Car Rental Tips for Saving Money

Renting a car can be simple, but it's not always simple to do it and save money. It's best to know the insurance and outs before showing up at the rental counter.

We rent cars a couple of times a year when traveling and it's almost always easy and we're on our way with keys in hand in about 10 minutes. I wasn't going to write another post for a while on rental dos and don'ts, but I had a terrible experience on my last trip to Vegas and I didn't want it to happen to anyone else if you can avoid it.

Look at rental locations away from the airport

Generally, I rent my vehicles from an airport location and I take a shuttle, sign my name and I'm out, but lately more and more locations have better deals off site, so I've been booking them instead, because even with a shuttle or an Uber, it's still cheaper and more convenient. 

Airport locations impose a fee on their vehicle rentals, because they are passing on an airport tax they incur. Usually, it's a few bucks, which isn't a big deal, but sometimes its a huge difference. On my last trip to Vegas, the price between the airport and the off-site location* was about $110. Even an $8 Uber each way was going to make that a heck of a deal. Well, we had a reservation for noon. I tried calling three times around 10am to see if we could pick up early with no answer. 

We showed up at 11:40, checked in and then waited for over an hour for our car, despite being "next". I was told that there was only one guy washing cars and they couldn't give us a car that wasn't washed. This was a Saturday afternoon - the busiest tourist day for Vegas, besides maybe Friday evening - and there were only two people on duty. The lot was full of cars and we were not offered an upgrade at all, just the suggestion that if we could not wait and wanted to get a car faster, we should have rented at the airport. Um, what?

The general rule of thumb for rental companies is that it you have a reservation and the car class you request isn't available, they will upgrade you for free. What I was offered instead was to pay for a bigger car.  No.

Rent the smallest car class you can get away with

There are only two of us the majority of the time, so we don't have a lot of luggage and we're perf happy in a compact car, which is what I reserve. When that isn't available when we show up (oh darn) they offer us the next size up at no cost. Now, the other thing is that you can always upgrade when you arrive, but you can't downgrade, so try not to rent a car that's bigger than your needs. That's how you save money.

Skip the insurance

Most of the time the credit card you reserved your car on will have insurance coverage or your home insurance will cover you in any car you drive, so save the $15+ a day insurance.

Keep looking up until the day before you travel 

Unless you've prepaid for your car rental, you can keep looking for a better deal up until 24 hours before you leave. Most rental companies don't penalize you for booking or cancelling last-minute, since they don't ask for your credit card to hold your reservation. This also means that most car companies overbook. Find a better deal? Book the new car and cancel the old one.

Bring your own GPS

Did you know that renting one with your car can cost an average of $18/day. Yes, per DAY. Save your money and bring you own or use your phone.

Gas up yourself

You will always be offered a gas option. 

• Option A: You pay a flat fee and however full or empty you return the car, they refill it for you. This is almost always twice the cost of gas in the world and it's the same whether you come back with 1/4 tank or 3/4 tank, which is a total rip-off.
• Option B: You only pay for the gas you need. Usually, this info is posted. This has only happened to me once where the gas was super cheap.
• Option C: You refill your car on the way back to drop-off. This is almost always the most preferable option and the one I opt for 99% of the time.

Just choose one driver

It used to be that you could add a second driver to you rental for $0, but now it seems that it costs around $12-15/day. Choose which of you is willing to drive the whole time, usually that's me, and then the other person can be the designated navigator.

Unfortunately, bad customer service happens, but if a company consistently has bad service, something should be done about it. The lady on duty did nothing to try to appease us, except to give us the manager's card and say that they dealt with this everyday. Like they couldn't deal with reorganizing things and giving customers a better experience. After that, I would have gladly spent that extra $100 for a better location with employees who were friendly and helpful. 

On my previous trip in Feb, we rented from an Enterprise** location that was off-site of the airport and not only we're they super nice and helpful, but even after going to the airport pick-up, realizing we were in the wrong place, called an Uber and arrived, we still had our keys and we're out of the parking lot in much less time than we stood at Dollar waiting to be "next".

In short, look at reviews (for some reason, this one was mostly positive) and don't be afraid to speak up. If all else fails, write a negative review, contact the people in charge about your terrible experience and then tell everyone you know to go elsewhere.

Have you ever had an unusually good or an unusually bad car rental experience?

Disclaimer: I was not paid by either of these companies. These are just my honest opinions of two very different customer service experiences.

*The terrible rental car location: Dollar Rent-A-Car - 4775 Swenson Street, Las Vegas, Nevada

**The awesome rental cal location: Enterprise - 4475 W Tropicana Blvd, Las Vegas, Nevada

Are Road Trips Really Cheaper?

If you're hitting the road in order to save money on airfare, you may not actually be coming out ahead. I'm a fan of a good road trip, but I find that if you're only headed to a single destination, gas, food and hotel costs can much outweigh a plane ticket for a family of four. There are ways to save, of course, but unless you're hitting up a few destinations, it may not make much of a dent in your spending. Now, not everyone wants to drive straight through for almost a whole day, which is what I did to save airfare and hotel costs on a solo trip to Vegas one year, and I didn't do it again, as you can see. 

What's been your most memorable road trip so far?

Super Useful Travel Posts

Happy Friday! I bet you guys totally forgot about this series. I almost did, too, but now it's back! I've found some fun stuff for you. I hope you're having a fantastic week, and if you've come across anything fun and travel-related, then please enlighten us with a link back in the comments so we can all enjoy!

Sir Richard Branson wants people to travel cheaper and more often. To help you out, he's developed the Inner Circle plan for Virgin Mobile customers. See how you can get a practically free companion ticket as well as discounts on your own flights with this new program.

Even dogs like Universal Studios. Unfortunately, only service dogs can visit. This service dog got a chance to have a raptor encounter and his reaction is priceless. Is that a new friend? It almost makes me wish that there were pet days at theme parks where you could just walk around enjoying the non-rides with your furry friend.

While that dog seemed to have an awesome time at Universal, this lady didn't have the same luck. As a person born without arms, she was shocked that she wasn't allowed on any of the rides. She may be a pilot and a black belt, but the safety rules on ever ride didn't allow her access. I can certainly understand this, and maybe it would have been fine, but then again, maybe it wouldn't have. She's suing. Do you think she has a legit case?

Ever had a terrible time on vacation with your family? I think we have all had that one trip where we wish we could get away. This teenager, apparently, decided this was the case before she even left home and was so mad about being "forced" to vacation with her family, she declared it an emergency. No matter how bad a trip has been, I've never once been ungrateful that my parents took me anywhere and tried to make the best of it. What would you do if this was your kid?

Do you hate the TSA or just love those handy gray bins you put your shoes and laptop in? This guy decided to see if anyone cared if he walked away with one. It didn't seem to be a priority. Even the pilot didn't seem bothered that he walked through the airport with it. Look how far he got with it.

Speaking of fun things to happen on a plane, some flight attendants are just more fun than others. I've had the pleasure of hanging with one who's jump seat was facing my own seat (could have been awkward, but it really wasn't) and talked about their job a bit. I like it when they have a sense of humor, because you have to when working with the general public. Here are some unique announcements heard on planes. 

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I spend so much time planning my trips, taking photos and then blogging about them that doing anything else to remember them is almost an afterthought. I have a few ways to commemorate my trips - purchasing ornaments, adding airport carpet photos to a fun display, and even adding a new pic of Eric and I to our walls - but it's not usually anything super creative like these ideas from Alexandria Drake's blog.

I've heard of a lot of different dress codes, but some places, I guess, don't want you to express yourself in even a fun way. Disney allows costumes for little ones as well as Disneybounding (meaning you can dress inspired by characters), Universal encourages you to dress as a wizard at the Wizarding World, and so do other places, but Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC thinks dressing in period costume is not okay. Have you ever been kicked out of a place for your "inappropriate" dress?

There's a vast area of dressing between the formal suits of travelers through the 80s and business travelers and those choosing instead to just wear their slept-in pajamas out of the house. Dressing for comfort can also look good and like you tried and not slobbish. In fact, besides these sandals, Jennifer Aniston has it down. I choose sneakers or ballet flats, but then again, I'm a normal person and not a celeb. I wouldn't say no to a great pair of comfortable wedges on the plane though.

For the fourth year in a row, in 2016, Portland International has been named America's Best Airport by Travel + Leisure. I'm proud of our airport and take a load of credit for us getting food trucks in there. If nothing else, it proves that our board listens to suggestions from locals and travelers. Here's why PDX is on top again.

Okay, I'm not the only one who watched Dirty Dancing over and over and over. If it's on the TV at any time, even if it's almost over, I'm going to watch it. It's one of "those movies" for me. Nobody puts Baby in the corner and nobody stops me from watching it when it's on. I even suffered through that made-for-tv version that was horrible. Well, now you can save your hard-earned dollars to visit the resort that Baby and her family did in the 60s. Haven't we all wanted to check into a bungalow at Kellerman's and take dance lessons and play bingo? No? Well, too bad, because you can now and you can do all the activities shown in the movie. It ain't cheap though, so it's definitely a splurge trip in order to have the time of your life.

If Wizard of Oz is more your speed, and you need a suggestion for a Fall vacation destination, check out the amazing mostly-abandoned Wizard of Oz theme park open only once a year now to tourists who are into celebrating the movie and feeling like they're actually in it. Imagine telling all your friends you visited this unknown park and feeling like an insider.

Have you ever gotten to the rental counter and told they didn't have any cars for you? I always have a reservation before I arrive, and often I pay ahead of time, and have always had my reservation honored. More often than not I've gone to pick up a car in the lot and have been told everything in my tier has been rented out and I'd have to choose from the next level up (with no extra charge). How sad for me, right? Unfortunately, most car rental companies will overbook, just as airlines do, so it's not specifically Hertz, which is actually one of my favorite rental companies.

There you have it. My round-up for the month. I promise to try to keep up with this a bit better than I have in the past. I seem to always get caught up in the holidays and let this fall by the wayside, but I can't share everything I want on social media, so you get a whole post here. 

Please link any fun, interesting, angering, or useful travel-related posts you've found in the comments, so we can discuss! Or tell me what you think of any of these. Have a wonderful weekend!