So I feel like I haven’t had a lot of luck with car rental places lately. First there was Avis not having my car ready for me when I went to Georgia (perhaps due to my Southwest flight being delayed for 4 hours). Then Avis tried to triple the price on me when I just wanted to add my customer number to the reservation (don’t worry, I got them straightened out). And don’t get me started on
Hmm… looking at it like that, maybe it’s just an Avis thing :-).
But I’ve also had crazy experiences with other places. You know the drill, “Oh I’m sorry we don’t have the car you ACTUALLY want but maybe you’d like one of these other cars”. That sounds like a good Seinfeld bit…
How to scam the scammers
There’s a couple of tricks that I will sometimes use to try and get ahead
- Many times you can sign up for free rental car elite status which might help you skip the line. With Avis, if you’re Preferred (or First), you can bypass the rental car checkout line and go right to your car. Some credit cards, like the Capital One Venture X, also offer rental car elite status. This actually worked great for me when I flew into DCA for the Family Travel for Real Life conference.
- Never rent anything but a subcompact (the cheapest one). This is assuming you don’t need a van or SUV or something larger. But even if you want a larger car, just rent the subcompact. In my experience, the car rental agencies never have those cars anyways, so you’ll end up getting “upgraded” into a larger sedan, like I did when I went to tape my episode of Wheel of Fortune. Lots of times if you have status (which is easy and usually free to get), you can pick your own car anyways.
- At the counter, it’s “No, no, no and No.” Just about everything they’re offering (gas “deals”, GPS, insurance) is something that you don’t want. If you do want it, decide that AHEAD of time, so you don’t feel pressured into taking something at the counter
- Remember, for the most part, a car rental reservation is not a commitment on YOUR part either, so if there’s a line out the door for Hertz at the airport, try walking next door and seeing if National will match – oftentimes they will
- If you need to rent a car one-way, look for seasonal specials – just like retirees, cars go south in the winter and north in the spring!
- I use Autoslash to always monitor the price of my car rentals – see also Autoslash saves the day again (to the tune of $483.98)
The Bottom Line
Renting a car doesn’t SEEM like it should be this difficult, but it seems like every time I rent a car I run into problems that make the whole experience seem like it’s a total ripoff. There are a few things that you can do, like signing up for free car rental elite status, renting the smallest car type possible (if you don’t have a need for a larger car) or using Autoslash to monitor the prices of your rental.
What about you? Do you feel the same way about renting a car? Leave your tips to help make the car renting experience better in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Even without status just signing up for the rental car companies frequent renter program or other membership will get your preferences on file so that 1) you have a better chance of bypassing the counter since you’re already in the system. 2) you’ve already declined the insurances and add ons ahead of time.
The agent may still try to sell it but you’re now “not just another customer” since you’ve got a profile. Even with no status I’ve never been asked for add ons at Alamo or Enterprise.
I tried the subcompact tip once. I ended up with…a subcompact. It was at LAX, so maybe big airports are more likely to have all the car classes.
At LGA I ended up with an extremely small subcompact that barely functioned for my carseat and family of 4. I will never rent a subcompact again after that.
I’m Avis Preferred. Never had an issue with them. I like small to medium SUVs, because my older body finds it easier to enter and exit the vehicle. And on several occasions, I’ve been able to take advantage of the “free upgrade aisle” and get a larger vehicle, same price.
And here’s a tip to avoid the “highway robbery taxes and “fees” (TAXES) added at a number of airports to pay for the local professional sports venues. Example, Seattle, with relatives in Olympia. – I make 2 reservations, 1 in Seattle for 1 day, 1 in Olympia rest of trip, same rental firm. Pick up at SeaTac, return in Olympia next day, minimal taxes. Often the Olympia folks will simply re-rent the same vehicle to me. Then, return the 2nd to SeaTac, minimal taxes. These 2 cities are close enough that there’s no mileage charge. This also has worked for me at BWI / DCA or IAD.
Well the real scam is the “fees” (taxes) and other taxes added by local governments to pay for e.g. sporting event venues. These easily can 40% to the “base charge”
It really is all of the crazy taxes for daily license, tire recovery fees,.. and plenty more.. It really adds up..sometimes to more than the price of the daily rental.
Cars come in classes. So many passengers and so much luggage, automatic/manual gear shift and a few more things.
Agreements almost always states ‘or similar’
1st-I use Priceline.com to find the company with the lowest non-prepay price. 2nd-On a different browser, I open an Incognito page and type in the name of that company to see the price without my membership #. 3rd-I open a new tab on the first browser, type in my membership #, to see the price offered to members. 4th-I choose the lowest price.