You are currently viewing 12 tips to save on rental cars

There are plenty of simple tips to save on rental cars, but many travelers unfortunately don’t know them. We already have articles summarizing the best tips to save on plane tickets and accommodation, so here’s a teaser for another type of travel expense.

If you prefer the video version, rental cars were the topic of the month at the beginning of our monthly live video. You can always watch the replay for our travel rewards video and our travel video if you can’t join live.

I’m really giving you the highlights of each trick in this teaser; don’t miss more details about each one soon.

Here are 12 tips to save on rental cars.

 

1. Compare providers

This is the most important tip for EVERYTHING related to travel. It’s really not complicated: compare, compare, and compare some more.

Flytrippers recommends the Booking.com tool to easily compare all rental car providers (the former specialized site RentalCars.com that we recommended was renamed after being acquired by Booking.com).

Support us at no cost! Click directly on our Booking.com link (and any of our links) or save our Booking.com link in your bookmarks, instead of going directly to their site! It allows you to support Flytrippers at absolutely no cost to you! We sincerely thank you.

You can also always access our recommended tools from the “Resources” tab in the menu at the top of our site.

In short, you have to compare prices. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the absurd “car rental provider X is the cheapest”. Of course it isn’t! No supplier is the cheapest all the time, it always varies. Just compare.

 

2. Earn travel rewards that can be used for rental cars

Getting involved in the wonderful world of travel rewards is by far the best way to save on your trips. For example, the current record-high increased welcome bonus on the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card gives you $1025 free!

Many reward currencies like this can be redeemed for rental cars without losing value. Whether it’s Scene+ points, BMO Rewards points, or AIR MILES miles, they’ll give you rental cars for free.

Unlike airlines and hotel chains, rental car providers’ rewards programs aren’t very attractive. But if you see that the price is the same when you book directly with them, you can still earn their own rewards — it’s free.

 

3. Never pay for damage insurance

Rental car damage insurance is included for free on almost all credit cards, even the terrible and worst credit cards that have no welcome bonuses and no annual fees (and therefore that you should never apply for anymore I hope, now that you know the basics of travel rewards).

It never covers liability insurance, just damage insurance.

For the liability insurance, often it’s included in your personal car insurance policy for Canada and the United States. Otherwise, in many countries, it’s mandatory for it to be included it in the rental car price anyway. If not, you have to pay that one.

But don’t pay for the damage insurance for nothing! This often doubles the price of a rental car for absolutely nothing because you’re already covered for free.

On the other hand, insurance companies cover cars with a maximum price. This is never a problem for standard cars, but you can check if you’re renting something that costs more. And pickup trucks are always excluded.

 

4. Book in advance

Car rental bookings are very often fully refundable for free, as are almost all hotels. Unfortunately, it seems that many people still don’t know this, perhaps because of the all-too-common habit of getting ripped off with overpriced pre-built packages and tours that are twice as expensive and much less flexible.

Anyway, if you use Booking.com to rent your car in advance as you should, it’s almost always refundable — but always check. So book in advance as soon as you think there’s the slightest chance you’ll need a car, to make sure you get a good price. And worst case, you cancel if you don’t need it or if you find better (like with the next tip).

As long as you pay in Canadian dollars or with one of the 5 cards in Canada that don’t charge foreign transaction fees, you lose absolutely nothing and avoid paying more if prices ever go up, which is very likely.

 

5. Constantly recheck the price of your rental

Since it’s refundable, you can — and you should — double-check the price for your dates regularly right up to your pick-up date. 

Very often, the price will go down, sometimes even the day before. It’s extremely common, and it allows you to save money so easily.

Simply make a new, cheaper booking and cancel the old one. While you wait for more details, I did a post on this tip for my hotel in India with a Canadian delegation (it’s the exact same for rental cars).

 

6. Compare rental locations

Often, the car rental company’s location at the airport will be the cheapest, but sometimes, just a short public transport ride (or even a taxi/Uber) will take you to a rental location in a neighborhood.

It can often be half the price! Compare.

Once, I saved more than half the price with a simple 10-minute ride from Portland airport (PDX) to a major brand’s location that was in a local neighborhood!

 

7. Always book with international companies

It’s a personal preference, sure. But so many people complain about being ripped off by car rental companies, and it’s almost always with smaller unknown local rental companies.

It’s normal: they don’t give a damn about you, since the chances of you returning to that destination often are slim. Whereas international companies want to be able to keep you as a client anywhere in the world, so local franchises are better supervised.

So I’ve booked dozens of rental cars in my life and I’ve never had one try to charge me for non-existent damages or other such scams that are somewhat common with small rental companies. I always book with international companies: Budget, Hertz, AVIS, Enterprise, National, Alamo, Thrifty, Dollar, Payless, Fox, Sixt, or Europcar.

I’m really not someone who pays more for no reason or who’s overly scared of scams (unlike so many people are, clearly). But for this only, I like stacking the odds in my favor for not so much more expensive. Because scams almost never happen with international rental companies.

 

8. Check out opaque deals

The other tool I often use for car rentals is Hotwire. Especially at the last minute!

It’s the tool Flytrippers also recommends for last-minute hotels.

Hotwire offers you opaque deals, which don’t explicitly show you the name of the rental car company. But even a 10-year-old can deduce the name very easily, assuming they know the tip. We explain it in the post on opaque deals.

I’ll say it again because it’s important: in the world of travel, there are so many tips that are soooooo simple but that unfortunately a lot of people don’t know. It’s normal when we don’t know! But that’s why it’s important to invest just a little bit of time in learning, as you should obviously do for any subject you want to be better at.

The only thing is that with Hotwire, it is not often refundable. And it almost never is with opaque deals, which are almost always the cheapest. It’s precisely one of the reasons why it’s cheaper; the rate is less flexible. Wanting flexibility costs more, just like for flights.

So that’s why Flytrippers recommends it above all for last-minute bookings, or other situations where you’re sure you’ll need the car (or when you’re okay with your credit card‘s trip cancellation insurance, which obviously covers you as it does for all travel expenses, for the good covered reasons).

 

9. Check out TURO

It’s not available everywhere, but the TURO site is like the Airbnb of rental cars. 

Beware: credit card damage insurance doesn’t cover TURO rental cars, and the mileage allowed by rentals is much more limited. This can push up the price significantly.

But it’s worth comparing, as always.

You can even get 2,000 Delta SkyMiles (≈ $24) after your 1st booking if you link your accounts. Actually, the terms don’t clearly state whether this is a U.S.-only thing, but you can try at no cost if you were going to book anyway.

 

10. Don’t rent for your whole trip

So many people seem so conditioned to automatically book for their entire trip, but it doesn’t always make sense. If you visit the city you’re arriving in at all (either upon arrival or before your flight home), you can almost certainly save a few days’ rental (if it’s not in North America).

For example, if you’re going to spend 2 weeks in Portugal (NOT an affordable country, I repeat), don’t rent a car for your whole trip if you want to spend 4 days exploring the beautiful capital Lisbon! You don’t want to have a car in the city, so why pay the extra money too! Rent just for the days you really need it.

 

11. Don’t rent a car at all

The best way to save on rental cars is to not rent a car at all, obviously. Sometimes, you absolutely need one.

But remember to think outside of our very car-centric North American mindset.

If you’re not going to be moving around that much, or just moving between popular places, or just solo or with 1 travel buddy… sometimes it’s much more affordable and more enjoyable to use the very well-developed transport systems in most destinations around the world (outside North America).

It’s worth at least comparing the price and convenience of the other options compared to rental cars.

 

12. Don’t fall for the upsell techniques at the counter

The rental car industry is honestly one of the worst out there. They make a ton of money off useless extras they get gullible customers to pay once they’re at the counter, with the great training they give to their employees on upselling everyone.

There’s the aforementioned insurance aspect, the most important one.

But another common one is that they’ll often try to tell you that the model you’ve booked is no longer available to try and get you to pay more for a bigger car. Many people don’t know what they’re doing, and they get ripped off. The rental car company is obligated to give you a higher-class car if they run out of the class you’ve booked. Don’t pay more for that!

You should never have to pay a penny more at the counter… if you’ve done your booking correctly based on your needs.

That means there are a few things you need to check when booking:

  • Automatic transmission
  • Number of drivers
  • Mileage
  • Tolls
  • Border crossings
  • International license

If you want an automatic transmission, beware outside North America, where most of the cheapest rental cars are manual.

Having more than one driver can change the price quite a bit.

Mileage is almost always unlimited with the major international rental companies but you should always check if you’re going to be driving long distances.

Rental companies can provide you with a toll transponder for a fixed fee or charge you individually for tolls plus a daily administration fee. Compare which option is cheaper… or just use the “avoid tolls” option on Google Maps.

It’s not always free to cross borders, or sometimes it’s even forbidden.

Finally, an international driver’s license is not often required, but if your destination requires it, or if you want to simplify your life, you can order it 100% online for cheap in just a few clicks with the International Drivers Association. They have 30,000+ 5-star reviews, an unlimited replacement policy, and a 100% money-back guarantee.

 

Bonus: Get elite status at major rental car companies for free

At Flytrippers, we like to give you more for your money, so we sometimes add bonus tips to our lists.

To save cash and, more importantly, to enhance your rental experience, there are ways to get elite status with rental car companies Hertz and Avis.

There are 3 ways:

  • By having certain credit cards
  • By having Air Canada Aeroplan elite status
  • By having the top Marriott Bonvoy elite statuses

First, the American Express Platinum Card is by far the best premium card in Canada, for unlimited access to the largest VIP airport lounge network in the world for you and 1 guest (1,400+ lounges), the automatic Gold Elite status at Marriott and Hilton (15,000+ hotels), etc.

One of the lesser-known benefits is that you also get automatic elite status at Hertz. They aren’t always the cheapest rental car company (NONE of them can be the cheapest all the time if you’ve been following), but it is great when you do rent with them or if the price is not your first priority, as is the case for many luxury travelers or business travelers.

Just by having the American Express Platinum Card, you’ll get the Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Five Star status. This has amazing benefits like entirely avoiding the queue to pick up your car, discounts, free upgrades, an extra 4 hours for free on all rentals, waived 2nd-driver fees for your spouse, etc.

Finally, there is also a partnership between Aeroplan and Avis.

It’s the same principle with the 4 Aeroplan premium cards: Amex Aeroplan Reserve Card, Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve Card, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card.

These give you elite status, but with Avis. Avis President’s Club status is also excellent.

You can also get the elite level just below, Avis Preferred Plus, for free, with the 3 main-level Aeroplan cards: Amex Aeroplan Card, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card.

If you’re an Aeroplan elite member, you can also get Avis elite status without a credit card… but I want to make it clear that it really doesn’t make sense not to have an Aeroplan credit card if you’re an elite member.

Finally, if you reach Marriott Bonvoy Titanium elite status and above — this winter’s Marriott promotion can help you do just that; don’t miss a follow-up post with real-life examples — you get Air Canada Aeroplan Elite status 25K automatically and therefore Avis status.

 

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Summary

These tips for saving money on rental cars will certainly help you get away with paying less, if you simply take the time to learn them (congratulations, that’s now done) and apply them (don’t hesitate if you have any questions).

 

What would you like to know about how to save on car rentals? 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: Australia (photo credit: William Christen)

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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