How to get the lowest car rental rate?

My sister is heading out to Vancouver in April and had asked me to help her rent a car. I started my search with CarRentals.com to get an idea of the price for the two weeks she will be there. I like starting there because CarRentals.com will inquire all the car rental companies in the area you specify. I usually enter the airport code (eg. YVR) but you can enter the city and province / state instead. If you do that, CarRentals.com will list all the franchised locations for each car rental company. Here is where you have to use your discretion because if you rent from an offsite location, you will have to get yourself to that location to pick up the car and incur any cost that is associated with that but sometimes, it is worth the trouble and cost.

From the search results, I will take note of each company and price starting with the lowest. Using the list of companies, I will go through each of their websites and enter my travel dates and any coupon codes, contract id’s or corporate codes that I may have. For help with that, be sure to follow my blog or you can always buy me a cup of coffee and I will help you find the lowest rate.

Take Care with Rental Cars

Whenever and wherever I travel to, I usually rent a car so I have a growing list of rental car codes to use when booking. I will never pay for regular rates and you should not neither. There are so many rental car codes for you to use and if you ever need one, please check this post on Squidoo for up to date codes you can use.

Using a rental car code to save money is only half the battle. You have to check the rates every week up to the day you leave because rates will sometimes come down. If you can avoid it, try not to lock in your dollars by prepaying. If you do and the rate goes down then you will be paying more than you have to.

When you pick up the vehicle, put on your armour and be prepared to pay only the amount quoted. Rental car companies will try to get you to upgrade your vehicle when they have run out of the size that you have booked. Be firm and make them admit that they have made a mistake. Ask them what is the purpose of reserving a vehicle when they can’t honor you the size of vehicle. If you play your cards right, they will be forced to provide you with an upgrade, free of charge.

What if you don’t want an upgrade? I mean, it will guzzle more gas and will be harder to park. You can stand firm and demand they find you a vehicle of the size that you had reserved for. Be prepared to wait if you have time. Rental car companies usually have cars on standby. If not, tell them to look in the return lot and expedite the cleaning process to get you into one of those cars.

Other charges that rental car companies like to ding you with, include glass coverage. Check your own insurance and see if you have glass coverage. If so then decline this coverage. Other hefty charges include personal insurance, comprehensive and collision coverage. If you are paying for the rental with a gold credit card, you may decline all this coverage. Most gold cards offer rental car protection. If so, you can save yourself up to $60 per day. Again, check your insurance and gold credit cards.

For cities on the winter belt, check the forecast before picking up your car. Rental car companies are getting smarter and more innovative in charging for more money. Some companies such as Budget will charge you more for cars with snow tires. Over the Christmas holidays, Budget was charging as much as $30 per day for cars with snow tires. After refusing to take the car, the manager slashed the price to only $15 per day. With snow in the forecast, it was a good idea to have snow tires. Enterprise cars are equipped with all-season tires, even in cities like Calgary and Edmonton.

Take care with rental cars, before and after picking one up!

Love the Entertainment

If I told you there was a way to save hundreds and hundreds of dollars, would you believe me? What would all this saving be worth to you? In other words, how much would you be willing to pay?

Today only, you could pick up the 2013 Entertainment book for just $29.99 with free shipping. Of course, it is free shipping if you live in the US. But for international customers, they will charge you up to $17.50 to send it to you by mail. Considering how much money you could save, it is still worth it.

Depending on where you live, you can pick the one that serves your area. Each book contains hundreds of coupons, some 2-for-1, some completely free and some just gives you a discount. Say for example, you live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Your  book has coupons for free admission to the Calgary Zoo where the new penguin plunge exhibit had opened this summer. It also has free admission to the Royal Terrell museum, where all the dinosaurs are being dug up. Then there’s tons of restaurant coupons, ranging from a free drink to a free meal.

Near the back of the book are pages dedicated for the traveller. There you will find car rental discounts, cruise discounts and hotel discounts. These are pretty good and will definitely save you some serious money. There are coupons that apply to food, services, recreation and travel.

Would you like to know about the next deal I run into? Sign up for my emails and I’ll make sure to alert you on the next deal.

Nowhere else on Earth

Kona Country Club

They say golfing in Hawaii is like no where else on earth. They’re right! Your ball flies further and you’re in total relaxation when you play there.

First of, it’s paradise and when it’s your turn to hit the ball, all you hear are birds chirping or the sound of the surf as the waves come in on the shores. When it rains, you welcome it because it’s warm rain, like taking a shower in a sauna. No one complains about it because after the rain passes, it leaves the place smelling fresher and everything on the golf course becomes more greener. The hisbiscus becomes more colourful and the palm trees becomes more taller.

The backdrop of the ocean is nice too. There’s something about playing on a fairway next to an ocean with palm trees gently swaying in the wind, that makes you think of Hawaii.

To book a Hawaii getaway, it’s not easy if you have to go to each site: Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotwire, WestJet, Air Canada, United, etc. to get the best deal. People usually give up and pay whatever price these companies dictate.

If you want to save money and time, go to Squidoo and find TripMama. TripMama will automatically compare prices across all your favourite travel sites and fast too. You simply enter your info then TripMama presents you with a list of choice travel sites. You pick ’em the way you like it. Select from Kayak to Expedia, Travelocity to CheapTickets. Then each of these sites are searched. This gives you the best idea of price and that’s what drives most of us to a well deserved vacation.

White Sands Village on Dwellable

Shopping for a GPS

With built-in navigation in most new cars and GPS on board most smart phones, portable GPS devices aren’t as popular anymore. If you’re still in the market for one because you drive an older vehicle or you don’t want to use the GPS on your smart phone then here’s a blog for you.

There has been many advances and features added to GPS devices since the last time I looked. To compete with iPhone 4S, namely the phones with Siri on it, some devices can now respond to voice commands. It’s almost like talking to KITT, the car from the old TV series Knight Rider. You can tell your GPS device where you want to go or that you need directions to the nearest gas station or golf course. This feature can be found in some of the high end GPS devices but remember, it’s in the early stages right now meaning that like Siri, it only responds to select voice commands. It doesn’t take your order and it may not respond to certain words, especially if you have an accent. Some people become more agitated trying to talk to their device than to use the touchscreen but if they can perfect this, I think it is great when you are driving alone. You wouldn’t have to take your hands off the wheel to adjust your GPS.

Another great feature to look for is the Lane Assist. This feature is not new and has been around for a number of years. The GPS draws you a view of a highway or freeway with overhead signs, giving you an indication of the lane that you need to get onto. No more guessing on whether the lane exits left, right or in the center.

Other great features to look out for, are free lifetime maps and free traffic subscriptions. These two features will keep your GPS updated to the latest road conditions and route information. Most of the GPS devices have this including some on the low end but watch out for those that displays ads. The ads take up screen real estate and it is annoying at times. GPS devices with traffic capability will recalculate your route if there is an accident or construction ahead. This will help save you time but on the other hand, some alternate routes can get you lost too. It’s fantastic to get free lifetime maps, as long as you are diligent in getting the updates from the internet and updating your device.

Aside from features, it’s good if you can test drive the devices or read up on reviews. I’ve heard from a few sources that the Garmin is easier to input addresses and finding points of interest faster than with a TomTom. Also Garmin’s display is more snappier than a TomTom but lacks in graphics depicting complex interchanges and freeway exits. For instance the TomTom VIA 1535TM has most of these features that I wrote about, including bluetooth support and does not display ads with traffic information but it doesn’t power down automatically when you shut the car off. It does tell you which side of the road your destination is at when you arrive which is nicety that most other devices lack.

One last item that might help travellers renting a car when they arrive is a home charger. If you can charge up the device then enter your points of interest while on the plane then you are all ready to go when you pick up your rental car. Some devices have an optional solar charger that you can place on the car’s dashboard but it’s already troublesome having the GPS device affixed to your windshield or sitting in a sand bag.

 

Employees and Good Friends Only

I think I am one of those that are proud of saving money. For instance, I’ve been planning a trip out to the west coast for about two months or so. Once I had my set of dates, I went to my secret website and all the secret tips are there. He tells me that only his employees and closest associates can use that page but I had figured we were pretty good friends and so he wouldn’t mind. Anyways, I used his Booking Buddy link to access this free service to help lookup the best prices across a whole bunch of travel sites.  I entered my travel dates and searched. In less than a minute, about 8 tabs appeared with sites like Kayak, Orbitz, Expedia, etc. By clicking on each tab, the search continues and the best prices appear. This is the best way to compare prices across travel sites. It saves you time doing it one by one. So I highly recommend it.

Once I had air booked, I used it again to look for cars. Again, about 6 tabs appeared with Car Rentals, Rentacar.com, Hotwire, Expedia, etc. I clicked on each tab and the best car rental prices came up. I always liked Hotwire but be careful, if you are still shopping around then you might not want to book it right away. With Hotwire, you might have to put your credit card down. If you’re still shopping, try not to commit until you are convinced you have the lowest rate. Sometimes you can’t help yourself because cars do sell out. Christmas, NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Playoffs, etc. are example dates to when there’s no more cars available.

Hotels are in the same boat. The Booking Buddy is a great free service when hunting for the best prices in hotels. Again, don’t try to enter a credit card because the rates may come down as your travel date comes up. Book something tentatively without a credit card then continue to use Booking Buddy to find you the best rate. Cancel and rebook.

Comparison Shopping: Renting a Car

When booking for a car, I usually start out with all my promo codes and visit each company to see the best rate. With Alamo, I use my Costco code which is 675899 to find the best rate. Budget is next and the Costco code to use is W852802. I usually don’t go with Avis or Hertz but sometimes, it’s worth checking it as well. The Costco code for Avis is A108300 and for Hertz, it’s 336436. More can be found on Squidoo.

Is there a difference between Economy and Compact? In most cases, the answer is no. Check the rates and if it’s the same then reserve the Compact. If it’s radically different and you want to stay within budget then choose Economy. Most rental car companies stock very little economy models and when you pickup the car, they often will try to upgrade you at an additional charge. If you stay put and they run out of models in that class, they will upgrade you for free. You just need to be patient sometimes. In most cases, you will end up with a Compact or the next class up for the same price as Economy.

If you rather not go from company to company to compare then let me recommend you to go to Squidoo where you can find the best travel deals . This is by far the best way to find the lowest rental car rate in little time. Recently, I rented a car for Sacramento for only $46 vs $106 using my promo code.

Drive away a deal

On my way out, I had to rent a car for next week. Checking with carrentals.com, I see that it’s going to cost me $170 – $180 for a week in Vancouver with a compact car. With a little research, you can beat that. Luckily for you, I’m going to save you some time and some money if you read on.

Lets go with Alamo. Try one of these codes and put it into the ID/ Corp ID field. This is reserved for corporate codes only. If you work for a big corporation, you might already have a code to use. But if you don’t have it handy or your employer isn’t big enough, it probably doesn’t have enough volume to draw a discount. Enter one of these: 7014172 (Allstate), 807303 (American Express), 675899 (Costco) or 706768 (International Student Organization). Enter your trip information and see what you get for rates. Select a car size then check out the price per week and if there is any credit. The credit should appear with a minus sign in front of the dollars like “-12.89”. If you don’t see anything then you’re not getting any discount. One more thing to try, enter AD7511SDN in the coupon code field. Try this again. If you have everything right, you should see a discount.

I used the American Express code (because I am a cardholder) and the coupon code, booked it for Saturday to Saturday, 8am to 8am and my rate came out to $119 total with taxes and all. That’s a saving of about $50.

Make sure you book for exactly a week to take advantage of weekly rates. If you’re picking it up at 6:30am, book it for 8:00am. Your plane may arrive at that time but by the time you get your luggage and walk down to the car rental counter, it’s 8:00am. The car rental agencies aren’t going to care if you’re early or late. As long as you show up sometime in the day, they’re ok with it.

 

Magically Free Shuttle

When it comes to running a small business, either from home or in an office, it is vital that you fully stock your business with supplies. I’ve shared a Staples $20 off coupon with you before but it comes with a $150 minimum purchase. It’s not hard to rack up the bill, especially if your business needs a new external hard drive or a new printer. Even school supplies can easily make up for the $150 minimum. Here’s the coupon anyways: 5991592125470472. Use it online or by phone.

Any of you planning a Walt Disney World vacation? If so and you are planning to stay onsite at one of the WDW resorts then get free shuttle service from Orlando airport to your Disney resort. This is called the Disney Magical Express and is available to guests staying at all the WDW resort hotels. To get this service, simply ask for it by name when reserving your WDW vacation. Reservations made prior to 30 days from departure will get special luggage tags sent to you. Disney will automatically transfer your luggage from the airport to the resort.

While in Florida, rent a mid-size SUV from Dollar for only $37.99 per day. Or in Tampa, get a mid-size SUV for only $169.00 per week from Alamo.

Getting Tee’d off

I am getting tee’d off with car rental agencies. Why specify a car size when you are reserving because 9-out-of-10 times, you don’t get what you reserved for. I didn’t when I tried to pick up my compact car from Alamo inVancouver. I ended up with a Charger – a full size vehicle that has rear wheel drive and was totally useless in snow. I ended up going back to the airport the next day to trade it in for a compact car.

If you had read my earlier blogs on the Calgary Stampede, you would have noticed that we feature some of the biggest stars on stage for free. This year we had July Black and Natasha Beddingfield that performed on the Coca-Cola stage. With an admission to the Stampede, these concerts were free.

Click here for the 2009 Stampede and enter the password: insider to get 15% off tickets. Taylor Swift is one of the performers at the Saddledome. As soon as I find out who is playing on the Coca-Cola stage, I will let you know.