Rental car discounts? About This Page:

[whoSEZ]

Bob's dad died a few months ago, and the family is holding a private memorial service in early June. We were able to get pretty good airfare for him, but the rental car is another story -- it's almost as much as the airfare!! We tried Priceline; our first offer was rejected, so we'll try again tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I thought I'd see if anybody has any tips on finding rental car deals.

He doesn't want anything fancy -- a compact is fine. He's flying to/from Hartford (BDL) and will need unlimited mileage.

On a related note: His return flight leaves at 5:30 am (which is why he's getting a rental car instead of asking a family member to drop him off in the middle of the night). Is it possible the crazy return time is making the price higher? Or the fact that he's renting Sunday to Wednesday? Or are gas prices driving up rental car prices? Just curious.

Thanks for any ideas!

[DopeyGirl]

I think you must be in my brain right now Sandy because I was just going to ask a similar question!

I am looking for discounts as well.

I'm finding OK rates for rentals where I would be renting and dropping off at the same location, but we'll be flying into one airport and DH is flying out of a different one a few days later, so I would need more of a one-way rental. Are there ever any GOOD rates for those either?

[whoSEZ]

Originally Posted by DopeyGirl

I think you must be in my brain right now Sandy because I was just going to ask a similar question!

Spooky.

Originally Posted by DopeyGirl

I'm finding OK rates for rentals where I would be renting and dropping off at the same location, but we'll be flying into one airport and DH is flying out of a different one a few days later, so I would need more of a one-way rental. Are there ever any GOOD rates for those either?

We tried the one-way rental thing too. His Sunday flight arrives early afternoon, so we're sure someone could easily pick him up, and we know he could carpool from CT to NH for the memorial service ... so really, the only time he'd need a car is Wednesday morning, to drive from his Mom's in Eastern CT back to the airport. Well ... sheeish! A car from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning is only $40 less than the car from Sunday to Wednesday. We're sure that's because it was a one-way. Grrrr.

We were so thrilled with the airfare -- way cheaper than usual to Hartford -- but MAN, the rental car price is stinky!!

[DopeyGirl]

Yeah, I was finding regular rates of between $35-45/day for an intermediate car (big enough to fit all 3 of us and our plethora of luggage in) but then tried to do a one-way rental and found rates of no less than $105/day.

That rate kind of says "OUCH." to me. We're still trying to see if my dad can get the day off of work to come and pick us up from the airport, but DH's flight leaves on Labor Day from an airport an hour and 20 minutes from my parents house . . . at 6am. I'd rather get a car just so I don't have to run him to the airport at 3am.

[whoSEZ]

Bob went back to Priceline last night and did the whole "name your own price" thing and was able to get a compact for $30 a day, saving about 25% from the original quotes he found.

This morning, I got up and found an e-mail from Hotwire.com saying they were having a rental car sale. Plugged in his dates/location and found one for $21 a day.

I love having a husband who takes care of things quickly ... but this is one time I wish he'd just WAITED a few days!!!