Car Rentals are expensive!
 

Renting a car for a week in Phoenix. Could also fly into Tucson. Any tips on cutting down the price of car rentals? Have tried the consolidators (Travelocity, Expedia, etc.) as well as individual car rental companies. Any size will be fine as we won't be driving that much, but will definitely need transportation. Have you used any website lately where you've gotten a better deal? Thanks for any/all information!

My best tip is to keep rechecking, and be prepared to cancel a reservation and rebook if you find a better price. I have found that prices drop (presumably in response to demand) unpredictably sometimes.

Second tip is, find out which rental agencies are in-airport, and consider an off-airport one if the shuttle is free and the price is low enough to be worth the extra hassle.

Third, seek a discount code: USAA, AAA, AARP, etc. Also try Googling "Avis Discount Code", or whatever agency. I have been surprised to find codes listed on websites like Retail Me Not that actually work to lower the daily rate.

Thank you, NewbE! Great information!!

Have you checked Hotwire? I have had good luck with them. I also use Enterprise on occasion.

Thanks, thursdaysd. I haven't tried Hotwire -- I will check them out! And I'll try Enterprise. Thanks!

You're welcome, and good luck! I generally try all the agencies listed (usually on the airport's website) that are in-airport, and find inexplicably large price differences between them. I've had good luck with Enterprise and Budget, but really, any of the major agencies can cough up a good rate.

It's a pain, but not as bad as the days when you had to call around, lol.

In addition to Hotwire, try Priceline. I've had good luck with both.

If you belong to Costco, check out their car rental deals.

We've also had good luck with Priceline. Used them for Phoenix a few months ago.

Have you considered flying to Tucson or Las Vegas?
I used Priceline to snag a $14/day rate in LV once. Natiopnal let me choose a Mazda 2 that had less than 1K miles when I left.

Look at picking up your rental away from the airport....at a city agency. A majority of the fees are tacked on because of airport locations.

Book the best refundable car you can now; keep checking.
I found this on another post here; I signed up for it, let's see if it comes up with any better deals in the next 4 weeks..

http://www.autoslash.com/

try rentalcars.com they seem to have a large data base to use for finding prices.

I just put in a random week in February on Hotwire.com If renting in "the city" the cost is $21.34 per day or <u>$172 total</u> for a week. If renting at "PHX" airport, the cost is $22.95 per day, but the <u>total is $283</u>. That is all the airport fees tacked on. Big savings if you go to your hotel and then get a car locally. Many will deliver to the hotel.

Some car insurance companies have rental car discount coupons that have double discounts attached...like Allstate, for one. Check with your insurance company.

I agree to check regularly as the rates change often. I've been known to book online only to find a better rate later (I don' book paid in advance rates). I cancel and rebook. Many times I find if you book extra early, the rates are better than waiting until your date is closer, but, you can still continue to check.