Ok--so we don't own a minivan. We rent one whenever we take a driving vacation. I've had a minivan reserved for 6 months now..best rate I can find is 299/week unl miles. I have been searching every day--all the sites I know of. Can't believe the rates other car rental companies are charging..699/week...499/week. Ever since 9/11 car rentals have doubled and tripled. Used to be I could find mini-vans for less than 200 week. I don't like paying the 299 figure above, but it looks like I have the 'best deal'.

Make sure your comparing correctly when you look at prices. Article in our Sunday paper (not online) was about how some rentals went from quoted price of $299 to around $800 when the "add ons" were totaled.

Many companys will charge extra for each driver. If you already drive and own an insured car, or use certain credit cards, you won't want nor need some of the insurance "policies", often more than the car.

And of course, some communities decide they want to rape unsuspecting visitors with extra taxes for hotels, rental cars, airport fees, etc., in addition to the "vehicle license recovery fee", etc. that the rental car company has imposed on us. I think since drops in travel after 9/11 that many companies have cut back on their fleets, so there's less supply to meet demand.

This is probably not that good an answer, but just keep pecking away at it. Car rental rates can be like airline and hotel reservations, up and down day by day. The good thing about car reservations is that you can get them at the best present available rate, and keep checking - normally with your present reservation being cancellable (is that a word?) a short time before showing up so better rates may be there at the last minute. As I read this I realize I've been partaking of too much wine, but hopefully you get the idea......wbhatmawemta,me...

Good luck and keep trying...

The minivan and SUV rentals are also considered 'specialty rentals' and the agencies charge quite a bit more for these most of the time because they know they have you over a barrell (you need the extra space).

That aside, rates have gone up across the board, but they've gone up a lot more for specialty categories than for, say, subcompacts. In fact, in the competitive markets (like Las Vegas) I've actually seen the same rates at times since 9/11 as prior. But fees/add-ons have definitely gone up.

dollar has $200 per week listed as a special on their website. Online promo code is DOL39

Some cities have reasonable rates but 30, even 40 percent added on in taxes and city fees. They really screw the tourists. Providence, Colorado Springs, Manchester, Boston and Vegas are some of the worst.

Based on two different recent experiences, I'd say one thing to keep in mind is that rate quotes seem to change daily on these websites, and they may or may not have anything at all to do with the size of the rental. I was checking over a span of three days for a rental on comparatively short notice. I managed to catch a rate of $16/day for an intermediate on a day when, at the same company on the same web page, compacts and economies were running at $25/day or more. It disappeared within 24 hrs. (but yes, I reserved at that rate).

Reserve whatever you find at an acceptable price, but keep checking back. Click on and plug in every "special offer" and "web-only discount" that comes up. When all else fails, call the rental company's 800 number and ask what they have for AAA rates or whether they have any specials running that week.

Check Hotwire and then bid on Priceline.

Is there any way to make sense out of all these discounts etc? I can't believe the rates quoted for a week from Phoenix! I went to Priceline and put in $10/day - midsize. I'm concerned moving forward that I am going to end up with a rent a wreck! Thanks