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Hiring a car – how to find the cheapest car rentals
Are you looking for cheap car rentals? Hiring a car today is very easy in terms of the hire process, application process and hand over process. However the hardest part for many is trying to find the cheapest and best deal which suits their situation.
My partner and I have hired many vehicles over our travels and haven’t really come across any real budget saving tips and tricks for hiring a car. Normally the cheapest car rental company in the area is all we looking for when choosing a vehicle, whether it is with Hertz or Thrifty or many of the other options for rental companies.
Sometimes we use sites like booking.com or skyscanner but to no avail. However, we found one company which saved us almost a $1000 booking through them vs booking directly with the rental company.
So what is the secret? How to find cheap car rentals?
Keep reading this blog post to find out!
LOCATION & THIRD PARTY COMPANIES!
Cheap Car Rentals – Navigate our page below
- How to save hundreds
- AutoEurope Car Rentals
- Example – Price Variance According to Location
- Discounts for car hire!
How to Save Hundreds (We saved $500!)
$500 may not be a-lot to some but for most that is a large amount of money especially when trying to travel on a budget.
So how can you do it?
The next time you are going to hire a car or any vehicle for your travels make sure to do a price comparison for the different airports in that area. Not just airports, but in general just check with the car rental company you decide to go with, sometimes it will have two or three locations. If so ring up each location and get a quote. Some locations and car rental companies even price match!
So the next time your planning on hiring a car, make sure you check around the area for other locations of car companies, if one company has multiple locations in the one city you may be in luck! Ring their phone number or check their website and watch as you become amazed at what a small distance maybe even 20 minute bus ride can save you!
AutoEurope
Maybe the most important point of this post is if you don’t already know about autoeurope and are looking to rent a car your going to want to take note. With almost 100 different countries, autoeurope can save you hundreds all around the world. All of the information being referred to in this post is using autoeurope as our chosen rental company. Autoeurope is a rental car company which works with the big name companies such as Hertz, Avis, Thrifty, etc.
Going through this website can save hundreds and hundreds of dollars (saved us over $500…) which is crazy but somehow works.
Example – Price Variance According to Location
My parnter and I used this budgeting strategy in April 2024 when we travelled to Toronto. We were travelling from Toronto to Montreal and wanted a car to explore the neighboring areas. We were flying from Vancouver airport and landing in Toronto International Airport. The car hire would be for 10 days and we would be dropping the car off at a different location (Montreal).
We received a fairly decent quote from Hertz using autoeurope, which seemed to be the cheapest rental company. With a minimum of 2.5 star reviews, the other car companies with a lower star review seemed… intriguingly bad. Our quote for picking up a car from the international airport we landed in was $834 CAD. This car was a compact KIA RIO with basic insurance cover. This did not include other fees such as a $105 different location drop-off fee. A $15 a day young driver fee equaling a total of $150. Bringing the grand total for the car hire to $1089.
However for the exact same vehicle with the location set for Billy Bishop Airport, a 35 minute drive, $70 (expensive) taxi away. The quote was $343… So with the different location drop off fee of $105, the basic insurance cover and the $150 young driver fee, the total comes to $598. A $491 difference!
The simple reasoning behind this is availability. Most of the travelers seeking car hire would be landing at the busier airport (Pearson International). Out of sheer connivence these travelers would take the quote they received. Considering it’s price of $1089 for 10 days… not the worse.
Important Information –
IMPORTANT – This travel hack works best when applied close to the travel dates. The car rental companies drop their prices as low as they can go only when they need to. Try leave it as late as possible! Take the risk but have back up plans just in case.
Here is the evidence of the price comparsion for our car hire in April 2024. 10 days with basic insurance, pickup in Toronto and drop off in a different location (Montreal Airport) from the two locations.
Firstly, here is the distance between the two locations –
#Location 1 – Pearson International Airport Toronto
#Location 2 – Billy Bishop Airport Toronto
Here is a quote from Hertz (using autoeurope) for the cheapest options for car hire from the 2nd – 11th of April 2024 (10 days) with the pickup location being Pearson International Airport –
Here is a quote from Hertz (using autoeurope) for a car hire from the 2nd – 11th of April 2024 (10 days) with the pickup location being Billy Bishop Airport –
When arriving at Billy Bishop you will be dropped off at the terminal from which you will need to catch an elevator down to the underground pedestrian tunnel. Yes the Billy Bishop Airport is on a very small island. This tunnel is free and is how people without vehicles get to and from the airport. Once you have picked up the car you can catch the Ferry across the water which only takes a few minutes and is free if you are picking up a rental car.
The Difference.
$491.26 saved!
Hopefully this budgeting trick will work for you and help you the next time you hire a car! Find your cheap car rentals!
Planning your next trip
AutoEurope
Rentalcars.com
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