In yesterday’s tip, I advocated for Costco Travel (if you’re a member) as the place to find the best car rental rates. Well, here’s another car rental tip, which I picked up while pricing cars out on Costco Travel: Always check the rates for rental cars of different sizes. The smallest car won’t always guarantee you the best rate, as seen in the screenshot below (from a search for rentals in Miami), which means that filtering out larger cars in your search might mean missing the best rate available. Keep your options open!
Related: When Economy Class Isn’t Always the Cheapest Ticket
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Costco does always have the best pricing. Check the prices often though as they often go down. We check every few days most always getting a lower price, then we re reserve the car again. Two weeks ago, 6 hours prior to getting a car, the price was down $100 a week. They also allow two drivers at no extra charge
Agreed and this is tomorrow’s tip!
Weather & timing can also affect prices. On 2 separate occasions, once in San Jose & once in Tampa with rain forecast for the week of my rental, the cheapest car was a Mustang convertible at approximately $120/week.
Upon returning the car when it was sunny, the daily rate for the same car was $150/day.
I usually look at the smallest car to rent (if the price is right) & have yet to ever drive the smallest car as they are out of them or they don’t physically carry them .