rent those cars early

Two days back I was checking rates for my trip at the end of February through march 4th. Payless was the cheapest at $15 a day or less. I did not book as I wanted to wait until payday- today.

Just went to book the car. Cheapest rate was now $30 a day, more than doubling the price from two days back.

Lesson learned, book ASAP!!!

 

Just keep checking the rates fluctuate a lot. If you see a rate you like book it then you can cancel the reservation with no penalty(unless you use the pay now rates). Then rebook if you see a cheaper rate.

 

I never rent in Vegas but everywhere else I grab a rezzie way way in advance if I know it looks good. Then I just re-check over time and cancel/rebook. I once did that about eight times for a trip to Kauai. PDX before Xmas was changed a good five or six times, and I also went from the Costco travel portal to Alaska Air's mileage plan portal.

 

As others have mentioned, best to book ASAP and then check the web sites regularly and rebook if the prices drop. I am going around the same time and I booked my rental about 3 weeks ago through costco. Prices have risen a lot since then, I think it is because there is a NASCAR event that weekend, many people come in at the beginning of the week for the event. I was there a few years ago during a NASCAR event, I remember some crews parking their truck and their trailer in the hotel parking lot (taking up 4 stalls).

I was able to book with Budget using the Costco web site but the rates have gone up a lot (over $150 more for a 6 night rental - edited, holy cow I just checked and the rates were double what I reserved my rental for) so I'm glad that I booked early. I will still check the Costco web site to see if the rates drop, sometimes as it gets close to your trip the rates may go down if they can't rent out the cars. I was able to rent a full sized car at almost the same rate that payless and ez had for their compacts so it was a good score (at the time full sized rates were only a few dollars more). I'll be there from Feb 28 (late evening) and leaving early morning on march 6.

 

Yep, just keep checking. I had a reservation booked with Payless as it was the cheapest I could find (around $210 incl all fees) for our 8 night stay in March. I still watch the rates almost daily and was able to find a lower rate through Hotwire (still Payless) about 2 weeks after I booked at $168. for that same time period. I think the daily rate on that was under $15 per day, but keep watching anyway,,...just in case! Our last trip in Nov/Dec I managed to find a rate of $10.77 per day with Dollar and had a car for a week for $150 incl all fees. I am hoping that Dollar comes down again so I can use Dollar Express and head straight to the garage again. It pays to keep checking often.

 

I always found car rental rates to be the least predictable (vs air and hotel) in terms of when the best price would be offered. You really had to check every day. Avis and Hertz wouldn't move much, but Dollar would be all over the place. I think I booked a Dollar car for $9/day about a week before one trip.

 

I hadn't even thought of Costco for the rental. They were indeed cheaper than the new rates, though still 50% more than the original price I missed booking at.

 

I have found rates both for Vegas and other cities to be really odd recently. My usual method is to book a car as soon as I have an airline reservation. Typically 3-4 months in advance. Then I keep rebooking as the rates fall. Not so this time. The car rental I booked in early September for next week has not dropped below that rate by any of the car rental companies. Usually it's really high that far out and keeps on dropping up to even one day before pickup. I'll be gone before Superbowl Weekend, so that shouldn't have had any effect on it..

Same thing for some rentals in Florida way off in April. I booked them in November at decent rates and then again in early December for really great rates. Since then they've skyrocketed..usually they haven't in recent years..

 

If you do book through Costco remember to bring your Costco card with you. The specials are only good if you show them your Costco card. I was there once and they gave a couple a hard time because they didn't have their Costco card with them. I'm not sure if they got the budget Costco special because they didn't have their card.

 

We have NEVER been asked for our Costco card no matter what the company was.

 

I'm not sure why you need your card. You have to have a membership to book the reservation.

 

All I can say is I've been asked for my Costco card at times and other times haven't been asked. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this so might as well just leave that card in the wallet. We're not talking some resort fee here. :evillaugh

 

In 2013 budget put in a policy that required rentals to have their Costco card when they rent a car. This was because many people were reserving cars through Costco but weren't actually Costco members. The Costco web site has been fixed, you now have to enter your Costco number when making your reservation (not sure if it actually verifies your number though) but because you can still make the reservation using someone elses Costco number Budget has the option to ask you for your costco card to verify that you are a member.

As Ken mentioned, not all clerks ask for your Costco card but better to just bring your card to avoid any problems.

Like I said, I saw one couple having a problem because they didn't have their card so best to bring the card along and not have to worry about not having it if they ask for it.

 

When I rent cars, I usually do a mix of rentals via the Costco and TR websites. When going through Costco Travel, I've NEVER been asked to show my Costco card.