tovarich

For our planned visit of the S.East states we would like to get some info on the rental company BUDGET; we usually take Avis or Alamo but in some info from the travel agent we get the following difference in price :
- one week, full insurance coverage,intermediate car 4doors:
Avis price : 324 $
Budget ¨: 254 $

As we will be on the road for at least weeks this makes a lot of difference.
Can anybody give some info abou Budget ?Paul

J62

Budget is one of the very large US rental car co's. - their locations, cars, etc are really no different than Hertz, Avis, Alamo, etc.

National, Enterprise and Dollar are the other large co's - I think Alamo and National are owned by the same co so they share booths at the airport. All of them are just fine.

Sometimes Enterprise and Dollar have in the contract fine print restrictions on which states you can take the vehicle to - not for safety reasons, but their business model is perhaps different (maybe local franchise vs national chain?)

joan

tovarich, try going to orbitz.com and put in your dates. You will get a grid which shows rental car prices from many car companies. All the car companies listed (including Budget) are big national chains, so you can't go wrong with any of them.

After you get a price you like, then go directly to the website of the car company and see if you can get the same car for lower yet. You must put in a credit card number to hold a reservation, but you will NOT be charged until you return the car. Then printout your reservation and take it with you. Keep checking back before your trip - prices change daily!

J62

Some companies like Alamo will charge your cc when you pick up the car, while most others will do a Joan says and do it when car is returned.

Orbitz.com is the search engine I always use for comparison shopping - I like the table they show comparing all the companies and all the different car sizes on one page! Too bad they never get any revenue from me as I also go directly to the rental car co website to book.

joan

That's interesting about Alamo - I didn't realize they charge at the time of pickup. If you make a cc reservation and do not show up, do they charge you?

J62

I always cancel if I can't show up so I don't know.

Also with Alamo, they will hold the price for you only for 2hrs, so if you plane is late they will charge you the local, on-site rental rate.

I'd never heard of this and was really po'd when it happened to me a few mo ago. I decided just to rent the mini-sub compact that barely fit my 22" rollon and me.

tovarich

Thanks for your input. I calculated the price for rental of a midsize car, full insurance, tax and fees and arrived at a figure of 358 $ for one week using Orbitz.
When I order the same through my travel agent I pay only 254 $.
I always knew that for us europeans it's cheaper to order and pay for your US rental car in your own country but the difference is really very substantial.Greetings from Belgium.Paul

MrTraveler

$254 is not too bad for an intermediate car AND if that includes the insurance coverage.

I always use the rental car agencies direct websites or I go to rentalcars.com or carrentals.com