Cheapest way to get rental cars?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So we're heading out to Yellowstone first week of August. Trying to find the best way to get a rental car. We are flying in to Denver, driving in to Teton Village for a few days, then driving up to Mammoth Hot Springs for a few days and flying out of Bozeman.

Aug 2-10th.

Cheapest I can find is like $900. Anyone have any ideas? AAA discounts suck for this, can find cheaper rates all over the place.
 
Often you can get a week deal that is cheaper than the daily rate. Also - often airport rental lots have extra fees associated with being at the airport, and these can really add up.
I rent cars all the time on work travel, and the rate will be advertised at only $29 a day but after fees and taxes its nearly $100, and a lot of that is associated with the airport.
 
Where are you looking I just rented a Jeep Wrangler from SLC airport for 8 days in May for $500 out the door through Alamo . Renting for at least a week always gets you better prices for sure.
I just saw you're dropping off in a different place than pick up, it's gonna be hard to find competitive rates that way but you might look on slickdeals to see who's got what discounts.
 
I use the avis app, I get a weekly rental of an intermediate SUV for about 300$
 
tsconver said:
Probably a big up charge for picking up at one airport and dropping off at another.
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Yeah, that is the main problem I think.

The cheapest way I can find to do it is to pick up the car in Denver, take it to where we were staying in Teton Village for a few days and then dropping it off at Jackson Hole Airport and picking up another car there and dropping it off in Bozeman when we are done with our trip. That's like $650-700.
 
Dever car rental has a ton of extra charges they dont tell you about. Another $40 at least for toll road, (no way to get from or to airport without driving on tolls) plus they will sell hail insurance hard, see if your insurance will cover. Devener gets a lot if hail being up so high, we got lucky and it did hail but no damage. ( declined coverage)

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tsconver said:
Probably a big up charge for picking up at one airport and dropping off at another.
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not with Avis. I do that often at no charge.
 
Many times there is a sister rental agency just outside of the airport with much better rates and usually offer transport from the airport, just takes a little extra time to get to the car rental location.
 
rockcity said:
Many times there is a sister rental agency just outside of the airport with much better rates and usually offer transport from the airport, just takes a little extra time to get to the car rental location.
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I think this is the way to go! I just looked and it is $300 cheaper if we take a 30 minute Uber ride into Denver to pick up a car at a different spot.
 
Blaze said:
I think this is the way to go! I just looked and it is $300 cheaper if we take a 30 minute Uber ride into Denver to pick up a car at a different spot.
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Check the uber rate if you can, someone still has to pay the tolls for the road. Our daughter who lives out there, car registered here, we get a bill every time she goes to the airport.

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No way to skirt the tolls whether via rental car or Uber.

I’d look around for an Uber coupon. Many times you can get 50-100% off, especially in new cities.
 
shawn said:
The tolls are only.... $10?
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Rental company charged $40, I asked why so much and she said that's what rental cars for them typically end up on tolls for when they are returned. No way for out of state to pay, they just send a bill to the owner.

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No fries said:
Rental company charged $40, I asked why so much and she said that's what rental cars for them typically end up on tolls for when they are returned.
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Yeah, that's a long-running thing at Denver with the rental car companies. They just throw a surcharge on your bill and say it's for "tolls". The dollar value is more about what they can get vs what itit actual costs.
 
I’ll be in Yellowstone a few weeks ahead of you. Flying in to Bozeman and renting from the Toyota dealer there. Was cheaper than the airport choices when I booked it.
 
No fries said:
Rental company charged $40, I asked why so much and she said that's what rental cars for them typically end up on tolls for when they are returned. No way for out of state to pay, they just send a bill to the owner.

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shawn said:
Yeah, that's a long-running thing at Denver with the rental car companies. They just throw a surcharge on your bill and say it's for "tolls". The dollar value is more about what they can get vs what itit actual costs.
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I rented a car in Dallas once, for work, and Avis pulled this shit. Added a random charge for "estimated toll charge", that was well more than what I had actually accrued
When I called and complained about it, got the same line - "that's just an average amount we assess everybody."
I told her,"OK, so, if you're willing to deal with charges from the Fed DA's office for defrauding the Federal Government on made up bills, rather than what was in the contract your company has with the government, then that's ok with me." Amazingly, they removed the charges and made it only the actual toll amounts....
 
RatLabGuy said:
I rented a car in Dallas once, for work, and Avis pulled this shit. Added a random charge for "estimated toll charge", that was well more than what I had actually accrued
When I called and complained about it, got the same line - "that's just an average amount we assess everybody."
I told her,"OK, so, if you're willing to deal with charges from the Fed DA's office for defrauding the Federal Government on made up bills, rather than what was in the contract your company has with the government, then that's ok with me." Amazingly, they removed the charges and made it only the actual toll amounts....
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I rent cars all the time; I've never seen an estimated toll charge. I always just get a second charge on my card between 2 and 45 days after the rental.

I think I accrued like $85 from Philly to PTI. Express lanes FTW
 
Falko said:
I rent cars all the time; I've never seen an estimated toll charge. I always just get a second charge on my card between 2 and 45 days after the rental.

I think I accrued like $85 from Philly to PTI. Express lanes FTW
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Ive only seen it that one time.

Re: tolls... in 2012 my BIL, nephew and i drove to Newfoundland. We gave our nephew the option of paying either for gas, or tolls, between here and the border.
He quickly chose tolls wo looking into it.
I think it cost him close to $150, lol. Shoulda seen his face every time we pulled up yo an EZpass station.
 
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