Travel Tips For Traveling #2
For our second installment, let’s talk rental cars. If you need your own wheels when you get there, you will likely be dealing with one of these guys ——->
I’ll start by advising you to rent a car if you think you’ll need one. Early on in my travels, I tried to avoid renting a car at all costs, and it ended up really costing me. Some cities however, it’s easier not to have a car (i.e. NYC). Make a decision based on your needs, but be realistic at the same time. My first trip to New York several years ago I didn’t want a car in the city, but then had to go 100 miles north to my grandmother’s house. I made a novice mistake and ended up paying a chauffeur $800 to take my wife and I to the Catskills and then back to JFK a few days later. Not cool.
So you have decided you need a car. Who do you call? For years, I did everything via Orbitz.com. Flights, hotels, and cars all were booked here. I guess I’m something of a loyalist. About a year ago, I started actually doing research on prices for an up-coming trip instead of trusting my third-party provider, and I was stunned at what I found. It was actually twice as much to book a car through Orbitz!!! I felt cheated, betrayed, and actually pretty angry. All I had to do was make my reservation with the rental company directly and it reduced the price by half! (NOTE: please research this for your specific trip, this has always been true for car rentals in my experience, but I have found hotels to be about the same price, so they are not all bad…)
Who has the best rates? For me it has been Budget Rental. I have not found anyone less expensive, but keep in mind this may vary by region. My rentals generally take place in New York, but I’d be surprised to learn they are not the cheapest in most markets.
Did you know that where you pick up from will affect your rates? If fact, it plays a big role. Take my New York trips for example. I usually fly into Queens, but if I were to pick up a rental anywhere in NYC the rate would be significantly higher (almost twice the cost) than if I picked up in nearby Westchester County. Renting in a major city often carries a premium over the nearby suburbs. Something else of note is airport rentals are usually less expensive than renting from a stand-alone location. When I fly to New York, I do the mass transit thing in the city, and when I’m ready to head to the small town Grandma lives in, I hop a train to Westchester County Airport (HPN) and grab my rental.
One more strategy I’ll share; be intentional about what time of day you pick-up and drop off your rental. Generally, the rental days go 12:00PM-12:00PM. In other words, if you pick up at 11:59 AM on Monday and drop off at 12:01 on Tuesday, you will pay for two days rental instead of one. A savy renter could instead pick up after noon on Monday and drop off before noon on Tuesday, and pay half as much. Learned this one the hard way too.
Do these tips actually help? For me, absolutely. I make the same trip often, and I have seen my rental fees cut more than in half simply but following these guidelines. Hopefully they will help you as much.
***update Another helpful rental car tip: reserve the smallest car possible that will still accommodate your party. More than once I have paid for a larger vehicle and ended up with something smaller when I arrived. The simple truth is when push comes to shove, they are going to give you what they have. Sure if you do not get what you paid for their will be some 800 number to call and get a refund but keep in mind the opposite is often also true. I book the economy car and half the time I end up in an SUV at no additional cost (a smile and a complement to the clerk doesn’t hurt either…). If they do not offer the bigger car for free, you can always upgrade at the counter for about $14 a day.
If your traveling with your kids who are still in a car seat, don’t drag one on the plane, reserve one along with your rental car! They will have one waiting for you, and it will be the best $26 you ever spent.
delighted to share. 