Best Vehicle Rental Deal for 5000km+ Roadtrip?

[Saskatchewstachian]

So DW and I are planning a roadtrip with a group of friends and I am looking for any recommendations for the best way to rent a vehicle for the trip, or any tips that other roadtrippers have.

Details:

• ~5000km beginning in Saskatchewan and stops in Banff, Kelowna, Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Bend, Boise, Yellowstone (or close) and then home to Sask.
• The roadtrip is planned for July/August of 2017 so I have lots of time to plan things. We have just finished booking a mix of AirBnB's, hostels and hotels at the various locations.
• There are 6 people on the trip so we will most likely be planning for a minivan as it would give the most room with the best gas mileage.

To avoid having one person drive the entire time we plan to include 3 of the 6 people on the rental agreement as allowable drivers, but this will increase costs. Current estimates from looking at Expedia shows about $1100-$1300 for the rental and those are all unlimited km rentals.

Are there any booking tools or tips that people have i.e. best credit card that I could sign up for now that would give good perks for rentals or certain companies that have good rules around taking the vehicle over the border, etc.

Any and all tips including mustachian activities in each of the areas are appreciated?

[Chris22]

To avoid having one person drive the entire time we plan to include 3 of the 6 people on the rental agreement as allowable drivers, but this will increase costs

In the US (not sure about Canada), spouses are automatically included when one rents a car from some companies.  So if two of the three are spouses, that will cut down on the cost of adding additional drivers. 

[Khaetra]

I've always rented with Budget, as I've gotten great rates and unlimited mileage.  Rentalcarmomma has coupons and discounts for Budget so I would check to see what kind of rate you get from them, although I will say Summer rates are going to be higher since it's peak travel season.  I do believe they also allow crossing the border.

[KelStache]

Sounds like a great trip!

We've found the best deals from Avis, and we always Google coupon codes to use before purchasing online (another discount if you buy online).

If you're looking for activities to do Groupon sometimes has really good deals on tours and activities and stuff. Banff is my favourite place, I recommend getting in a hike (tourist office can recommend one that matches your goals), going to the hot springs (pool), and getting a beer at Banff Brewing :-) They have a decent happy hour too.

I'm not sure what route you'll take, but check out Lussier Hot Springs (natural pools) if you happen to pass by!

[Prairie Stash]

Enterprise Mini Vans (Dodge Caravan) are $410/week, hopefully the quotes you found were for 3 weeks. On top of that you have daily insurance rates which are covered by higher end credit cards, my VISA includes car rental insurance as a bonus. Phone your card company to check the details.

You're talking about going to the USA, that's something you have to disclose or your insurance is void. not all unlimited deals actually allow you out of country km. The fine print use to be unlimited in province kilometers. They've relaxed and generally say western Canada now.

Spend 10 minutes on the phone with Budget and Enterprise and you'll get a good deal. Skip Expedia, its not saving you anything.

[Saskatchewstachian]

Sounds like a great trip!

We've found the best deals from Avis, and we always Google coupon codes to use before purchasing online (another discount if you buy online).

If you're looking for activities to do Groupon sometimes has really good deals on tours and activities and stuff.

I'm not sure what route you'll take, but check out Lussier Hot Springs (natural pools) if you happen to pass by!

Never actually thought to check groupon for the other locations before heading out, so thanks for the tip!

[Saskatchewstachian]

Enterprise Mini Vans (Dodge Caravan) are $410/week, hopefully the quotes you found were for 3 weeks. On top of that you have daily insurance rates which are covered by higher end credit cards, my VISA includes car rental insurance as a bonus. Phone your card company to check the details.

You're talking about going to the USA, that's something you have to disclose or your insurance is void. not all unlimited deals actually allow you out of country km. The fine print use to be unlimited in province kilometers. They've relaxed and generally say western Canada now.

Spend 10 minutes on the phone with Budget and Enterprise and you'll get a good deal. Skip Expedia, its not saving you anything.

Good to know about the unlimited km in province! We will definitely disclose that we will be taking the vehicle out of country but I would not have thought to ask if the unlimited mileage in fact has geographical limits.

I did a little digging for my credit card and found that it does in fact have rental insurance on it. So I will just need to pay for it with my card and get the friends to re-imburse me (Yay free points).

[HipGnosis]

I just happened to catch a bit of Clark Howard's radio program the other night and he said the best deal on car rental is through Costco.
He said to book it as far in advance as possible and then check the rate every 3-4 weeks to see if the rate went down. 

[GetItRight]

None of these 6 people own a vehicle? That is surprising to me.

[Saskatchewstachian]

None of these 6 people own a vehicle? That is surprising to me.

All of us own vehicles but they are all cars, so none capable of carrying 6 people unfortunately. There of course is the option to take two vehicles but that hen double gas, parking, etc.

[Prairie Stash]

Depending on the km/day driving its sometimes cheaper to rent. Wear and tear on your personal vehicle is saved. If I need to do an 800 km day trip its cheaper to rent than drive my older car. A rough estimate of $0.10/km for wear and tear would estimate $500 deferred costs/car. That will include an oil change, 5000/80000 towards tires, brake replacement, tune up and the other random repairs that happen as you get high mileage cars.

Taking 2 vehicles will cost more than renting, unless the trip is over 4 weeks and parking is free. Plus its more fun to ride in a single vehicle for socializing.

[Saskatchewstachian]

Depending on the km/day driving its sometimes cheaper to rent. Wear and tear on your personal vehicle is saved. If I need to do an 800 km day trip its cheaper to rent than drive my older car. A rough estimate of $0.10/km for wear and tear would estimate $500 deferred costs/car. That will include an oil change, 5000/80000 towards tires, brake replacement, tune up and the other random repairs that happen as you get high mileage cars.

Taking 2 vehicles will cost more than renting, unless the trip is over 4 weeks and parking is free. Plus its more fun to ride in a single vehicle for socializing.

Our thoughts exactly, I hadn't specifically crunched the numbers (how un-engineer of me!) but knew that 2 vehicles was not the route that we wanted to go. I'm sure parking in areas such as an AirBnB in Boise wouldn't be bad, parking 2 vehicles in downtown Seattle at a hostel could be a serious pain.

As for for socializing that is of course a huge bonus and each person has their vehicle "job" i.e. snack distributor, DJ, navigator, etc. Can't wait but unfortunately it's still 5+ months away.