USA Rental Companies - Best value

[Caito]

I'm off the US again in May (damn travel bug bit me) for 2.5 weeks
I've looked at all the major players websites (hertz, alamo, budget, enterprise etc) and they're all coming in at $1200+
I'm just a youngin' at 25 however have rented at Enterprise and Hertz US whilst under 25 and they were great.
We've used Alamo before, also good but their prices are all over the place and the cars aren't always clean :-| (not a deal breaker obviously)
I personally won't use budget as they're always dearer + add fee's on top and the cars have been awful previously
Renting out of LAX, which I know being classed as the Airport (despite being off site) is more expensive but it's convenience.

What are other good reputable websites to look on/book with? Any good suggestions?
Fox is always coming up the cheapest but a quick google search screams stay away

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Caito]

Also, has anyone had any experience with booking an overseas car rental through Expedia?
As they're saying $774 for my dates (in AUD, only $500ish US) but I can't see anywhere guaranteeing that it's for the whole rental period not a week or something stupid.
Even though the dates shown are my dates - if that makes sense

Thanks

 

[11fbwd]

Expedia is fairly reputable, I wouldn't worry.

If you don't mind what kind of car, I'd recommend Priceline or Hotwire as well.

Most of my business goes to National. If you google around you'll find coupons that can make the experience a bit cheaper.

Good luck!

 

[borsa]

Used Alamo at LAX a couple of years back. Was just told to go into the parking lot and pick which car i wanted within the group i had paid for. Seamless departure and seamless return (number plate recognition).

 

[sausagefingers]

have a look at rentalcars.com?
I had a minivan booked with them, it was all pretty easy, they assigned me a car via Alamo, but I cancelled in order to book a AWD Car incase of snow etc.
I've rebooked with Hertz (do a search online for discount codes)

 

[cjd600]

I'm off the US again in May (damn travel bug bit me) for 2.5 weeks
I've looked at all the major players websites (hertz, alamo, budget, enterprise etc) and they're all coming in at $1200+
I'm just a youngin' at 25 however have rented at Enterprise and Hertz US whilst under 25 and they were great.
We've used Alamo before, also good but their prices are all over the place and the cars aren't always clean :-| (not a deal breaker obviously)
I personally won't use budget as they're always dearer + add fee's on top and the cars have been awful previously
Renting out of LAX, which I know being classed as the Airport (despite being off site) is more expensive but it's convenience.

What are other good reputable websites to look on/book with? Any good suggestions?
Fox is always coming up the cheapest but a quick google search screams stay away

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

rentalcars.com has worked well for me in the past (using National)
hertz.co.uk might be worth a look rather than .com or .com.au - do you have NRMA (or other state equivalent) membership? Or an American Airlines FF a/c (free to setup)? Both of these give discount codes for Hertz

 

[Caito]

Hi All,

Thanks for your responses, I'll check out rentalcars.com
I booked with Alamo last night for $630 direct, vs $766 from expedia for Alamo.
For some reason when I logged in to my Alamo insiders account to get the 5% discount, it went up to $780..
All of the offers for Hertz end 31/3 so I might re-look then but they're coming up at $1400
I keep making reservations and cancelling them when I find something better.
My membership with Hertz, Enterprise and Alamo aren't really helping.

Might check out AA FF, see if that makes a difference

 

[vetrade]

arguscarhire.com is a UK based broker which has rates which automatically include insurance so they usually end up cheaper than going direct to one of the US companies. There have been multiple discussions about them on AFF so perhaps you should do a search for the relevant threads. I have used them multiple times for car hire in Europe, USA and Canada and never had a problem

 

[sausagefingers]

Hi All,

Thanks for your responses, I'll check out rentalcars.com
I booked with Alamo last night for $630 direct, vs $766 from expedia for Alamo.
For some reason when I logged in to my Alamo insiders account to get the 5% discount, it went up to $780..
All of the offers for Hertz end 31/3 so I might re-look then but they're coming up at $1400
I keep making reservations and cancelling them when I find something better.
My membership with Hertz, Enterprise and Alamo aren't really helping.

Might check out AA FF, see if that makes a difference

I found booking in advance does little to save you money as well. I booked my hire car months ago, only to find it $200 cheaper 2 weeks out from my trip.

 

[coriander]

I found booking in advance does little to save you money as well. I booked my hire car months ago, only to find it $200 cheaper 2 weeks out from my trip.

I've found it can go either way. I've used Cheap Car Rental, Best Prices for Rental Cars! - EconomyCarRentals.Com on my last few trips (they inlcude all insurances and waivers for OS drivers): I'll book early then cancel and re-book if prices go down (unless the $AU does as well). We had a People Mover for 12 days in Orlando in Jan 2015 and booked it at $US395, then watched it go to $425 -> $455 -> $495 -> not available. I was glad I'd "locked it in, Eddie" at $395. (EDIT: just looked back through my emails and have used ECR now a total of eight times in last 5 years. I use them because they cover glass and underbody as well.)

OTOH, I've found day rentals out of SFO don't vary much at all. If I needed a car next day in SFO, I'd go online, book it with economycarrentals.com get the confirmation in PDF and have front desk print it for me. I booked one car an hour before I wanted it and it worked out fine. Most cars were Alamo: usually I was told to pick any car in aisle 3, so I'd check through the mileages on the cars and select the lowest mileaged car, thus usually a car with 500-1500 miles on the odo.

 

[coriander]

I've looked at all the major players websites (hertz, alamo, budget, enterprise etc) and they're all coming in at $1200+
I'm just a youngin' at 25 however have rented at Enterprise and Hertz US whilst under 25 and they were great.

Just did a quickie ex-LAX for 17 days in May for a 25yo through ECR: you don't say what car so here was a range:

Toyota Corolla AU$763
Chrysler 300 AU$900
Dodge Caravan AU$1015
Mustang Cabrio AU$1141
Mercedes C300 AU$1384.

HTH.

 

[Caito]

Thanks Vetrade, I did a search and found most posts to be older and was hoping for current views.
Argus come in about the same as alamo at the moment - but have the $25 deposit which I don't have to pay with alamo

 

[Caito]

I found booking in advance does little to save you money as well. I booked my hire car months ago, only to find it $200 cheaper 2 weeks out from my trip.

I always do a last minute check to see if it's dropped or there are more offers available. As they change frequently

I've found it can go either way. I've used Cheap Car Rental, Best Prices for Rental Cars! - EconomyCarRentals.Com on my last few trips (they inlcude all insurances and waivers for OS drivers): I'll book early then cancel and re-book if prices go down (unless the $AU does as well). We had a People Mover for 12 days in Orlando in Jan 2015 and booked it at $US395, then watched it go to $425 -> $455 -> $495 -> not available. I was glad I'd "locked it in, Eddie" at $395. (EDIT: just looked back through my emails and have used ECR now a total of eight times in last 5 years. I use them because they cover glass and underbody as well.)

OTOH, I've found day rentals out of SFO don't vary much at all. If I needed a car next day in SFO, I'd go online, book it with economycarrentals.com get the confirmation in PDF and have front desk print it for me. I booked one car an hour before I wanted it and it worked out fine. Most cars were Alamo: usually I was told to pick any car in aisle 3, so I'd check through the mileages on the cars and select the lowest mileaged car, thus usually a car with 500-1500 miles on the odo.

Just did a quickie ex-LAX for 17 days in May for a 25yo through ECR: you don't say what car so here was a range:

Toyota Corolla AU$763
Chrysler 300 AU$900
Dodge Caravan AU$1015
Mustang Cabrio AU$1141
Mercedes C300 AU$1384.

HTH.

Thanks for that 17 days is my time, so that was a good calculation lol.
Looking at a Ford fusion/Chevy malibu/Hyundai Sonata etc as they're nice and spacey with good fuel economy.

I've never actually taken the same to check mileage, might do that next time.
As normally, I get the 'pick what you want' option too

Cheers all - Caito

 

[Andona]

We've used uscarhire.com on our last few roadtrips in the USA. Found the prices and service to be excellent. I've booked them again for our roadtrip this year.
Andona

 

[coriander]

I've never actually taken the same to check mileage, might do that next time.

I figure lower mileage means less likely that internal things are stuffed: most cars would be kept roadworthy. Car before last had an inoperative cig lighter socket, so we if hadn't had a powerbank with us our phones using GPS would have been flat long before data ran out.

 

[sausagefingers]

I figure lower mileage means less likely that internal things are stuffed: most cars would be kept roadworthy. Car before last had an inoperative cig lighter socket, so we if hadn't had a powerbank with us our phones using GPS would have been flat long before data ran out.

Everytime I rent a car it has less than 10k Miles on it.
but I always check as well.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Everytime I rent a car it has less than 10k Miles on it.
but I always check as well.

I rented one in Hawaii with in the last 12 months from a major supplier. It had over 30,000 miles on it!

 

[cjd600]

I rented one in Hawaii with in the last 12 months from a major supplier. It had over 30,000 miles on it!

Did it have a 'Taxi' sign on the roof?

 

[maz1]

thanks to all the great tips on this thread, i think i've booked a good deal for our trip. I checked out all the recommendations and in the end, booked with uscarhire.com which was the cheapest by about $100.
I've paid only a deposit so will keep an eye out to see if it drops.

 

[AV8]

I rented one in Hawaii with in the last 12 months from a major supplier. It had over 30,000 miles on it!

Must have been the same one they tried to flick on to me - I went back to the counter and complained - was given a near new vehicle (less than 1000ml) with a sat nav at no extra cost.