Maybe you’re planning a cross-country road trip. Or you may need a vehicle while yours is in the shop. For whatever reason, there are always times when a rental car comes in handy.
But do you ever wonder why they’re so expensive? How come you can lease a Toyota for $150 a month while renting the same model can cost $40-50 per day?
Like with airfare, tons of factors go into the cost of car rental. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to game the system to get a much better deal. For that, you need to stop making these mistakes:
1. Not Changing Your Location
Even if you have a preferred car rental company, their rates can vary by location. Airports tend to have the lowest daily prices. But they usually have several extra fees tacked onto the base rate that can make them the most expensive place for renting cars.
You need to shop around. If you have a little flexibility and can take an Uber or Lyft to where you want to pick up your rental car, you could save 50% or more.
2. Not Using a VPN While Doing Research
It is especially important if you’re renting a car in a foreign country. Like every site on the web, car rental websites track your IP address. Your IP address reveals you’re from outside the country; hence you get a higher rate.
All you have to do is change your IP to the one from the destination country. Then you can get a lower rate and better secure your booking details. And with a VPN, you can do this in seconds.
Select the target country you want and hit connect. But remember to delete your cookies each time you search. Otherwise, the site can recognize your browser and cough up the same rates no matter which VPN server you connect to.
Note: It is a great way to save on airfare and hotels too. Except you may get better rates from a third country — as in not yours or the one you plan to visit. Experiment with different choices to see which one gets the best offer.
3. Buying the Extra Insurance
Some rental agencies give you a big scare about what you have to pay if you damage the car. Then they offer overpriced insurance you can buy.
What you might know is that most credit cards include car rental insurance. As long as you pay for the trip with the card, you’ll be covered. Likewise, your current car insurance covers anything your credit card might not.
If you don’t have car insurance, your credit card insurance becomes your primary coverage. Either way, you’re covered! So, forget about the extra coverage at the rental agency.
4. Falling for the GPS Scam
Most likely, even the device you’re reading this article on has GPS built-in. And it is much easier to use. Don’t fall for the car rental GPS scam.
You have several better and cheaper options. Rent a car that has built-in systems like Apple CarPlay. Or you can get a magnet or another accessory to mount your phone, so you can see the map while driving.
If you must have a separate GPS device, you might as well buy one of your own. That way, you can use it in your own car when your trip is over.
5. Forgetting to Check For Discounts
You can find rental car discounts and promo codes everywhere on the internet. Costco has a partnership with Avis, Budget, and Enterprise to reserve vehicles in locations around the world. The same also goes with AAA, AARP, your airline, and other areas.
You can always search for promo codes on Google. You’ll be surprised how many of them are active. You can unlock discounts of 5-20% in seconds.
Bonus: Bundles Aren’t Always the Way to Go
Many travel sites like Expedia, Orbitz, and Hotwire, may try to convince you to combine your flight, hotel, and car rental reservations. You’ll see the claim that this can save you some serious cash.
In reality, what it does is save you is a little time you’d waste booking reservations separately. And it offers the convenience of putting everything for you on one itinerary. But most often, you can get better deals by doing the work yourself.
You can get much better deals if you search for the best car rental when connecting to different VPN servers. The same goes for airfare and hotels. Not to mention all promo codes and discounts you can take advantage of this way.
It takes a little more time in the planning stages but can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars that you’d rather spend during the trip.
