Avoid Extra Car Rental Fees and Get a Discount Rate While on Vacation

When you plan your vacation, you're hoping for the best trip you can get for the smallest price you can pay. You probably already know that the rate for renting a car can get quite expensive, especially if you pay full price. Luckily, you can get discounts on your car rental rate if you know where to look. Also, your car rental can have fees that you probably weren't even aware that you could reduce or avoid completely. In this article, I'll cover some tips you can use to get a discount and slash or avoid unnecessary fees, putting more money back into your pocket and out of the hands of car rental agencies.

Save With a Car Rental Rate Discount

Here's some steps you can take to lower the rate on your car rental:

You have several places where you can look for discounts. Oftentimes, companies will have corporate discounts: you can ask about discounts for major national organization members, credit card program members, and frequent flyer program members.

Car rental agencies can also be affiliated with hotels, so you might be able to get a discount on your room even if you can't get one on your car. If you're a frequent customer of the agency, you'll be eligible for discounts and free upgrades as well.

Be sure to shop around, though, because rates will differ drastically for each company within a city. You can surf the web, or talk to your travel agent who can call around or let you know about any promotional rates they're aware of.

And lastly, reserve your car at the weekly rate instead of the hourly or daily rate, and return the car on time. Otherwise, you'll pay for the additional time and pretty much make your discount null and void.

Save On Car Rental Fees

You can get car rental discounts in several ways, but you'll still pay more than what you want. Sometimes the base price you're given is only half of the actual rental cost and you don't really know how costly it'll get. Watch out for these fees when you're renting a car while on vacation:

If you're using the car for one-way travel, ask about the charges for leaving the rental in a different location. You may end up paying up to $1,500 by leaving the car in a different location from where you bought it.

Look to see if you car insurance covers rentals before you pay the agency's insurance. Higher-end credit cars, like Master card Gold, can also be another option.

If you can avoid it, rent your car in town, not at the airport. Airport car rental agencies charge you surcharges that you can avoid by renting elsewhere.

Your bill may still be higher than the base price even if you cut corners, though. If you want to know the real price you'll be paying, you can go to travelocity.com. This site offers total pricing for car rentals and will quote your price within 1% of the total charge.

Enjoy your vacation and your extra spending money!