I’ve never rented a car before, but we’re doing some traveling next week and have the need. Any good or bad experiences with any of the major players that I need to be aware of, or are they all pretty much equal?
There can be a huge difference in prices they charge. We rented a minivan in Orlando this winter. Most of the major rental companies wanted between 800 – 900 for 8 days. I rented from Thrifty for about 450.
I generally go through Enterprise when I need one. One hint is that if you rent it from the Airport you save money. I generally pick them up at the little St. Paul airport.
Some of the cheaper places will have cars with more miles on them, I am Hertz 5 Star rental and always get brand new cars with free upgrades. Sometimes its cheaper to rent from the airport because if they get so many cars they have no place to put them. In Colorado once I gat a mid size for $6 aday because they had so many cars.
Check a online travel site to find the best price for what you want.
Do some reading about what you’re liable for in the case of an accident. And maybe talk to your car insurance company to see what/if they cover for you.
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I’ve never rented a car before, but we’re doing some traveling next week and have the need. Any good or bad experiences with any of the major players that I need to be aware of, or are they all pretty much equal? _______
Talk to your agent, bring proof of your own insurance, the rental companys make a bundle off ya if you don’t. Make sure the tank is full of gas on the return, they’ll hook ya there too- – jerr
I’ve used enterprise with good results, and some other one I can’t remember at the moment, never had an issue, but I can’t say I’ve done a lot of renting.
First off renting from the airport is always more expensive, I used online sources to find good prices, priceline, and I think kayak will do it too. I also lucked out and called to check on their cheapist car availablity and I know they didnt have one, so I got upgraded for free when I picked up at the cheapist car’s rate 
Then I ended up renting it for a couple extra days because it was cheaper to rent for a longer time than just a couple days, and when I returned it early they credited me back money, still can’t wrap my head around that one, something to think about though, I don’t think it works that way for all companies. (that was enterprise in Nebraska)
It also seems to me that the more inquiries you make on a website about renting a car, that it will drive the price higher. I ended needing a rental on vacation, and I started checking prices so did my cousin, and they got more expensive each time… ( I think the same goes for flights)
Myself I’d use priceline or kayak or something to the likes and I think you’ll get a decent deal.
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I generally go through Enterprise when I need one. One hint is that if you rent it from the Airport you save money. I generally pick them up at the little St. Paul airport.
Generally speaking it’s not cheapist from the airport, but I won’t say you’re wrong, worth looking into the differences. Generally citys and such add taxes to the airport locations.
It’ll definitely be coming from the airport as we’re flying into Washington DC.
Sign up for AAA if you don’t already have it. You can get a good discount at Hertz, plus the bennefits AAA offers. Works good for hotel discounts as well. 
Mrs Grouse travels frequently on business and she’s a gold or platnium member with 3 or 4 of the national players. What she’s told me is there isn’t a lot of difference in quality, it’s just that prices vary a lot.
It’s almost ALWAYS more expensive to rent at the airport. Avoid it if at all possible. Most hotels have shuttles, so if you can take the hotel shuttle and then have your rental delivered to your hotel or pick it up at the in-town location.
TOP TIPS:
1. If you rent at an off-airport location and you are asked when you flew in, make up a date about 2 weeks ago and say you’ve been in town for a while.
Seattle, San Fran, and LA all have regulations designed to trap visitors into paying the higher tourist tax rate on rental cars at the airport even at other non-airport locations. If you answer this question by saying that you flew in today or yesterday, you’ll automatically be socked with a huge tax or tourist fee.
I’ve never been asked to actually prove when I flew in, in Seattle they ask and just type in whatever you say, so make sure it’s at least 2 weeks ago.
Mrs. Grouse said she’s been asked this in lots of other cities, so this sock it to the tourisits / biz travelers thing. Get out of it if you can because in Seattle it’s freaking huge, like $20 per day just in added taxes or something like that.
2. Insurance – Your personal auto insurance generally provides coverage for rental cars. Call your agent to ask about details and what the deductable is.
Many preimum-level credit cards and mileage/travel points credit cars also include rental car coverage. Both my Platinum Amex and my Visa MegaMiles gold card provide free coverage.
3. Google the Priceline.com trick for rental cars. There’s a way to game their system by first choosign a top-grade car for a low price. If you’re denied, you can’t submit another offer for that same level of car, but you can submit the same price offer for a LOWER level car.
So what I do is look up rates on Kayak or Travelocity travel sites and find the best one, say $39 a day for a mid-size. Then I go on priceline and submit $32 a day for a luxury. Denied. Then same bid for a full size. Usually I get it on the second try, so I end up with an upgraded car for less money. Lots about this on various sites, Google it.
If you have coverage, decline ALL insurance offered by the rental car company. Don’t stack up on redundant insurance because if you read the fine print, that insurance kicks in only after your other coverages (personal auto, etc) are used first. So basically most people would recived nothing from this insurance.
Grouse
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It’ll definitely be coming from the airport as we’re flying into Washington DC.
Ohhhhh. Yeah. Potential bad deal.
Are you picking up the car and heading OUT of DC? Or INTO DC?
Grouse
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It’ll definitely be coming from the airport as we’re flying into Washington DC.
Just a hint I heard last night on the news with flying into DC… if at all possible, fly into Baltimore and rent the car there… ALOT cheaper supposedly 
The thing I have found when renting from Price line is, I have to use the computer at the airport and do not get any help from the agent at the counter. And your return time better be on time or it will cost you a lot more.
Like Grouse mentioned you can probably take a shuttle service to an off airport rental agency, we did that in Miami. Grouse’s post was great!
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It’ll definitely be coming from the airport as we’re flying into Washington DC.
Just a hint I heard last night on the news with flying into DC… if at all possible, fly into Baltimore and rent the car there… ALOT cheaper supposedly
Affirmative, affirmative.
Also, watch out for hotel parking fees if you’re going into DC. It ain’t like round these parts where every hotel has a big parking lot with loads of free parking. Fees of $20-$70 a day are totally common out east.
Grouse
I just looked into a rental in DC for a week out. One as is, and one with AAA. A midsize car through Hertz with no discount is $63.49/day. With AAA $57.14/day.
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Are you picking up the car and heading OUT of DC? Or INTO DC?
Flying into Dulles, picking up the car, heading out to my bro-in-law’s house in VA for a few days, then back to DC for a couple days.
Grouse, thanks for the Priceline tip. I just wanted a full-size, but I low-balled them on a premium and they took it. 
Saved me quite a bit!
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I just looked into a rental in DC for a week out. One as is, and one with AAA. A midsize car through Hertz with no discount is $63.49/day. With AAA $57.14/day.
Got a premium through Priceline for $40/day. 
I always recommend Hertz.
I ran into a new twist last month in Phoenix. For $60 they sell you all the gas in the tank. Supposedly at $3.20/gallon when it was $4.00 at most pumps. When you return it no charge to fill it up. But then you have to know you will come back near empty or it’s not a good deal. I am still trying to figured out how $19.95/day for 5 days resulted in a $250 bill.
I wonder why… 
I travel about 30-40% of my working days and I think you did ok at $40/day through Priceline. Just make sure you decline all coverages they offer for insurance even if they have some line about how your insurance doesn’t do this or that. It is BS. You are covered driving a rental car just as if you were in your own car.
You may need to have your insurance policy number and company and phone number handy. I’ve seen car rental places hassle people who they don’t believe have car insurance. So just be ready.
Hertz and Avis are the most expensive companies by far. National, Alamo, Thrifty, and Budget are all good choices with same cars. They may have a few less shuttle buses but unless you’re in a rush, it is ok.
ET
as Cougar said is true, be advised the same coverages apply as long as you have at least one vehicle with full coverage. Also be aware the insurance company may not cover what is referred to as an out of use fee. If you damage said rental vehicle, and it is in the body shop for a couple days, you still may get charged by rental company while the car can’t be rented out to another party. I just helped a client negotiate out from those charges because the body shop used by Enterprise had some sort of an under the table deal to profit from the excess charges the body shop estimate showed. So we called their bluff, but just be aware of your insurance companies limitations, cause all are not created equal.
We have used all of the rental car agencies, Thrifty is the best by far.
A minor detail that caught me years ago… Nobody seems to have mentioned that one needs a credit card to rent a car and not a debit card. The debit card limits you liability to the amount in the account, so the credit card companies won’t take that.
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