What Is the Cheapest Way to Rent a Car
What's the best website to utilise when you lot desire to rent a car? The quick reply is that in that location'south no i best automobile rental booking site, merely there are a bunch of cracking ones worth comparing prices on. And the best ones for yous volition depend on what exactly yous're looking for in a car rental.
As with so many other travel buys, like the best hotel booking sites and the all-time airfare booking sites, to find the very best motorcar rental deals you'll need to cast a wide cyberspace. Notwithstanding, some places tend to practice better than others, at least some of the time.
Some of the links featured in this story are affiliate links, and SmarterTravel may collect a committee (at no cost to yous) if you shop through them.
The All-time Motorcar Rental Booking Sites in the U.South. and Europe
Here's a quick roundup of the candidates for best car rental booking sites, based on detailed car searches in both the U.S. and Europe. (Observe more details beneath on the perks and downfalls of each.)
- AutoRentals.com
- Rentalcars.com
- Hotwire
- Priceline
- Expedia
- Depression-cost car rental booking sites Alamo, Payless, and Thrifty
- Sixt Auto Rentals
- AARP's discount with Avis, Budget, and Payless
- Automobile Europe
- Rentcars.com
- Kayak
- CarRentals.com
- Autoslash
I tested base rental car rates by searching merely for economic system or compact cars, for a rental period of 1 calendar week, and only for picking upwardly and returning the car at the principal airports for a number of city destinations in both the U.S. and Europe. All quoted rates (except for opaque rates that hide car specifics until after you purchase their lower-priced bargain) are fully cancellable, although some crave an advance payment with the pick of a refund given upon counterfoil. Some vendors offer lower non-refundable rates. All rates include ac and all U.S. rates include automated manual; European rates are for transmission since automatic comes at a premium at that place.
For the virtually part, the search-and-buy sequence is roughly the aforementioned for all automobile rental booking sites. No 1 rose out of the mix equally especially piece of cake or dropped as especially hard. Therefore, my comparisons are based about entirely on my ability to locate the best deals.
AutoRentals.com
Overall, AutoRentals.com is an excellent place to start a search. It'due south a metasearch arrangement that displays a matrix of prices for upwardly to 25 model options available through more than than two dozen unlike sources, including a mix of other metasearch car rental booking sites, online travel agencies, and rental company dwelling house pages. Price displays include both the posted daily rate and the all-upwardly cost of the requested rental. The brandish too indicates which rental locations, if any, are off-airdrome—which is important. This matrix characteristic is especially helpful in comparing options apace.
Pros: Coverage of major cities is worldwide. Once you select an option to check, AutoRentals links y'all through to the vendor's spider web pages to make your booking, and information technology includes many rental companies and search systems you've probably never heard well-nigh, let lone would discover on your ain.
Cons: Some of the "best deals" reported are not actually the true total toll; they exclude some taxes and fees. And some are not fully cancellable—they're either nonrefundable or entail a cancellation fee. This information is not disclosed until well into the booking process, and even and then you have to dig for it.
Rentalcars.com
Rentalcars.com consistently yielded practiced prices for my searches, though it didn't e'er win every test. The site covers rentals in 160 countries worldwide.
Pros: Equally with AutoRentals.com, Rentalcars.com is a metasearch system that makes it piece of cake to compare offers. In some cases it offers opaque rates for lower prices if you lot don't mind non knowing the exact auto type.
Cons: Because some of the booking sites Rentalcars.com works with may be unfamiliar to you, the site shows user ratings for each so y'all can decide whether y'all're comfortable booking. Unfortunately, some of them don't accept particularly loftier ratings (in one search, many of the results on page ane were from providers rated only five.9 out of 10).
Hotwire
Car rentals on Hotwire offered some of the lowest rates by way of "opaque" rates in well-nigh of my U.S. tests. Opaque means that y'all don't discover out about the rental visitor until subsequently y'all pay the nonrefundable toll. Given the sameness of cars, withal, you lot risk very little thwarting with an opaque rate.
Pros: Hotwire's leadership in low rates is confirmed by the AutoRentals matrix, where it shows up as the all-time buy on a regular basis.
Cons: I did not find equally many opaque rates for Europe on Hotwire.
Priceline
Like Hotwire, Priceline motorcar rentals listing opaque rates equally the lowest options in many U.S. cities. Although Hotwire posted lower ones more than oftentimes, Priceline was a winner in some cases. So if you're looking for the lowest, you accept to try both.
Pros: The chance of information technology having the true everyman cost. If yous already use this site for hotels or airfare, it's too easy to add on a car (as with the other big search engine booking sites).
Cons: I didn't find whatever opaque rates for Europe in my Priceline searches.
Expedia
Expedia consistently offered or matched the everyman or almost-lowest rates as frequently as Priceline and Rentalcars.com did. Plus the option to packet with your airfare or hotel is like shooting fish in a barrel and could save you money (as with other toll comparison engines), if you already use Expedia for those, as many do.
Pros: In most all cases, rates were the same as through the rental company'due south ain system. And if you already apply this site for hotels or airfare, it's easy to add on a car.
Cons: Expedia doesn't seem to offer opaque rates, which is simply truly a con if you're looking for them.
Low-Cost Automobile Rental Booking Sites
In general, prices straight from low-end renters such as Alamo, Payless, and Thrifty were always less expensive than the elevation-proper noun rental companies, usually with a departure of $100 or more per week.
Pros: The obvious do good is you're paying a lot less. Merely…
Cons: The merchandise-off is that the low-terminate outfits and third-party agencies by and large don't include the bells and whistles that tiptop-end company loyalty programs provide. I also sometimes constitute lower rates on metasearch sites such as AutoRentals.com or Rentalcars.com than I did when booking directly through the low-cost car rental booking sites.
Sixt Rent a Car
For European cities, the Sixt booking site is proof that college-cease companies occasionally offer specials better whatsoever other source. At the time of my search, the German company was running a "special" constitute to be the cheapest choice in some cases, simply didn't specify the rental company.
Pros: Another stiff take a chance of finding the lowest price.
Cons: The blaring black and orangish color scheme of the results page is a scrap hard to read.
AARP Partners
If you qualify for them, AARP's automobile rental partnership with the Avis Grouping (Avis, Budget, and Payless) promises discounts up to 30 per centum, and in some cases I did find prices lower than those I'd seen anywhere else.
Pros: AARP rates could cease up saving yous money over all your other options.
Cons: Even with a "discount," you might not be getting the everyman rate, so y'all however accept to shop around.
Automobile Europe
In Europe, Auto Europe by and large matched all other sources, including self-described "discounters," for offering the everyman rates. Think of it as the AutoRentals.com or Rentalcars.com of Europe.
Pros: I've used Car Europe in the past, and found its customer support to exist outstanding. It tin also aid with hard rentals, such equally finding a rental agency in Republic of ireland that accepts drivers over historic period 70. It'due south a good identify to start any European rental search.
Cons: As y'all'd expect from its name, Auto Europe is best for bookings in Europe. This car rental booking site does offering rentals in the U.Due south. and elsewhere, but usually won't get you the best toll for them.
Rentcars.com
Rentcars.com is another metasearch system that raises similar results to those search engines that were included in my original tests. Like the others, it manages to dig out some good deals.
Pros: It scans more than 180 rental auto companies and confines the search display to the well-nigh useful prices.
Cons: Every bit with many other sites, the best prices information technology finds are sometimes pay-in-advance, including total or partial nonrefundability, meaning you need to know ahead of time that your plans are concrete unless you lot want to lose prepayments.
Kayak
Kayak is best known for airfare metasearch, but it offers a good product for car rentals as well. It searches numerous car rental agencies and booking sites and came up with some of the best prices in my tests. It includes opaque options advertising a "surprise agency" if you're willing to take a risk.
Pros: The site has lots of handy filters, including "pay now" and "pay at counter" likewise as an selection to show only hybrid vehicles.
Cons: Kayak works with a broad variety of booking sites, which ways you'll sometimes be pointed to companies you're not familiar with. Search for reviews before booking with vendors you haven't used before.
CarRentals.com
CarRentals.com is endemic by Expedia, but it didn't bear witness the exact aforementioned results as its parent company in the tests I ran, then information technology's worth checking both. (Neither one came out consistently ahead of the other.)
Pros: The site has some interesting filter options, including customer recommendation and the ability to reserve without a card.
Cons: Making a booking through this site automatically signs you lot up for emails virtually "special offers," with no way to opt out until the first electronic mail arrives.
Autoslash
Autoslash is a i-stop shopping site for discounts. When filling out your dates, you too check off any rewards programs or memberships you have, and let Autoslash exercise the searching for you lot. Within minutes, yous will get an email with a link taking you to your best rate.
Pros: Ability to search all rewards programs and membership discounts at one time. If you've already booked through some other site, y'all can enter your confirmation number, and they will let you know if at that place is a better deal available.
Cons: You may accept to pay in advance for the all-time deal, and y'all may take to book with a lesser-known car rental company.
The Automobile Rental Booking Site Gotchas to Avoid
No affair where yous rent, yous accept to check out the terms and weather of whatever rental before y'all make your final purchase. Among them:
- Great-looking deals that are nonrefundable or entail a stiff cancellation penalization.
- Cancellable deals that require upfront payment rather than payment at the end of a rental.
- Best deals that employ to tiny "economy" or "mini" cars that are not applied for anything other than running errands effectually town.
- Occasional deals with a mileage cap instead of the unlimited mileage yous unremarkably await.
- Supposedly all-upward prices that exclude some local taxes and fees.
Consumer abet Ed Perkins has been writing virtually travel for more than three decades. The founding editor of the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, he continues to inform travelers and fight consumer abuse every day at SmarterTravel.
Editor'southward note: This story was originally published in 2019. It has been updated to reflect the nearly electric current data. Sarah Schlichter contributed to this story.
You Might Also Similar:
• How to Save Money on Gas: 8 Piece of cake Tricks• 5 Unforgettable National Park Route Trip Itineraries
• x Essentials to Pack for a Cross-Country Road Trip
• All-time Auto Emergency Kits
• nine Nasty Truths About Machine Rental Insurance
We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us gratis of charge with no incentive to offering a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and practice not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you lot buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.
Source: https://www.smartertravel.com/best-car-rental-booking-sites/
0 Response to "What Is the Cheapest Way to Rent a Car"
Post a Comment