6 Steps to Getting the Best Car Rental Deal

At some point or another, most of us will need to rent a car. But how do you know you’re getting the best deal on your car rental? Simply follow the steps below to book your next rental car like money expert Clark Howard…

How to Find a Cheap Rental Car

It used to be that to get the best deal on a rental car, you had to call around to all of the rental car companies to see who could offer the lowest price. Now, thanks to the internet, you can make sure you’re spending as little as possible on your car rental in no time by following our simple formula.

Quick links:

1. Figure Out What Kind of Vehicle You Need
   
2. Start Your Research With AutoSlash
3. Check the Other Aggregator Sites
   
4. See If You Can Get a Better Deal Directly From the Rental Car Company
5. Book the Best Deal
6. Check Back a Week Before Your Trip to See If Prices Have Dropped

1. Figure Out What Kind of Vehicle You Need

The first thing you need to do when going to rent a car is figure out what type of vehicle will suit your needs. Important questions to ask yourself include:

• How many people will be traveling?
• How much, if any, luggage will I need to stow?
• Do I need more than two doors to accommodate car seats or special needs?
• Will I need a vehicle that can handle rough terrain?
• Do I care if the vehicle is a basic model or something more luxurious?

Once you’ve answered those questions, you can narrow down which kinds of vehicles you’d be willing to rent. The specific descriptions of vehicles can vary from rental company to rental company, but they generally look something like this (via CarRentalExpress.com):

Narrowing down the types of vehicles you’re interested in is key to making sure your search for the perfect rental isn’t overwhelming. Now that you’ve done that, you’re ready to see what’s out there.

2. Start Your Research With AutoSlash

The first destination in your search for a rental car is a secret to a lot of people, but one that Team Clark has found can save you a lot of money: a site called AutoSlash.

AutoSlash shops the car rental marketplace and uses discount codes, coupons and membership perks to get you the best possible rental car deal.

It works a little bit differently than some of the travel booking sites you may have used in the past. You start by telling AutoSlash what you’re looking for and they email you with the best price they can find for the type of vehicle you want for the dates and rental location you’re interested in.

As an example, let’s say you’re taking a family vacation to Orlando around Thanksgiving and have decided you’ll need a compact SUV for your trip.

AutoSlash found us an intermediate SUV (they searched for compact SUV or better) from Advantage for $259.41 for the five-day period we requested:

One of the great things about AutoSlash is that the site will monitor the vehicle you select and email you if the price on the rental drops between the time you book and the time you pick it up, allowing you to re-book at the lower price.

Read our full review of saving money on rental car bookings with AutoSlash here.

3. Check the Other Aggregator Sites

Once you’ve established the lowest price you can get on your desired vehicle through AutoSlash, it’s time to comparison-shop the other sites that aggregate rental car rates. Some of the most popular and trustworthy are:

• Expedia
• Hotwire
• Kayak
• Orbitz
• Priceline
• Travelocity

We ran our search for a compact SUV or better for five days around Thanksgiving in Orlando through all six sites. In this case, Kayak returned the best price — even better than AutoSlash’s: an intermediate SUV from Hertz for $223.

Here were the quotes from all seven sites we checked:

This exercise proves what Clark has always said — comparison shopping really does pay off!

4. See If You Can Get a Better Deal Directly From the Rental Car Company

Now that we’ve established the best deal available from the major travel booking sites, it’s time to see if we can do even better. Sometimes companies offer the best deals directly through their own websites, so we headed to Hertz.com.

The company website didn’t even come close to matching the Kayak deal, coming in at $319 — and that’s if you pay in advance. That is something you want to try to avoid with rental cars, as we’ll soon explain.

5. Book the Best Deal

At this point, having gone through the first four steps, you should feel pretty confident that you’re getting the best deal available now, so it’s time to book your rental car.

Generally, with car rentals you’re just reserving the car you want — not paying for the rental. That means you won’t even have to give up a credit card number to lock in your reservation. It also means that, unlike with many airline tickets and hotel reservations, you won’t be penalized if you need to cancel or change your reservation later.

6. Check Back a Week Before Your Trip to See If Prices Have Dropped

Finally, since you’re not locked into your reservation with a credit card, you have one more trick up your sleeve — and it’s one of Clark’s favorite travel tips.

“When I book my flight weeks or months before the actual date of travel, I also book my car rental at the same time,”  he says. “Then a week before my travel date, I re-shop the car rental rate. At least 90% of the time, I find that I can book a new car cheaper at the last minute, so I just let my old reservation go.”

As Clark says, this method isn’t foolproof but there’s no harm in repeating steps 1-4 above a week before your trip. At best, you save yourself even more money. At worst, you know for sure that you’re getting the absolute best price on your rental car!

Final Thought

Often, renting a car is a crucial piece of planning a trip — and traveling can be expensive. But by following the steps above, you can ensure that you’re not paying too much to get around wherever it is you’re going.

More Travel Stories From Clark.com:

• Clark’s Travel Booking and Planning Guide
• Should I Buy Insurance From the Rental Car Company?
• Rental Car Insurance: Which Credit Cards Have You Covered?