I’ve just shared a sneak peek of tips for car rentals that I recommend if you missed it. You’ll find 8 basic tricks and the 2 tools we use. I rented a car in Florida in early March, so I wanted to show you a concrete example of how easy it is to save money. I paid $93 instead of $191 thanks to these 6 tips.
I’m taking a break from my feature on concrete tips for my 25 flights this fall to do one on car rentals, for a bit of variety.
Here’s my experience.
Background on my car rental in Florida
I was in Miami for the 30+th time, because flights are often cheap and there are clean hostels at US$16 a night in Miami Beach, to escape the terrible Canadian climate.
I happened to see that SpaceX and NASA were sending a rocket with 4 astronauts into space that weekend.
I’d never seen that before. I’m not the most rocket enthusiast person at all (obviously, otherwise I would have already gone to see it one of the 30+ times I’ve been to Florida). But I figured that it’s the kind of experience that must be interesting to witness at least once.
And the hordes of Spring Break partygoers were arriving too, so it was a good time for me to get away from Miami Beach. Plus, while sharing with you the series of articles on Florida’s 12 coasts, I felt bad that I’d never visited the Treasure Coast and Space Coast, which are so close to Miami. Plus, I hadn’t been on a roadtrip in a long time, I was due!
So I decided to rent a car to go see the rocket launch and to drive the A1A route along the ocean throughout the length of these 2 coastal regions (an article on the destinations themselves is coming soon).
6 tips I used for my car rental in Florida
I used almost all the main tips for car rentals from the sneak peek post:
- Compare supplier prices
- Compare prices from nearby agencies
- Don’t pay for damage insurance
- Don’t rent for the whole trip
- Book with international agencies
- Don’t fall for their upgrade scams
Compare supplier prices
I always check on our favorite tools Booking.com (formerly RentalCars.com) and Hotwire, it’s as simple as that.
Rental price in Miami on Booking.com
Going on Booking.com, I checked the price at Miami Airport (MIA).
The price was pretty horrible, $219 for 2 days. Very expensive for Miami. But hey, I needed it for the next day too.
Rental price in Miami on Hotwire
Hotwire wasn’t much better at that particular date and place — it varies, like everything else in the world of travel.
I forgot to take a screenshot, but from memory, it was very similar.
Compare prices from nearby agencies
I looked at neighborhood agencies in Miami because they’re sometimes cheaper. But in this specific case, since Miami is a large metropolitan area with several airports, I also looked at those alternatives.
Rental price in Fort Lauderdale on Booking.com
As much as you should always look at the 2 airports to find cheaper flights to South Florida, the same goes for car rentals. The very comfortable Tri-Rail train links the 2 airports directly. It costs just US$3.75 and takes only 44 minutes.
In this case, it worked out well for me because, after my roadtrip, the new Aloft Fort Lauderdale Airport hotel invited me to come review the property. I get plenty of free hotels with my Marriott points obviously (and you should too with the crazy deal right now), but it’s rare that I get any really completely free ones, so I accepted their offer.
Anyway, looking on Booking.com, the price in Fort Lauderdale was $194 for 2 days. Better, but not by much.
Rental price in Fort Lauderdale on Hotwire
I always tell you to compare hotel and car rental prices on Hotwire too, it literally takes 2 minutes. So that’s what I did again.
The same airport on the same dates… and it was US$69 for 2 days (C$93).
Hotwire lists opaque deals. The name of the supplier is hidden. For me, it’s important to know, because of the tip to always book with international companies.
I’ve already explained everything about how to decipher opaque deals, but in short, it’s very easy to find out the name even if it’s hidden. Even more so with car rentals than with hotels.
My rental at US$69 is with a supplier that has a rating of 8.0/10 and 4084 reviews. There aren’t 10,000 suppliers, so you just have to find the one with a rating of 8.0/10 and 4084 reviews.
There you go, it’s Hertz.
I took one more step, but it’s optional so I’ll come back to it in a few seconds.
I booked the opaque deal and magic: they confirmed to me that it was Hertz unsurprisingly.
Rental price in Fort Lauderdale on the Hertz website
So I paid US$69 and on the Hertz website, for exactly the same car on exactly the same date, it was US$140. More than double.
Imagine being the person who pays 2 times more for exactly the same thing! A real shame, isn’t it?
Saving half the price so easily… Just always use the comparators, it’s not rocket science.
Unfortunately, a lot of travelers don’t know all the many simple tips like this one. It’s far from being the only one, very far indeed.
That’s why we strongly encourage you to sign up for the free Flytrippers newsletter and join the 100,000+ savvy Canadian travelers who receive all our tips and deals, so you don’t pay twice as much for exactly the same thing.
Don’t pay for damage insurance
Let me remind you that choosing the right credit cards (to get and to use) is pretty much the basics in the world of travel rewards.
For car rental damage insurance, just about every card has this, even the most terrible ones. So the insurance aspect doesn’t affect the order of priority of the choice of card to use, unlike the choice of card to pay for plane tickets.
I will do a more detailed article, but the order for car rentals is:
- Card with earned points you want to use for the car rental
- Card on which you’re unlocking a huge welcome bonus
- Card with no foreign transaction fees (for Hotwire only)
- Card with a multiplier earn rate for travel
Don’t rent for the whole trip
I’ll take this opportunity to remind you that for a trip in the Miami region, it makes no sense to rent a car, at least not for the whole trip.
If you want to stay in Miami Beach, you don’t need a car at all — it’s even a pain to have one, with all the traffic and parking. If you want to discover the great attractions of the city of Miami itself, everything is very accessible without a car. These are my 2 favorite places in the area.
If you want to go further afield, for example in the Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood area, which are geographically kind of the Mississauga of Miami, it’s obviously less practical not to have a car.
For this trip, like for almost all my trips to Miami, I didn’t rent a car except for the days when I wanted to do this roadtrip. The same goes for last year during my visit in this part of the United States, with my girlfriend who wanted to go to the Miami Zoo, which is further away. We rented a car just for that day, to avoid paying unnecessarily for all the other days for nothing.
Book with international agencies
Not much to add, it’s my personal preference that I’ve already explained in the tips for car rentals.
I stick to it.
Don’t fall for their upgrade scams
The agent didn’t try this time, as there were a lot of cars at the airport. I wouldn’t have fallen for it if he had tried.
But by being polite, I asked for a free upgrade and got it. I certainly wouldn’t have paid for it, but it costs nothing to ask by being nice.
Additional optional tip (or at least an attempt)
The last tip that I put as a bonus in the tips for car rentals is about elite privileges.
Since it was Hertz (or if it had been Avis too), before booking on Hotwire, I went to their site directly to compare the price.
It’s not necessary: it’s NOT like with plane tickets where you should always book directly on the airline’s website and never through third parties.
With car rentals, just like with hotels and all other travel bookings, it doesn’t matter at all.
No, it’s that with the American Express Platinum Card, in addition to unlimited access to the world’s largest VIP airport lounge membership and automatic elite status at all Marriott and Hilton hotels, I also get Hertz Gold Plus Five Star elite status for free.
It would have allowed me to skip the line at the airport and have 4 extra hours on my rental, 2 of the most interesting benefits in my opinion among the many. But well, it’s not worth paying an extra $100 for that. But if it had been just $10 more, for example, I’d probably have taken advantage of it.
As for Avis, it’s the same principle, but with Aeroplan premium cards (Amex Aeroplan Reserve Card, Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve Card, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card).
If you have elite status with airlines, you’re entitled to your privileges no matter where or how you book. With hotels and car rentals, it’s not like that. Everything is often very different for flights.
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Summary
I saved nearly a hundred dollars on a car rental during my trip to Florida this month. I used 6 practical tips that can help you save a lot if you take the time to apply them.
What would you like to know about my car rental tips in Florida? Tell us in the comments below.
See the flight deals we spot: Cheap flights
Discover free travel with rewards: Travel rewards
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Featured image: Florida (photo credit: Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers)
