Aadvantage Miles Redeemed for Car Rental
 

I have extra AA frequent flyer miles and would like to use them for car rental in Tampa this March. Apparently I need to use Points.com to do the transaction. Is anyone familiar with the process, and if the site is reputable? Perhaps I am better off paying for the car rental and retaining the points for later travel. Any other words of wisdom regarding car rental out of Tampa?

The rule of thumb on miles redemption is that if the equivalent value of a mile is less than around 2 - 2.5 cents then you're smarter to retain them. For example, if a car rental requires 10,000 miles, the miles should be used only for a rental that would cost $200 - $250 <i>before taxes</i> in order to be a good deal. Remember that miles redemptions (for cars or flights or hotels - doesn't matter) still require you to pay the taxes and fees that are stuck onto the tab.

Conventional wisdom is that in general the best use of airline miles is in buying premium-cabin seats, or for upgrading lower-cost seats to a higher class of service. 90,000 miles for a business class award ticket to Asia, for instance, is converting miles worth around $1800 - $2250 into a ticket that would cost upwards of $5000 - a better than 2-to-1 &quot;yield&quot; on miles, whereas swapping 25,000 miles for a domestic coach ticket worth $300 is not so hot a deal.

Depending on your dates and how near to Easter, car rentals can be all over the place price wise, but generally speaking you can easily get a one week rental from Tampa for under $200 all inclusive, sometimes a lot less. Unless it takes very few miles, like Gardyloo says, I wouldn't think it would be a very good value for your miles.
Dollar consistently gives me the best prices here in Florida, although sometimes National or Budget will beat them a bit.

Can you instruct me on how to find a weekly car rental from Tampa for the $200 range or even 300-400. I'm consistently finding quotes for 500-700. I would prefer to pay outright and save the miles (although sometimes using the miles seems like more than a hassle than a reward). I've already searched expedia, and sites of that nature. Of course, I have searched the car rental direct sites. I know prices fluctuate daily. If I wait it out and check back often, will I be able to secure a car for lower rate? I also know the time frame we are visiting is a very busy one. I'd hate to wait too long for a good deal and then have to resort to whatever I can get. If you have any tips that will help me I will be very grateful. We do not travel for pleasure all that often, and if I can make it easy, I am more likely to convince my husband to vacation again. Thanks again for your help!

Be aware of point expiring - many airlines recently changed their frequent flyer programs so your points now may have an expiration date. If so &amp; you're not planning on using them for a flight I would definitely do the rental car. We've done this in the past &amp; it worked out well.

Angela,

Thanks for the tip on expiration. Was your program through AAdvantage American miles? If so, did you have to book through points.com? I'm hesitant to go through a third party to book. Just checked Dollar and lowest rate available at this time is 550 upward before taxes and fees. I'm sure the week we're visiting is inflating the price some...week before Easter, I'm sure is busy travel week in Florida.

Well, I just went to Dollar.com, entered March 4 to 11, and got an intermediate for $190 or so -- with taxes and fees about $240. I didn't try other dates. As I said, if it's Easter week, I suspect all bets on price are off in Florida.

Yeah it's Easter week. I guess we'll just have to suck it up and take the hit. We're dealing with Spring Break week off for kids so tied down to the dates. Some people pull kids from school for vacations...maybe after this trip I'll get to that mentality too. Either way, I truly appreciate you taking the few minutes to research it for me. I can tell by your postings you are well traveled and a great source to many. Thanks again.

Christy, go ahead and book the rental. You don't need to give card details at that point and can easily cancel later if you find a better deal. I'd do that just so that you won't lose out if prices don't go lower and instead go higher.

Gardyloo, I love your response! I can see you've really thought about it. That's really good to know, thanks!

I was curious so I just went to the AA website to see how many miles a week's rental would be. I only checked the Avis and National options, but assume the Budget one would be similar.

Ouch! Around 5,000 - 7,000 miles per day, so something like 35,000 - 50,000 for a week? Got to be one of the worst deals for miles ever. Dream on, dudes.

For Christy2, have you tried pricing the rental without an airport pickup? Try downtown Tampa instead - sometimes the rental agencies add big penalties for airport pick-ups and drop-offs, and usually there are local taxes that are much higher for airport rentals, too.

Christy, if you are a Costco club member, check their prices. I have an Executive membership and
I've found the best car rental deals are through Costco.com. Their prices are better than prices I can get through the rental company's frequent travel program. I belong to Budget's Rapid Rez/Fastbreak program but Costco prices are always cheaper.

http://www.costco.com/Common/Categor...amp;lang=en-US
Budget is usually the cheapest, but sometimes Alamo or Avis is cheaper, depending on the travel dates.

offlady, of course it depends on where you rent, but I've tried Costco about five times now and every time I was able to rent directly from a regular website for less -- mostly with Dollar, but once with National.

Christy - we didn't book thru points.com so I can' give nay feedback on that site. We usually book car rentals thru hotwire.com and get pretty good deals. I looked for Tampa the week before Easter &amp; it's almost $80/day, pretty steep. If you found a price around $550 I would just book it.

I did book one for about $550 from Dollar (thanks Neopatrick for the lead on that). I think I'll keep looking with hope I'll find a steal of a deal as it gets closer. At least this way I know we'll have wheels. Everyone has been most helpful, thank you so much.

Christy