WWMMMD? Car rental

[FiguringItOut]

Hi all.

I am flying to Fort Lauderdale on Wed and need to rent a car for 4 days.  The car rental is not optional - it has to be done.

I made reservations a while back at the Economy Car Rental for a total of $66.

Now, I am looking at their horrible reviews on Yelp and I am not sure what to do.  Here is the review page http://www.yelp.com/biz/economy-fort-lauderdale

Basically, what I got out of these reviews is
1. The Economy is at the off airport location - I knew that
2. Waiting for shuttle can take upto an hour and some say it may be two shuttles - OK, I think I can do that.
3. They try to upsell you on insurance and refuse to rent a car if you can't produce proof of insurance policy - I will bring a copy of my insurance policy and insurance card.
4. The place is in the sketchy location - I am woman traveling alone.  But street view on google maps did not seem too bad.
5. Their cars are old, may have engine lights on, have a lot of mileage on the car (someone said they had a car with 40K miles LOL) - old doesn't bother me, mileage doesn't bother me, engine lights worry me.

The next cheapest rental I found is from Fox Rent A Car for $78. Same types of reviews.  Same issues mentioned.

The option of renting from a more reputable place in terminal is EZ Rent A Car at $118 total price.  That's double the price. 

What would you do if you were me?  Would you risk renting from Economy or go with EZ?

[Clean Shaven]

1) Search on Hotwire -- see what they quote you. 

2) Start lowball bidding Priceline on rental cars -- suggest trying for 20-40% lower than the Hotwire rate. 

Priceline & Hotwire only work through national car rental chains, like Hertz, Avis, Dollar, etc.  In other words, you'll get regular customer service from these rentals, and not sleazy C/S such as Fox and similar.

[Cougar]

i would go with fox. theyve been around awhile and are nationwide and are usually the lowest.

i'd bet the airport is in a sketchy part of town, many airports are. as long as you have good directions out to the freeway and back into the rental location; i doubt you'll have trouble; i mean it is ft. lauderdale; not detroit.

[jmusic]

Also don't forget about RelayRides.  I can't vouch for them personally as I've never used the service, but it's worth mentioning.

[SF Semi-Mustache]

Do you have Costco?  If so, rent a car (or check the rates) at Costco Travel for car rentals.  They are frequently much cheaper than Kayak, and they use major companies (Avis/Budget/etc.).

[Imustacheyouaquestion]

Those reviews are terrible. Sounds like a pretty scammy place and I'd beware.

Check relay rides - I just looked for Ft Lauderdale and there was a Honda Civic for $37/day. After fees and adding premium protection (bumps to $1M coverage with a $500 deductible), it was about $55/day total. If you find someone who will deliver to the airport for free, you're all set.

[FiguringItOut]

Thank you all for suggestions.

I checked Hotwire, Priceline, BJ's (I don't have Costco), and did some more searches on the web.

Imustacheyouaquestion, relay rides doesn't make sense.  With $55/day it would come out to $220 for 4 days.  I can do better than that.

Priceline was not budging below $20/day before fees and taxes which were about another $50.  BJ's was even worse.  Hotwire gave me a total price of $109 for the whole thing at the off airport location.  And I found $118 at EZ Rent A Car at the In-Terminal pickup.  I went with that.  I figured $9 is worth not having to take shuttle. 

I do find the whole thing absolutely ridiculous though.  Seems that there are a lot of false advertising and shady business going on. 

[MsPeacock]

I rented from that place once - many years ago. If Yelp had been around I would have known better. They gave me a car that was very far out of alignment and the engine light came on just a few miles from the airport. It cost me 1/2 a day dealing with them. When I returned the car, due to their excessively long line - I was 15 minutes late and they charged me a $30 or so 'late' fee.

I've done ok using Expedia and often rent through Thrifty or Enterprise w/o a problem. I can't recall the rate I last paid for a rental at FTL (back in January this year). Whatever you have to pay to avoid Economy is well worth it.

[DrJD]

Do you have Costco?  If so, rent a car (or check the rates) at Costco Travel for car rentals.  They are frequently much cheaper than Kayak, and they use major companies (Avis/Budget/etc.).

Have a trip next week and was so proud of my cheap car rental reserved via Kayak a month ago.  For grins I just checked Costco and even though my travel is a week out I was able to get it for $40 cheaper through Enterprise instead of the shady Advantage!  So thank you!

[Spondulix]

If you have Costco Amex it may cover the extended insurance coverage. It may only apply to business cards, but if the reservation is made (and paid) to the Amex card, they have automatic insurance coverage. But definitely call for the details.

[Imustacheyouaquestion]

With $55/day it would come out to $220 for 4 days.  I can do better than that.

Sorry, I thought you meant $66/day, but realize you mean total now. Good luck figuring it out!

[DrJD]

If you have Costco Amex it may cover the extended insurance coverage. It may only apply to business cards, but if the reservation is made (and paid) to the Amex card, they have automatic insurance coverage. But definitely call for the details.

I believe this is also true for VISA cards.  I discovered this while poking around my capital on card's website the other day!  I hate the super slight pang of guilt that I get when I turn down their offer for coverage, but now I can just be happy that I'm covered and not paying them their ridiculous fees.