Money for the Rest of Us

This is the twelfth post of the series “15 Tips for Cheap Travel.” Y ou can navigate the rest of the series by going to the 15 Tips for Cheap Travel Index.

Like airline tickets and lodging, renting a car can be an expensive part of a trip. Luckily, there are a lot of cost comparison tools available for renting a car on the internet.

Here are some things to take into consideration when looking at rental cars:

Mileage: If you are going to be driving a lot, get a car with unlimited mileage. Even if it’s not an option, call and tell them that you just got a price quote online and that you would like unlimited mileage. If they say they won’t do it, tell them that their competitor is offering unlimited mileage and ask if they will match.

Type of Car: If you can, get the smallest car available, because it will also usually be the cheapest car. But, watch out if they try to give you a “free upgrade” once you pick up the car. I read somewhere (and now I don’t remember where) that they charge more for insurance for the larger cars and so you should tell them that you won’t pay the higher insurance rate because they don’t have the smaller car available.

Insurance: Most people know that you don’t need to get additional insurance on a rental car. If you pay with a major credit card the card will offer some sort of protection. (Check with your card first before you leave the country. A small number of countries aren’t covered by any of the major cards (including Ireland and Israel.)) But, I read an interesting post about why you might want to consider insurance. 9 Confessions From A Former Enterprise Salesman (on the Consumerist) has some great tips including:

By now everyone knows that you don’t need that extra rental insurance but just like service contracts at Best Buy, you can negotiate the daily rate of your rental down by agreeing to add all the insurance (we call it “full boat” when some poor soul gets soaked for all of the extra protections–damage waiver, personal accident insurance, and supplemental liability: the trifecta of consumer stupidity). One of the lines that I used to use was, “For just a few bucks a day you got a million dollars of coverage.” True, but the full million dollar payout from the supplemental liability doesn’t come due unless you die. Gruesomely.

Nothing says you can’t initial the “decline” box instead once your contract is printed, thereby declining the insurance and paying only your lower rate.

This is the big money tip: Most of Enterprise’s business comes from insurance replacement rentals. Insurance customers pay a lot less and all insurance contracts have unlimited miles. The only substantial difference between a retail deal and an insurance deal (other than price) is that insurance clients are billed in a calendar day instead of a 24-hour clock, this means you can return a car anytime until closing and you’re still charged the day’s rate (conversely, if you have the car at 8am you may as well keep it until 6).

…Here’s how to get that insurance rate on your next rental: Call for a reservation, say your car was totaled and you need a replacement; your insurance company is cutting you a check for $25.00 per day flat so you need something for under $25. Tell the agent that your insurance company is State Farm, or Farmers, or someone big–the big insurance companies have the best rates (rates will vary a few dollars from company to company). You’ll need your own proof of insurance when you come in but don’t that needs to match what you say here, nobody cares and people utilize different insurance companies for all kinds of reasons (you were hit by another company’s insured is probably the main reason).

Age: If you’re under 25 and are renting a car in the US, you will likely be charged extra for your car rental. (If you renting internationally, the age and rates will vary.) I recently booked a car rental in Florida through an online website and they said that there would be a “low fee” for my being under 25. I thought this would be maybe a $10 flat rate. Imagine my surprise when I picked up the car and it was going to cost $25/day EXTRA . Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice and had to rent the car, but in the future I will be calling multiple rental companies to find out what the exact charge is for being under 25 years old.

Online Comparison Tools:

• Kayak Cheap Rental Cars
• Sidestep
• And traditional travel agencies: Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity.

For international car rental:

• Kemwel (I’ve used them in the past and was very pleased)
• AutoEurope

Remember that if you will be driving internationally you will want to find out the local driving laws. AAA is very helpful with this information and also issues international driving permits if you need one.

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