The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: pbkmaine on June 18, 2015, 01:51:02 PM
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I will be flying into Manchester NH airport August 10. I will be in the area for 9 days. The best price I am seeing quoted on a rental car is $364 for an economy (Budget). Any suggestions for getting a better deal?
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I think that's about the lowest price you could get for renting a car. Have you considered other services, like Uber?
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No, because I will be driving all over NH and Maine.
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I rent a lot of cars for work, although not in NH, but that seems high to me for a 7+ day rental.
Costco travel often has better rates than directly though the rental company. If its feasible to rent away from the airport (i.e. friend or public transit to a non-airport location) the rate can be much lower. I've had instances where renting from an off-airport location (but within 10 miles of the airport) cut the rental cost by 50-70%. If I'm not using Costco, I get to the rental site through Ebates.com, which gets you a percentage back after the fact. Good luck.
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Book the cheapest acceptable car you can find. Others have provided suggestions. Then keep checking in hopes that something cheaper will pop up before August. I've found that costs bounce around a lot over time. What cost $300 this week can be found for $200 next week. Then about a week a head of time make a low-ball offer through Priceline or other opaque travel site. Be sure to read all the fine print because these reservations can't be changed.
If you are picking up at an airport, see if there are cheaper options in town. Airports often have higher fees/taxes than off site.
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Check out autoslash.com. I have yet to see it not find a better deal than I was finding manually.
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I rent a car in NH each summer. Book the best deal you can now, but try again 10 days out, then even closer. Last year the price went down 25% three days before my rental began.
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Every time I've looked, I've only found Enterprise to not be the cheapest option one time.
And never rent a car from the airport location if you can help it. Make your reservation at one of the closest off-site locations and then take a taxi, bus, or walk. Off-site rentals are usually ~60% less.