How to find the best car rental deals

by wildcherry on Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 | Tips, Travel

• Search beyond the major name companies. Orbitz ,Expedia, and covers all the major car rental companies along with a broad array of mom-and-pop operations, the latter of which may rent cars for less because they don’t spend money on large national marketing efforts. Other travel websites are known to overlook these smaller operations.

• Try a bid-booking site like Priceline.com which offer cars only from a handful of top national chains. Pre-pay your booking, and you’ll save up to 40 percent. The catch? If you cancel your trip, you’ll be out the money.

• Skip the airport rental car counter and head straight to your hotel. Then rent from a company near your hotel. Rental car locations in downtown and suburban destinations usually charge lower rates than airport rental car counters do. That’s partly because airports charge high taxes and fees. In the U.S., concession fees can add between 9 and 11 percent to your bill. In Europe, aiport taxes may add up to 19 percent at major airports, such as Frankfurt, Germany. So to get to your hotel, hop that free hotel shuttle or opt for cheap public transportation.

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