Rental car advice for my trip to America

[Kiwi Bills fan]

Hey guys,

 

I'm trying to organize a rental car for my trip back to NYS next month.

The quotes that I've gotten from companies are a LOT more expensive than what I paid on my last trip a couple years ago.

 

Does anyone know of good places where I could look? It doesn't need to be a really flash car or anything like that.

The pickup/drop-off location must be around the Rochester area. (Canandaigua area is good too.)

[CowgirlsFan]

Hey guys,

 

I'm trying to organize a rental car for my trip back to NYS next month.

The quotes that I've gotten from companies are a LOT more expensive than what I paid on my last trip a couple years ago.

 

Does anyone know of good places where I could look? It doesn't need to be a really flash car or anything like that.

The pickup/drop-off location must be around the Rochester area. (Canandaigua area is good too.)

 

 

Would the Rochester airport have any rental specials for that time frame? Do you get any car rental coupons

in any of your credit card bills? Get some opinions from a travel agent. Are there any deals through the airline

that you will use?

[plenzmd1]

Hey guys,

 

I'm trying to organize a rental car for my trip back to NYS next month.

The quotes that I've gotten from companies are a LOT more expensive than what I paid on my last trip a couple years ago.

 

Does anyone know of good places where I could look? It doesn't need to be a really flash car or anything like that.

The pickup/drop-off location must be around the Rochester area. (Canandaigua area is good too.)

Try www.priceline.com.

 

Great for rental cars and hotels. As mentioned, your best bet is going to be to pick up at the airpoprt if possible.

 

I generally bid no more than $20/day thru on cars and almost always get them.

[Dr. Fong]

I usually have good luck with sidestep.com. I've also been using bing.com a lot lately.

[The Dean]

Try www.priceline.com.

 

Great for rental cars and hotels. As mentioned, your best bet is going to be to pick up at the airpoprt if possible.

 

I generally bid no more than $20/day thru on cars and almost always get them.

 

 

Bingo!

 

You could also try Enterprise or Rent a Wreck, but I think they have become expensive, too. Sometimes Alamo or Budget has a good deal, but not as good as you get from Priceline.

 

My other piece of advice is this:

 

Get the extra insurance ($0 deductible) and have fun! It's a rental car, after all. Dive it through a field, spill stuff in it. Get a convertible and drive in the rain with the top down. Now I'm not suggesting you trash the car. Well, maybe I am.

 

[ieatcrayonz]

You've received some pretty god advice already with Priceline and looking for specials, etc. Because you're not from here you may be only familiar with Hertz and Avis. That's just a guess, but some other names are Alamo, Dollar, and Enterprise to name a few. Maybe shopping with them will help.

 

Also, because you are going to Rochester and are from a foreign land, there is a high degree of sensitivity. So many Canadians come down and are actually rented cars by these dumb companies that it drives up costs. Besides just the accidents in ice rink parking lots, there are dents on tops of cars when these morons put down their curling stones to open the door. Slapshot practice sometimes happens before they even get inside the rink too. This stuff costs lots of money and drives up costs for everyone. This doesn't even take into account the inside of the car and the clean up involved post-Canadian. Don't even ask.

 

Anyway, be sure you stress to the company that you are not Canadian. If New Zealanders have an accent, make it very pronounced when you are on the phone. Also tell them that you know that Americans drive on the right side of the road. They may be a bit timid because you guys drive the wrong way and your toilets flush backwards and all. Tell them you've driven in America befor even if you haven't.

 

Good luck.

[BuffaloBill]

Kiwi Bills Fan - I've found good deals on Orbitz.com and Expedia.com. They will give you a view across the major agencies and you can pick your car and price. I have not used it but you may also want to try kayak.com to see what they come up with.

 

Do not go directly to the agency as they will give you the worst price.

 

Good luck and have fun on your trip.

[Dan]

All good advice here... Try the sites that compare multiplel rental car agencies, inculding some of the lesser known companies. Also, I've often found that if you look for off-airport locations you can save money. Many rental car compnaies will charge an airport tax (or something like that) if they're considered at the airport, even though half of them aren't but that's another thread perhaps.

 

So, I'd suggest looking for a rental car location not at the airport and then figure in the price of a cab ride or shuttle there. Sometimes it can be quite a bit cheaper. I think it depends on the City and how much they charge for the "airport tax" as to how much you'll save.

[Kiwi Bills fan]

I was actually born and raised outside of Rochester. (But I'll try and put on my best Kiwi accent if you want.)

 

You've received some pretty god advice already with Priceline and looking for specials, etc. Because you're not from here you may be only familiar with Hertz and Avis. That's just a guess, but some other names are Alamo, Dollar, and Enterprise to name a few. Maybe shopping with them will help.

 

Also, because you are going to Rochester and are from a foreign land, there is a high degree of sensitivity. So many Canadians come down and are actually rented cars by these dumb companies that it drives up costs. Besides just the accidents in ice rink parking lots, there are dents on tops of cars when these morons put down their curling stones to open the door. Slapshot practice sometimes happens before they even get inside the rink too. This stuff costs lots of money and drives up costs for everyone. This doesn't even take into account the inside of the car and the clean up involved post-Canadian. Don't even ask.

 

Anyway, be sure you stress to the company that you are not Canadian. If New Zealanders have an accent, make it very pronounced when you are on the phone. Also tell them that you know that Americans drive on the right side of the road. They may be a bit timid because you guys drive the wrong way and your toilets flush backwards and all. Tell them you've driven in America befor even if you haven't.

 

Good luck.

[Kiwi Bills fan]

Thank you for all of your advice. I really appreciate it.

[Kiwi Bills fan]

I usually have good luck with sidestep.com. I've also been using bing.com a lot lately.

Isn't Bing.com just a search engine?

[Dr. Fong]

Isn't Bing.com just a search engine?

 

 

Yeah, but it has a meta search for a bunch of different travel sites. Both of the sites I gave you are meta sites. I like having a lot of data all in one place rather than scouring every little site.