Bags, packed. Passport, checked. Locks, installed. Flight timings, checked. But have you booked yourself a car rental whether it is Toronto Car Rental or Los Angeles Car Rental, depending on your location of visit/trip. Even if you have, do you know your car rental and all its nuances in and out? If no, then its time you read this.
Rental car customers are paying more, due to an unprecedented slew of taxes and fees. But that extra money doesn’t go to the rental car companies; it goes into city and state coffers, where it is used to fund municipal projects. But there s a way for consumers to dodge some of these fees: Pick up your car in town, not at the airport. In 2005, research found that taxes and fees were 45 percent lower for off-airport rentals.
Over the past few years, rental agencies have begun to install GPS devices in their vehicles. These units allow companies to track cars that are lost or stolen. But global-positioning technology also lets them know when a renter has been speeding or has taken a car into another state, which may be construed as increasing wear and tear. To date, most companies don t use the technology to impose fines, but it can and does happen. You also need to know that states including New York and California have passed laws preventing rental car companies from imposing such penalties. Still many companies would try to get away with it.
Trying to find the best rental deal can be frustrating, since rates can fluctuate dramatically from day to day, even minute to minute. Prices are constantly changing because Dallas car rental to Paris car rental agencies use something called yield-management technology, which continually adjusts pricing depending on how many cars are available. A sudden rash of cancellations or bookings, for example, can push rates up or down. That is why it pays to comparisons hop and check back later to see whether rates have fallen there s usually no fee to cancel a reservation or rebook at a lower rate.
Most companies make reserving and renting a car pretty simple until it comes to the issue of insurance. That s where they offer a bewildering array of supplemental coverage, which can easily add $10 to $30 to your daily bill. What the overeager reps won t tell you is that you may already be covered, either partially or completely. There are two major types of insurance you ll want: a collision/damage waiver and liability. Also that many credit cards cover damages to the vehicle but don’t offer liability on your favored Maui car rental.
Read the terms and conditions very carefully because you might find to your horror that a reservation is not a guarantee. The rental agreement is contingent on availability. In fact, you re not reserving a specific car model, but simply a class of car. So if you get a smaller car than what you reserved, be sure to ask for a rate adjustment. If the lot is empty, the company is supposed to find you a car even if it means calling another agency and covering the difference. So if the clerk doesn’t offer, remind him that the company is liable if you wind up paying more for a rental car elsewhere.
Just like supermarkets, rental car companies bank on getting their customers to do some impulse buying at the checkout counter where you can now choose from a sizable menu of la carte amenities and services. The extra features can ruin you more than $20 or more per day and showcase GPS, baby seat, car cooler and what not.
It used to be that better deals were to be had at smaller, independent rental car companies but with rising energy prices and weakening demand, that s no longer true. In fact, the changing rental car landscape is making it any company s game to pitch a bargain which means it s more important than ever to shop around for the best deals. And the only way to get the best hits is the internet, so get your gear and begin surfing.
Car rental companies do offer another option: prepaying for a tank of gas at a more reasonable rate so you don’t have to worry about finding a station at the last minute. There s only one problem: You’re not likely to return the car empty. Whatever gas you leave in the tank is a donation to the rental car company. So unless you’re tight for time, it still pays to gas it up yourself upon return.
Last but not the least on every rental car company website, there are ads flaunting the company’s latest deals. Not to mention the paper coupons that appears regularly in newspapers. But there are so many rules and restrictions involved that it s often impossible to get exactly the deal that s being advertised.