Rental Cars

For our upcoming honeymoon, we're going to Banff and flying into Calgary from Toronto. We will need to rent a car. Are there any tips or good deals out there when it comes to renting a car? Any good or bad experiences?

Yea..dont get as much as a scratch on it...or you're screwed.

Actually, I have found bigger companies like Avis, Hertz, Budget and National quite decent, and they dont mind a scratch or two. I had once scratched the whole front side door on Hertz, and they didn't charge me for it (I might have been lucky).

But then you have Enterprise (personally bad record), Discount (terrible) and a plethora of mom and pop stores. They are super picky and if they find even a hair out of place, they will slap on huge charges.

Best idea is to go with the rep. all over the car and indicate any scratches, dings or blemishes, no matter how small or significant, before you sign for the car. That way yuou are covered.

Bon Voyage.

I have used Hotwire.com a few times already, and they are very very good locating the best deals for you for car rentals. The only limitation is you always have to pick up your car at the local airport and then return it to the same location you got it as well. Try their site and see if they can find you a deal! : )

lock in the lowest 'no-obligation' quote right away. then check every so often leading up to the pickup date as prices change every day, sometimes every hour. if the price drops, book a new reservation and cancel the old one.

Buy the insurance and don't worry about the car.

Stick to Ecars or Discount

Give travel.yahoo.com a try. I have found it good for finding rental cars. If you get one away from the airport it can be significantly less as it will not have the airport surcharges.

Call the rental location directly right before you go to make sure they are still holding the car on the day you arrive. They always over reserve cars.

Went to the Rockies this past summer and flew into Calgary. I booked with Enterprise Rent-A-Car through the Travelocity site. It was a shuttle to the location (about 5 minutes from airport)but was worth the savings for us. I then used a 20% off coupon through the Visa coupon promotion. Total for the week for an economy car was about $175. It was supposed to be with air conditioning but none of the economy cars had AC, so I was upgraded to mid-size free.

You get free car rental insurance from several charge card companies. Check the CC reviews on RFD. The insurance markup is obscene.
Book the cheapest. 75% of the time they will upgrade you for free, if not they you can upgrade at pickup time for the same cost or cheaper (if they have cars).
Mind you I am an old fart, usually on business trips. I note they treat younger drivers differently..

Originally Posted by porphyra

Yea..dont get as much as a scratch on it...or you're screwed.

Actually, I have found bigger companies like Avis, Hertz, Budget and National quite decent, and they dont mind a scratch or two. I had once scratched the whole front side door on Hertz, and they didn't charge me for it (I might have been lucky).

But then you have Enterprise (personally bad record), Discount (terrible) and a plethora of mom and pop stores.

That's my experience too.
Enterprise: the best price, esp. their 10$/weekend day special, or the 20$ weekday coupon.
Discount: terrible
Hertz: the best service, more flexible, more expensive. Someone told me you can drop your car in another city (e.g. rent in Montreal and drop in Toronto) for no extra charge.

Just want to echo the insurance advice.
I rent a lot of vehicles for business purposes.

I've used National and been very happy with their service.

On the insurance issue, I have told my auto insurance company who insure my personal vehicle that I want an extra ryder on my policy which covers me for rental vehicles. I think it costs me about an extra $10 a year, not sure though. It's certainly not as much as one day's insurance with any rental company.

In addition, if I pay with my gold visa, they will cover the insurance of any rental, which is just a perk. I carry the additional ryder anyway in the event I use some other credit card which doesn't pay.

I have had an incident where I drove into a post in a parking garage, and I had paid with my gold visa - a little bit of paperwork and I was covered. I'd prefer to have visa handle the claim anyway, so my auto insurance rates aren't impacted by any little mishap.

So, check out where else you're covered, and just say no to the insurace the rental company offers.

Tracy

I only stick with Avis, Hertz or National/Alamo. As mentioned above, the big companies are less likely to care about minor scratches, dings, scuff marks. YMMV. Most of the time their rates are only a bit more than the independents.

Since you're renting in Canada, you just need to find a good gold/platinum credit card that will cover the LDW. For those renting in litigation-happy USA, make sure that you have enough liability insurance. In most states, the car rental companies only carry the minimum ($0 to $50000). In those cases, it would be worthwhile to buy the supplemental liability insurance if your own auto policy doesn't already cover it. Credit cards don't cover this.

Thank you all for your words of wisdom!! This has been helpful.
Would anyone disagree re: it's cheaper to rent from an off-airport site than an airport site?
Also - sounds like there are some companys that are preferred - anyone have direct experience with the ones in Calgary?
We'll definitely have to look into the insurance part.
Anyone know of ways to get discounts? coupon offers or anything?

Originally Posted by aukkimmy

Would anyone disagree re: it's cheaper to rent from an off-airport site than an airport site?

Not in all cases. Sometimes there are promos which only apply to airport locations. Otherwise yes, you do save the ~15% airport CFR by going to an off-airport location. You really have to compare them both to decide if it's worth it. Don't forget to factor in the time/hassle/taxi factor.

Also - sounds like there are some companys that are preferred - anyone have direct experience with the ones in Calgary?

I've only rented from Hertz at YYC, and both times I was upgraded to a Volvo because they ran out of full size cars. YMMV.

Anyone know of ways to get discounts? coupon offers or anything?

CAA generally yields the biggest discount at Hertz. Most agencies give discounts to Aeroplan members, which is free. Also compare the non-coupon/discount rate, as sometimes that can be the lowest.

Originally Posted by malaca

That's my experience too.
Enterprise: the best price, esp. their 10$/weekend day special, or the 20$ weekday coupon.

What is the 20$ weekday coupon??

-mike