Good, bad and ugly of car renting

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Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,777
126
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?
Around here, the return times are pretty lax, but they bill a set dollar amount per hour past a full day's rental. If you're dealing with flights, it's not worth the $20 to worry about it....just pretend you're saving money by not having to pay parking at the airport.
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,033
545
126
This is for a rental I need due to the car being in the shop. I think I'll just book for an extra day. $20 for an extra hour or two when the daily rate is is only $20 is ridiculous.
 

RockinZ28

Platinum Member
Mar 5, 2008
2,173
49
101
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?
I'd say is practically always going to be cheaper to book longer and return early. They can really bend you over for extensions.

I've done weekly rentals for 5-6 day business trips, which was cheaper than just renting for 5 days. Most will charge an early return fee, but it should be pretty low.
 

Exterous

Super Moderator
Jun 20, 2006
20,348
3,426
126

You'll find different groups rank them differently. For example Travel and Leisure has National as #1. One big difference in rankings is going to be how you weight cost vs convenience and whether you take unique benefits into consideration. I'll always take National over anyone else if the prices are close (which they aren't always for 2-4 day rentals) because of the simplicity of their process and the ability to select my own car. Takes about 45 seconds for all the rental paperwork and about 10 seconds to return the rental because they don't push upgrades, coverage, gas and I've never seen the 'car walk of shame' when you return. Their employee quality seems above average and varies less than the others too IMO
 

FeuerFrei

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2005
9,152
928
126
$20 a day? Hell. I thought $38/day is decent.

In my experience if you need to rent for 5 days, you may as well keep it the whole week, it costs the same.
 

who?

Platinum Member
Sep 1, 2012
2,327
42
91
If you return it late you may be screwing up the next customers trip.