Car Rental Deals

[sportznutt]

Looking to go to Florida for the week......live in Hamilton, but willing to pick up at Buffalo or Detroit if needed. Any discounts/deals out there? I'm a CAA member and a teacher.....not sure if either qualify me for a discount.

[GangStarr]

if you can pick up at a US airport priceline.com is great for rental cars. I've only booked cars in Hawaii with them using "name your own price" it was 30% cheaper then website price of the big names (hertz, avis).

Name your own price also means your committed to paying the price you bid, so if they take your deal your booked. Unlike hotels, there isn't much difference who you rent from.

do some reading / searching around betterbidding.com

It's also worth googling around to find small rental shops where you might have some wiggle room, particularly on length of rental. It's pretty easy to estimate the amount of kilometers you need, so don't be discouraged just because its not unlimited. Sometimes used car dealerships rent out cars too. The ones in the GTA probably won't want you to go to the US, however its worth looking around or calling buffalo area dealers.

[canabiz]

I'd like to second PriceLine as a better option than booking directly with car rental companies.

I just booked a compact car with unlimited mileage with Avis, to be picked up at the Ottawa International Airport (YOW) for the upcoming Easter long weekend. After taxes, fees and currency exchange because PriceLine price is in US dollars, it works out to be about $30/day for 4 days. The car is to be picked up on Friday morning and returned on Monday evening...

Certainly not as good a deal as the $10/day with Alamo in the Hot Deals section but for this long weekend that is the start of the vacation period, I can't complain.

Before booking with PriceLine, i called Enterrpise, Hertz, and Avis (I have a corporate coupon there) and the lowest quote that I got was with Enterprise for $45/day, taxes in. The corporate coupon with Avis didn't seem to help much because it still works out to $50/day but I do get a $20 coupon for gas.

Now we just need to book a hotel and we will be good. I looked at various other options (Greyhound, ViaRAIL, flights) etc and driving is still the cheapest option and it gives you the flexibility, if you don't plan to go too far.

[imnew]

yes +1 on that...

I recently booked a full size car for one week at 20.00 per day..... at Fort lauderdale..