Renting a Car for First Time

[beksy]

This trip will be our first trip renting a car and I am not completely sure how to get the best deal, what company to go with, etc. Any advice please?

[faline]

The only way to do it is research. Do you want to be sure your rental company is at the airport for convenience? Research those companies but be prepared to pay a bit more than if you're willing to shuttle off-airport to the rental agency.

Check the rates of all the companies that you're interested in and select the best rate you can find for the type of car you want.

Continue checking rates even after you've made your reservation. There are times when I've rebooked and canceled existing reservations several times (sometimes even with the same company) when I've seen better rates. Rates tend to fall for a period as you get closer to your trip and then at some point as you get closer still, they tend to stop falling and then begin to rise.

Look also at other venues for car rental discounts - such as AAA, BJ's, or other organizations you belong to. On one occasion, my best price was obtained by renting via a link from my airline so check that out as well.

[jnfr2424]

I usually try to stick with companies at the airport. It can be a bit cumbersome to deal with shuttles from the airport to rental places. Also book early For my upcoming vacation we got a SUV from Enterprise at $380 for the week I booked this back in May. I looked yesterday at the same rental and its up to $650!

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

I'll pm you another website where you can go to get discount codes. As already stated, keep checking back and if the rate has dropped, book the new one and then cancel the original one. You can do this as many times as you'd like.

[Bellewannabe]

Try Dollar and use the promo code KISS2. It usually works well. Take the time to sign up for Dollar Express - there is no charge and then you can bypass the long line of people waiting.

[Disney4]

I always rent a car from the Dolphin - Alamo or National (Same company) and use Magical Express to and from the airport. It usually works out great that the family either goes to Epcot or DHS via the bus from the hotel and I just walk over to the rental counter from the park. Whole thing takes about an hour and there is never a line at the rental counter, which is not the case at the airport or care care center.

Also, I'm not positive about MCO, but many airports put a surcharge on car rentals, making them more expensive that renting off-property.

[Patricia]

I'm renting a car for the first time too and have been researching. I will be picking up at the airport as I'm staying off site.

But.. if you are in a Disney resort and using ME to get to your resort there is a Dollar Rental agency in the Regal Sun resort (look up Lake Buena Vista on Dollar's site) .. it is across the street from the Down Town Disney (Market Place) bus stop. You can just walk over. The rates there are better than picking up at the airport and less than National on Disney Property.

Now that I've typed that, it turns out that during my stay it's cheaper to pick up with Dollar at the airport but that only changed today. You really do have to keep checking.

[mudpuppysmom]

Shop, shop, shop....that is my strategy and I continue shopping up until I can't look any longer, but I will say that if you book something far out and it seems high, it might not be -- this last trip (we went in Oct) was the most I have paid for a rental in the last five years and about 8-10 trips!

I think the days of $100 rentals are gone for now, but you never know --something might pop up!

Sign up for any loyalty programs the co. has and also for email deals.

If you really do not care which company you rent from you can try an opaque site (ex. priceline) -- you don't know the company name until after you have paid, but sometimes you can get a heckuva good deal that way!

Good luck shopping!