As I’ve mentioned a few times in this space, my son and I are planning a trip to West Texas and New Mexico in a few weeks.

When we were planning the trip, I knew that we eventually wanted to get to El Paso, which is the closest major city to both Guadalupe Peak (the high point of Texas) and Carlsbad Caverns. But airfares were expensive, and award space was not lining up. So in the end, I booked a 7500 Avios flight from CVG-DFW.

Plus since all know that

the shortest distance between 2 points is no fun

this would give me a chance to get in some counties on my quest to visit all 3,143 counties in the US

mobrule-county-regoarrarr-20170128

My projected new counties are in grey – looking at 47 total, which will bring my total up to 1822 (58.0%)

Renting a car at DFW

I signed up for a car rental for my trip there, which will be about 4 days total (slightly less than 4 full days but I’m being charged for the whole 4 days). My initial quote was for $179.46 with National in a Compact Car.

[Why you’re foolish to rent a “standard” car]

Of course I signed up my reservation with Autoslash, which is my go-to tool for saving money on renting cars, and was named my #2 travel tool when I ranked them back last March. My best Autoslash success story comes from our trip to Denver a few years ago when a week’s rental came out to a little over $100 and when I returned the car the agent said “You got a great deal on these – I’ve been renting them for $100 / DAY!”

I was actually a little surprised because it felt like my initial total was a little higher than expected, so I was expecting Autoslash to come back quickly with a much lower rate. But a few weeks went by with nothing

An updated rental car quote

But within the past week or so, I’ve gotten 2 emails from Autoslash. The first one gave me $155.67 at Dollar Rent a car, but I ended up not taking it. Now I just got ANOTHER email saying:

You’re currently booked at the rate of $179.46 USD with National in a Compact Car. AutoSlash is able to offer you the following lower rates on your rental:

autoslash-updated-booking-car-rental

So now it’s time to decide if $43 is worth it? I’ve had some sketchy experiences with Dollar but I’ve had a few good ones too, and I know it’s very location dependent. While I’d rank Dollar in the mid-tier ahead of places like Payless or some of the true budget rental car places, I definitely consider them a step below National. Currently I’m at National, and with my Amex Platinum card I should have National Executive status, which would definitely save me some time picking up the car.

What would you do? Would $43 be enough to get you to switch from National to Dollar?

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9 Comments

mogon on January 28, 2017 at 9:10 pm

I had the same worry a couple of weeks ago. Turns out my Dollar rental was surprisingly fine.
Candace on January 28, 2017 at 9:18 pm

I would go through Costco and get a better deal at Alamo.
Grant on January 28, 2017 at 10:27 pm

Have fun visiting Loving County the least populous of 254 Texas counties. Mentone is a one streetlamp town!
- Dan Miller on January 29, 2017 at 12:00 pm
  
  Yup – we’re definitely going through there!
Rjb on January 28, 2017 at 11:33 pm

I am loyal to National because they get it. They take care of me when I need it. $43 spent at National is well worth it.
Dee on January 29, 2017 at 7:50 am

Until last September, I owed a business in Dallas for 18 years, flew there often and rented cars. I was not loyal to any one car rental company and always booked on price. They were all fine, including Dollar. I even used Fox!
Becky on January 29, 2017 at 9:15 am

My last experience with Dollar, I stood in line for over 45 minutes and then they gave me a car with a smashed in tailight, dents, and scratches because “it was the only one left.” Haven’t rented from them since.
- Dan Miller on January 29, 2017 at 9:21 am
  
  I had a similar experience with Dollar Rent-a-car DCA but I am not sure if experiences across different airports / locations are relevant / predictive
Carl on January 29, 2017 at 5:26 pm

Since you’re taking a loooooong drive, what you get is a bit more important than just a quick weekend jaunt around town. Frankly, I’d do Silvercar if I could get a couple of good discounts. That Audi A4 will eat up those miles.