

[RockinZ28]

I've found often times if you book through Chase ultimaterewards portal you don't pay taxes/fees. Makes for some pretty unbeatable rates.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

MBs and Bimmers as rentals? You guys sure like to burn money.

Whenever I need a car for an out of town weekend, I would pick up a cheap economy car (Camry/Maxima) either from Hertz or Enterprise for about $20 per day plus fees/taxes with unlimited miles. Total cost of 3 days rental would be around $70-$75 total. Less if I have a discount couple applicable for the rental.

FYI. Do not rent from the airport location if you can help it. The extra fees are ridiculous

While I mostly agree, I found that by trying to avoid airport rental car companies you will easily expense the difference between having to Uber/taxi between the airport and car rental place.

FWIW, I'm not talking the likes of NYC or Boston, just your average city like Fort Lauderdale FL or such....

 

[feralkid]

It doesn't matter where I live. Once they see you're from out of state... BAM, tourism fee. Even if you rent from some place in the boonies.

Say what?

I've never seen a law that allows for that.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My advice if you want to save money....book the cheapest reservation now with whatever coupons/discounts you can get just to reserve a car and know you have a reservation. Check back in a few weeks....and keep checking back to look for lower rates. Car rentals are usually cheaper about 2-3 weeks out from the rental pickup date. Check now to see if it's cheaper 2-3 weeks from today's date. There's quite a bit of fluctuation as companies scramble their prices to lure customers before they mark them up again for the last minute people. There's typically no penalty in cancelling a rental reservation within a day of pickup...so book a few with whatever companies you like and drop the more expensive ones as you book lower rates.

 

[NutBucket]

I've found often times if you book through Chase ultimaterewards portal you don't pay taxes/fees. Makes for some pretty unbeatable rates.

Damn, too bad this only works for airport locations.

Also, any advice on whether it is cheaper to book a car longer than needed and return early vs. returning it late?

 

[Scarpozzi]

As stated, if you have the opportunity to rent off airport property, you won't have to pay airport tax and some of the markup drops because the rental company isn't having to lease the space.... That's where the extra fees really come from. At Logan, there are a few rental places a shuttle ride away that may give you better prices...Avis, Thrifty, and All State Car Rentals should be right near there.