Renting A Car

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Hey folks, I figured if anyone would know it would be the CP Brain Trust.

I'm looking at renting a car for a weekend this summer and was curious where to go to get the best rate. Car Rentals.com seems to have a good deal, however I don't know how insurance works.

There's an option for coverage but US only.

Anyone have any experience with renting cars online?

[ken0042]

I usually go to both Travelocity and Expedia, find who has the best deal, then check out that rental company's site.

[Nufy]

Do not rent at an airport if you can help it.

There is always a premium for picking up at an airport.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

hotwire is always good with the alerts.

Check out redflagdeals too. We booked a full size from LAX for 10 days in using a coupon there for $250 from budget.
http://coupons.redflagdeals.com/i.php/browse/11/travel/

Usually you can cancel and re-book so keep looking.

[Table 5]

I always found Alamo the cheapest out of the big guys.

The one thing i always do though is book the smallest/cheapest possible car on the list....which they never actually have on the lot, and therefore they upgrade you to the next level up (and often even higher) for the same price out of necessity. I used to travel for business a lot, and they never had the smallest car for me once. This might be different in Canada, where people are used to driving smaller cars, but in the US they don't seem to stock many..if any.

[Mike Oxlong]

Try costco.com

We went to Hawaii a couple months ago and rented a car from Alamo through Costco and it was WAY cheaper.

Normal cost was going to be around $750 and we got it for around $480.

Check them out,

[getbak]

Search for and try all of the discount codes you can find for every rental company. If you have or know someone who has the Entertainment Book coupon book (lots of organizations sell them as fund-raisers, so you likely know someone who has one), try all of the different coupon codes they have.

My personal preference is Alamo/National (same company, different marketing) because they let you choose your vehicle from within the category you've paid for rather than just handing you the keys to whatever they decide to give you. If you're picking up in a large airport location, you'll have a pretty good selection to choose from.