Car rental : N.M. and AZ
 

Our travel plans are starting to take shape. I have looked on internet for car rental rates. We will fly to Albuquerque and pick up the car there.The drop-off is Phoenix.
What experiences have you had ? Am I doing it right ? I had gone to www. independenttraveler.com and ended at car rentals.Travelocity showed the best rates with Alamo. How and where else should I go ?

Hi jenny,

I'm in process of looking for a rental in Phoenix also. For compacts, I found on Expedia a rate of $14.30 a day with Advantage. Dollar had $19.99 a day, and hotwire.com had the same. I've thought about bidding on priceline.com, but not sure if I can really save that much money, so I haven't decided yet.

Karen

I've done the same itinerary (old Route 66). As you probably know, make sure you don't have any drop off charges. Some places tack on an extra $75+.

I recommend 'The Route 66 Traveler's Guide' by Tom Snyder. We used it despite the age (1990) and found the old installments as well as fun places to stop.

Thanks ! I know we'll be paying extra for drop-off , but we can not avoid that. Some car rentals have a good rate, but will not apply to 'split' rentals (different dropoff).
Any other websites and/or ideas ???

The last time I tried pricing a one-way car rental, I simply went to the website of every major rental company and plugged in the info. It's a PITA, but that's the only way to really check. What I did find, though, was that you have to look at the prices very carefully. Some companies listed a one-way fee right up front. Others, did not, but somehow the rental rate came out ridiculously high anyway. So some companies appear to hide the fee in the daily rate.

Jenny,
I just rented from Phoenix to Albuquerque and Advantage was by far the cheapest. Be careful, many of the rental agencies won't allow you to drop off at another airport that far away or charge exorbitantly for the privilege.