Save Hundreds When You Hack Your Rental Car Reservation With These Smart Tips

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   Sara June 17, 2019 at 4:01 pm MST

   I saved $200 on our minivan rental for our Disney trip over Thanksgiving using Autoslash.online. I made my reservation through Alamo then registered it on Autoslash and about a month later they alerted me to the price drop. I made a new reservation (still with Alamo) through Autoslash and everything worked perfectly. I’ll definitely try Autoslash again!

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  Stacy F (Hip2Save Sidekick) June 17, 2019 at 4:57 pm MST

  Thanks for the tip, Sara!

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  Tricia June 17, 2019 at 6:52 pm MST

  Thank you so much! Just used auto slash and saved almost $300 on our reservation.

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  LS June 19, 2019 at 8:40 pm MST

  I recently ran across AutoSlash on a travel website blog. I’d never heard of it. After submitting my rental info to AutoSlash, I received a cheaper rate via email the very next day! Sweet! Used it for last week’s rental car, and saved over $200!

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   Maggie June 17, 2019 at 4:12 pm MST

   Sometimes a deal isn’t really a deal. I stopped booking rental cars with certain travel deal sites because of the added booking fees and discovering that we had to pay extra on-site to have a spouse listed as an additional driver. Now I only book through USAA because their contract not only gets a great price, but it always includes my spouse as a driver and most importantly forces the rental car co to waive things like loss of use fees in case of an accident (those kind of fees are NOT covered by your own insurance, even if it covers damage to rental cars — and they can add up to thousands). I have no idea if Costco or AAA offers this too — you actually have to read their rental car contract for their rate-code to find out. I also always put rental car charges on my AmEx because they offer secondary insurance that covers my deductible in case of an accident. One accident years ago was enough hassle to convince me that the layers of extra protection above and beyond my regular insurance are worth it — and I can still decline overpriced car rental onlinepany coverage.

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  Stacy F (Hip2Save Sidekick) June 17, 2019 at 4:59 pm MST

  Great tips, Maggie. Thanks for sharing. I had no idea about the extra protection with AmEx card – really good to know!

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  Lori June 19, 2019 at 8:59 am MST

  Your own car insurance does not cover loss of use, however, you can add that endorsement to your policy before you leave/pick up the rental car. Then, you can remove the endorsement after you drop off the car. It is a simple phone call. If you rent frequently, then it’s good to just leave it on your policy. At State Farm (in AZ) it is only $35 for 6 months. I added it to my policy for a 3 day rental and when I got my monthly bill, after they pro-rated the coverage, it came out to be 17 cents per day.
  If you really wanted to take it a step further… again, a simple phone call to your insurance agent.. you can change your onlinep & Collision deductible to Zero before you pick up a car. Then, switch them back after you drop it off. Once the difference in premium is pro-rated, it is usually only a couple of dollars (if that) and you wouldn’t have to onlinee up with a $500 deductible!
  IE: If the difference in premium from a $500 deductible to a Zero deductible is $200 for 6 months, ($33.33 per month) and you rent a car for 3 days…. that is only $1.11 per day for a zero dollar decuctible. Just thowing it out there.

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3. 

   Dwilson19 June 17, 2019 at 4:44 pm MST

   I love using costco travel for my rentals! I also like using alamo because they only charge the amount of your rental. Other onlinepanies charge a deposit plus rental or a deposit that is over the amount of the rental. Also check various locations in the area where you are staying as they are always cheaper for me than renting from the airport.

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  Stacy F (Hip2Save Sidekick) June 17, 2019 at 5:02 pm MST

  Costco has lots of great perks! Thanks for the tips!

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   Diana June 17, 2019 at 4:54 pm MST

   Ive always had good luck with USAA!!

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   L June 17, 2019 at 5:09 pm MST

   I rent through Expedia and such sites but pick up/drop off at an airport instead. Lots of demand means onlinepetition since they are all in the same place and lower prices.

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  Daniela June 17, 2019 at 7:15 pm MST

  Airports also means extra fees. The rental might be cheaper per day but you get stuck with extra charges you wouldn’t get with an off site local place. I rented a week in Tampa for $99 but TPA was $180. I just hired a Lyft for $8 off site.

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   Denise June 17, 2019 at 5:19 pm MST

   Just booked through Priceline and saved almost one hundred dollars

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   Brenda June 17, 2019 at 5:21 pm MST

   Prices are constantly changing. I picked up a car once and the employee saw all my cancelations and she had no idea the prices changed. Ive found the best prices are about 8 months out. But keep checking back up til you have to pick up the car. Ive also had a price drop a significant amount just by changing the pick up time by an hour.

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   Nicole June 17, 2019 at 6:18 pm MST

   We recently booked through enterprise and got a car for $10 a day! We are onlineing in super late and I guess we get the last pick, but it has 4 doors and that’s all we need. We looked at the same day in the morning and the same car was $36 a day.

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  Linda June 19, 2019 at 8:37 pm MST

  I landed at the Savannah airport really late one night (10pm) during Spring Break. I’d booked a mid-size car, and the nice guy at Enterprise offered a Dodge Challenger with a Hemi for the exact same price! It was awesome!

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   Marie June 17, 2019 at 7:18 pm MST

   I typically end up rebooking my car an hour before I leave for the airport lol. I didn’t know this trick my first year I moved cross country, but the last three I’ve literally paid hundreds less by doing that. I search all the sites – sketchy or not. I picked a car up once in a makeshift kiosk in an abandoned parking garage in LA in the middle of the night. Hahaha. But it was legit! But before the day of I always book something refundable or pay upon pickup just in case I need to cancel it.

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  E June 18, 2019 at 9:49 pm MST

  Oh man that sounds like when we rented a car in LA a number of years ago! The garage was closed when we needed to return the car because our flight was so early. I forget what we ended up doing to return it. I think a friend returned it for us. But it was so sketchy!!!

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10. 

    Smack June 17, 2019 at 7:42 pm MST

    I had miles that were about to expire and I was able to use them to cover the cost of a needed rental car. Nice!

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    Scruffybean718 June 18, 2019 at 6:30 am MST

    Also please, please check your personal auto insurance policy before purchasing “additional coverage” through the rental onlinepany. There is a significant likelihood that your rental car is covered under your personal policy.

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  Jennifer (Hip Sidekick) June 19, 2019 at 5:12 am MST

  Great idea, Scruffybean718!

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    Keri June 18, 2019 at 7:00 am MST

    Score! I just rebooked my Costco reservation and saved over $75! You the best:)

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  Chelsey (Hip Sidekick) June 18, 2019 at 7:08 am MST

  Woohoo! So glad you could save even more Keri!

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    Sandra June 18, 2019 at 11:58 am MST

    Thanks everyone I have to book a rental for Disney (staying offsite) and hopefully these tips will help

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    Heather June 26, 2019 at 1:00 pm MST

    THANK YOU! Just saved $70 on my rental because I checked back after reading this!

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  Amber (Hip Sidekick) June 26, 2019 at 1:07 pm MST

  Yay! You’re so welonlinee!

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    Sarah Clark August 6, 2019 at 3:35 am MST

    Thanks a lot for providing individuals with an exceptionally marvellous hints to discover important things from here.

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