January 2019 car rental thread

[lookame]

We're wanting to rent a minivan for Jan 4-12...rates right now are about $600 per minivan

 

[DisneyDogFan]

Big Costco price drop today! We are down to $227 for an intermediate on Jan 27 - Feb 2. I’d still like to see another $50 or so off the total but a big improvement over the $312 for a compact that we started with.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Thanks. THe Intermediate went down about $6 for me but the Standard was over $30 cheaper. So I upgraded ( I think it's an upgrade).

 

[n2mm]

Watching for early February, but no thread yet. Any coupons for National or Alamo? Most of mine don’t work for 2019.

 

[ljcraw555]

Does anyone know how Avis is to rent from? We've always rented from Alamo or National but Avis is coming in at $359 plus 2% back from Ebates & 10% back from Amazon for dates December 29 - January 5th.

 

[Piglet]

I've rented with Avis and was very happy. We received an upgrade the last time when picking up our car. And had no issues at all - very easy pick up and drop off.

 

[jujubiee4]

Hope there is some Black Friday deals or Cyber Monday. My Costco rate has risen 50 dollars every day since it
was lowered.

Auto Slash has lowered their pay now rate. If it goes any lower im tempted to go with them. Their reserve
rate is just as high as Costco. I hate to pay advance though...especially since it goes through Priceline and
doesn't qualify as travel with my CC. Will be watching closely next several days.

 

[DisneyDogFan]

Does anyone know how Avis is to rent from? We've always rented from Alamo or National but Avis is coming in at $359 plus 2% back from Ebates & 10% back from Amazon for dates December 29 - January 5th.

I’ve rented from Avis a bunch using credit card points and wouldn’t hesitate to use them again. I have had some weird exchanges with the agents.

1. Not MCO. I had a reward rental using British Airways miles and the agent said I wasn’t eligible to rent because my British Airways credit card wasn’t a U.S. card and only U.S. citizens can rent cars. It is a U.S. card and I had both my U.S. passport and my Virginia driver’s license. Plus the rental wasn’t even going on the card because it was prepaid AND you absolutely don’t have to be a U.S. citizen or use a U.S. card to rent a car. His fellow agent told him he was wrong but he still insisted on calling “HQ”. I got a nice upgrade without asking for it that day.

2. MCO. Agent insisted that my husband couldn’t be listed as an additional driver because we are married and he was an additional driver by default. This was another point rental that included a free additional driver and we just prefer to have both our names on the contract. Agent offered to include him if we paid an additional driver fee (even though one was included for free) and I called customer service myself that time. I also got a nice upgrade without asking that day.

Two other Avis MCO rentals and at least ten others have been just fine. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again but I would definitely recommend pushing back if anyone says anything crazy.

 

[magicwdw]

Dollar has a cyber Monday 25% off link on their website for rentals through Jan 2019. It beat the city special rate I had but am still hoping rates go lower for my 1/23/18 rental. Its probably a one day only sale.

 

[LSchrow]

Watching for early February, but no thread yet. Any coupons for National or Alamo? Most of mine don’t work for 2019.

I just booked Alamo for May & Oct/Nov, using the same code & coupon as last year:
Costco 7014627
coupon AD2823JAZ
Since we love using DME, & only want/need a car for about 7-8 days of each 13 day vacation, I played around with the P/U & D/O days to get the lowest price (staying at the BWVs, and just walking over to rent from the Dolphin is sooo easy ). In general, Tues through Friday were lowest.

 

[jimmyc0000]

Hi,
Since I started this thread prices have gone down slowly. I now have a full size for Jan. 22nd - Feb. 1 for $ 350.54 with Alamo. Hopefully it continues going down as we get closer to our trip .

 

[jujubiee4]

Hi,
Since I started this thread prices have gone down slowly. I now have a full size for Jan. 22nd - Feb. 1 for $ 350.54 with Alamo. Hopefully it continues going down as we get closer to our trip .

I did dummy bookings 1 week 2 weeks 3 weeks before our Jan trip and i noticed they were cheaper. So i do think the closer you
get to yr travel date the better it will be.

I read on a travel blog somewhere the guy said best time was 30 days out 21 days and 3 days.

 

[lookame]

We booked a car with Alamo. They wouldn’t up the cheaper option. Does anyone know if they put a hold on your card for an additional amount beyond the rental cost? I didn’t see anything in the terms (unless we have a Florida I’d but we don’t).

 

[PatMcDuck]

My mid-SUV rental dropped $60 today, from $290 to $239. Costco travel site, Alamo, January 13-20.

 

[billycwhatup]

I've had luck with Budget BCD S341840

 

[Lynne G]

Costco and 25 dollar coupon, and just under 300 dollars for standard car, 7 to 16 January. Keep hoping it will go down more. I do the keep checking until the day we pick it up. Was late to the party, but hey, saved a bunch on late booking cruise.

 

[MIChessGuy]

Autoslash found a weekly rate of $197, all inclusive, for an Alamo compact at MCO in late January. I booked it and told Autoslash to track the booking. My hope is to get closer to 140 or 150.

 

[jujubiee4]

I can't believe how prices are holding steady. I remember the days of getting really cheap
rentals at MCO.

I hate using priceline through autoslash but at this point it is the cheapest ..so far by 35-40.
Going to check twice everyday before Jan trip.

 

[Piglet]

Rates are coming down some - Switched from Alamo (Autoslash) to Avis and saved an extra $25.

 

[MIChessGuy]

I noticed that Budget (via Costco) is down considerably for late January. My Alamo booking via Autoslash/Priceline is still a few dollars better. However, I used Budget for my Disneyland trip last year and found them to be pretty good.