Any ways to get a cheap rental car?

[Jeremy E.]

I'm going to Vegas in mid march and was hoping to rent a car for a week so I can visit the big 5 national parks in Utah. I see rates of like $20-$25 a day and think it'll end up being $150-$200 for a week, but I guess they charge a ton of fees and most places end up being $600+. I am using credit card rewards for free hotels and free flights, but don't have any that I can use for rental cars. Any mustachians have slick tips and tricks for getting cheaper rental cars?

[holicanmc]

I travel for work a fair amount and I use an aggregation site,  vroomvroomvroom.com

It gives you all the rental car options for the location and the best part is you aren't charged (they don't even ask for credit card info) until you pick up the car.  This lets me go back to the site later and if prices have lowered make a new reservation and cancel the first one.

Also, it shows you the total cost so unless you get a GPS or opt-in for insurance you know what your total will be, I haven't had any hidden charges come up.

I'm not affiliated with the site at all, I just use it a lot, it's great.

[Jeremy E.]

I travel for work a fair amount and I use an aggregation site,  vroomvroomvroom.com

It gives you all the rental car options for the location and the best part is you aren't charged (they don't even ask for credit card info) until you pick up the car.  This lets me go back to the site later and if prices have lowered make a new reservation and cancel the first one.

Also, it shows you the total cost so unless you get a GPS or opt-in for insurance you know what your total will be, I haven't had any hidden charges come up.

I'm not affiliated with the site at all, I just use it a lot, it's great.

On vroomvroomvroom, the cheapest I can find is $800 for a week which is still far too expensive, For some reason I thought it would be a lot cheaper like $200-$300, maybe I'll just drive down there.

[kpd905]

I am using credit card rewards for free hotels and free flights, but don't have any that I can use for rental cars.

Which cards are you using?  The Barclays Arrival and Capital One cards should let you redeem points toward car rentals.  Chase UR points also let you book car rentals through their travel portal.

I just booked a rental from Salt Lake City at the end of April and it was $11/day for the week to hit Canyonlands National Park in Moab.  Could you fly into SLC instead of Vegas if the car is cheaper?  Although, I'm not sure I'd want to cram all 5 parks into one week.

Edit:  I just went to Carrentals.com and put in dates of March 12-19 at Las Vegas and there are lots of cars for $15/day.

[prax]

I've had really good experiences with Turo, a sharing economy car rental service. It's like Airbnb for cars.

Many of the cars are as expensive as a regular rental, but you can find some really good deals there. Just note that if you're relying on rental car coverage from your credit card, it probably won't apply.

[rockstache]

Autoslash is really good. They will keep checking for you and find the lowest price. You can cancel anytime for free.

[kiwichick]

I'm not sure if this will be valid for you, as an American. But when I hire in the US, I've gone with Alamo and booked through their UK site (alamo.co.uk) using the code "discount" for 10% off. I do it this way because the rate given includes full insurance and $0 excess, but you many have to be a Non-US citizen to do so. It's by far the best deal I've found if you don't have an insurance policy that will cover a rental car.

[Jeremy E.]

I am using credit card rewards for free hotels and free flights, but don't have any that I can use for rental cars.

Which cards are you using?  The Barclays Arrival and Capital One cards should let you redeem points toward car rentals.  Chase UR points also let you book car rentals through their travel portal.

I just booked a rental from Salt Lake City at the end of April and it was $11/day for the week to hit Canyonlands National Park in Moab.  Could you fly into SLC instead of Vegas if the car is cheaper?  Although, I'm not sure I'd want to cram all 5 parks into one week.

Edit:  I just went to Carrentals.com and put in dates of March 12-19 at Las Vegas and there are lots of cars for $15/day.

I'm using Southwest Cards for flying and Barclay Wyndham Rewards card for my hotels. I ran out of Chase UR points.
This is the cheapest I've seen, but it still ends up being $440 for a week, I think I might go with this if I can't find anything else though. I checked and the prices are very similar between renting from Vegas and SLC. I'm planning on following this Itenerary for the National Park portion of the trip
http://www.visitutah.com/plan-your-trip/recommended-itineraries/mighty5/best-week-of-your-life

[johnny847]

If you have a Discover It, you can redeem your points for certificates at half off face value. I forget which rental car companies are available. But you can only use one per order.

[synonym]

I live in Vegas and used to use various car share/rental agencies regularly before i bought a car.

I can also recommend Turo.com (formerly relayrides.com). Insurance is a fixed 40?% of the quoted rental price, less for a higher deductible. I rented a car for a base price of around $30/dar

I've also used zipcar.com, which can cost 70-80/day but this includes 180 miles including fuel. Insurance is included, but a collision damage waiver is available for less than $10/month

[dudde_devaru]

I rented a Prius for Christmas on RelayRides (now called Turo) for 7days and got 1000miles to use. The car was excellent and 40mpg. The owner was very friendly and easy to talk to. If you want more info, PM me. I can refer you for free $30 driving credit also :)
The total cost was $156 including insurance!

[kiwichick]

Oh, and have you checked out the flyertalk.com forum? They have threads for all the major car rental companies and each usually has a sticky thread listing current discount codes.

[kpd905]

I guess it depends how much driving you like to do, that is around 2.5 hours a day average over the week.  I'd rather pick one or two parks and spend the whole week there, which is exactly what I'm doing in April (Arches and Canyonlands).  I also spend 5 days in Zion last year.

What date are you going?  The cars in Vegas from March 12-19 are $15/day, so around $180 for a week.  Then another $15/day or so if you buy the full insurance at the counter.  So around $300 a week, not the $600 you were thinking.

[Jeremy E.]

I've had really good experiences with Turo, a sharing economy car rental service. It's like Airbnb for cars.

Many of the cars are as expensive as a regular rental, but you can find some really good deals there. Just note that if you're relying on rental car coverage from your credit card, it probably won't apply.

$184 to rent a Prius for a week, way cheaper than anything else I've seen, thanks for the suggestion! Now I have to figure out how insurance works.