This is such a broad question with such an extensive answer (plus, we haven’t covered rental cars for several years) that we’re breaking it into a three-parter. Today, we cover strategies for saving money when renting a car in general, and in Las Vegas specifically.
Here are a number of tactics we’ve gleaned over the years, both from renting cars ourselves, in and out of Las Vegas, and following the expert advice, which we’ve researched on and off and hasn’t changed much in the past half-decade or so.
Start your search early by doing your online due diligence. Booking onine will, in most cases, garner lower rates than booking over the phone. And after spending 30-60 minutes on travel and car-rental websites like Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Bookingbuddy, VroomVroomVroom, Carrentals, and the like, you’ll pretty much have the lay of the rental-car land and where to reserve your best deal on a car.
Still, it’s wise to spend a little more time exploring the following money-saving possibilities.
First and foremost, make sure that you’re seeing the total bottom-line charge, including all the taxes and fees, which can bump up the end price by 20%-30%.
Also, be sure to compare prices for renting at the airport with off-airport locations. In the past year in Las Vegas, for various reasons, this writer has rented cars at Stratosphere (Budget), Treasure Island (Dollar), and a stand-alone location on W. Tropicana (Budget), and gotten much better deals than at the airport all three times, and not just because of the lack of the $3-per-day (or more) "customer-facility" fee levied for picking up a rental from the airport.
Why were the off-airport prices so much lower? Your guess is as good as ours, though we do note it’s often true that the shorter the distance you travel from the arrival gate at McCarran to the rental car, the higher the charge for said car.
That said, sometimes off-airport locations, especially those at expensive hotels, charge more for daily- and weekly-rate cars than you’ll save in airport fees, so don’t assume anything in advance and look carefully when you compare.
Also, while you’re searching rates, don’t forget about coupons and discount codes. Membership organizations, such as AAA, AARP, Costco, Sam’s Club, some credit unions, the military, and others, offer discounts and cut-rate car rentals for members.
In addition, if you’re really into it, you can check coupon-aggregator websites, such as Zalyn.com, which lists all the car companies offering promotions, filtered by location and date rather than the (more limiting) rental company; on our last check, 22 rental-car coupons and discount codes were available for Las Vegas.
Nerdwallet.com is another website with car-rental discount coupons. Under Shopping, click on Coupons, then enter Car Rentals in the search field; on a recent search, 20 car coupons came up.
Some credit cards offer discounts, or cashback, or "frequent-flier" miles on any rental car reserved or paid for with that card. They’ll also provide supplementary (or even primary) insurance coverage; we address this is in more detail in tomorrow’s installment. Be sure to check the fine print, though; some give rewards only if you book directly with the rental-car company, and not with a discount-travel website like Orbitz, and certainly not with a coupon website.
Another money-saving technique to keep in mind is a weekly rate. It’s not uncommon for the weekly rate to be cheaper than the daily rate multiplied times five, four, or even three days. However, be sure to inquire about fees for bringing the car back early; if you don’t keep a weekly rental a minimum amount of time, some rental-car agencies (such as Dollar in Las Vegas) tack on an early-return penalty.
Then there’s the upgrade ploy. In the U.S. especially, a majority of rental-car customers prefer not to drive compact cars, which is why many rental locations, especially smaller markets and non-hub airports, stock only a few compacts, if any. If you’ve reserved a compact and none are available, the company is obligated to give you a free upgrade (or two, depending on stock on hand). In larger markets like Las Vegas, where the supply of rental cars is vast, this plan is a little less workable. But it’s worth a try -- as long as you’re willing to drive around in a dinky little car if the gamble loses. Alternatively, you can just pay for an upgrade in the event that an actual compact car is waiting for you, but then you’ll usually pay more for the car than if you reserved it in advance online.
Another option is to book your car from smaller companies, such as regional chains and local indies. Carrentalexpress.com is the go-to site for these deals. In Las Vegas, a recent search there turned up Payless, E-Z, United, State, and a few other little-known agencies.
Over the years, we’ve heard stories from Las Vegas travelers who’ve saved a bundle by bundling: flight-and-car or flight-hotel-car packages. You can often pick up these deals from your airline frequent-flier club or a good online travel agency.
When you locate your best deal, jump on it. If you don’t pre-pay for your car, periodically search for an even better deal than the one you’ve booked. You never know what might turn up before your trip.
However, depending on the rental-car company, you can often save more money by pre-paying for your rental. Essentially, this means handing over your credit-card information when you reserve your car. The typical savings are in the 10%-20% range, though we’ve seen pre-paid weekly rentals as high as 33% off. Working through what are known in the travel trade as "opaque" websites, such as Priceline and Hotwire, is similar: Both offer pre-paid deep-discounted (20%-40%) rentals, but you don’t find out what rental-car company you rented from until you pay. Also, on Priceline and Hotwire, the car is totally non-refundable.
A few other caveats are in order here. First, the pay-now rate often disappears if you try to use a coupon or discount code. Secondly, cancellation penalties usually apply, often up to $50 if you cancel less than 24 hour in advance of your reservation. And if you neither cancel nor show up (the rental-car-industry no-show rate on pay-later reservations can be as high as 30%), you forfeit the entire pre-payment.
Finally, rental-car rates change so frequently that it’s possible to find a cheaper rate on a pay-later reservation tomorrow than what you got on your pay-now booking today. In fact, AutoSlash.com continuously checks for lower rates, coupons, and discount codes; you can track the price of a rental you booked elsewhere, or you can book directly through Autoslash, which will apply any discounts it finds, even multiple times, up until the day you pick up your car, to automatically lower your rate. (Note that Autoslash’s choices are somewhat limited to smaller rental-car agencies like Fox, Sixt, and E-Z, as the bigger companies don’t like that Autoslash can and does change/cancel reservations frequently, without penalty.)
So there you have the quick and dirty rundown on what to do to save money on your rental car. Tomorrow, we’ll cover the flip side of the question: What to do in order to avoid losing money on common and costly rental-car mistakes.
