Costco for car rentals - seems to be cheapest always!
May 31, 2016, 8:10 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Lincoln, CA
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Posts: 240
Costco for car rentals - seems to be cheapest always!
I booked a 5 day rental for upcoming trip to DTW through Costco Travel - my Go To car rental site. The cost was $298 for 5 days for SUV beginning June 9th. After listening to Clark Howard's advice on this subject (frugal talk show and travel expert), I made a mental note to recheck the site closer to my trip (I just now did it). I am now booked for the same type of SUV and same start and end dates but $195 with different company - still thru Costco! Score! I then cancelled my original res w/Alamo since I'm now with Budget. Holy Moly! I Just love this information sharing stuff!
I used to mess around with coupon codes and Ent book coupons and what I find for the last couple of years is Costco Travel always trumps the other offers. (at least in my experience). Not to mention saving time. But, checking a week or 2 later obviously paid off for me as well. (it's not necessarily a one and done thing as inventory fluctuates and discounts may happen more frequently a bit closer to the date the car is needed). What's also great about Costco is that my husband and I can always Both drive the car without paying daily junk fees that are sometimes added if you don't research the terms first.
I used to mess around with coupon codes and Ent book coupons and what I find for the last couple of years is Costco Travel always trumps the other offers. (at least in my experience). Not to mention saving time. But, checking a week or 2 later obviously paid off for me as well. (it's not necessarily a one and done thing as inventory fluctuates and discounts may happen more frequently a bit closer to the date the car is needed). What's also great about Costco is that my husband and I can always Both drive the car without paying daily junk fees that are sometimes added if you don't research the terms first.
Jun 1, 2016, 12:30 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Lincoln, CA
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Posts: 240
Interesting site (autoslash). I'll give that a try. Costco travel requires inputting the Costco membership number upon reserving car at Costco Travel .com site
Jun 3, 2016, 6:24 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
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Costco often has good deals. I have two other go-tos: 1) Thrifty's hot deals are often amazingly low, and 2) Entertainment book coupons (used with the right promo, they can be as good as Costco).
And, FYI the rental agent for a car rental in CHS asked to see my Costco card last time I was down there....
And, FYI the rental agent for a car rental in CHS asked to see my Costco card last time I was down there....
Jun 11, 2016, 6:50 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 14
One thing I like about Costco is that my wife is automatically covered when we rent a car through any of the companies.
Warning though concerning Budget and Costco. When I went to pick up my rental car from Budget at LAS, the price came up different and I didn't notice until they ran the card. I did manage to talk the agent back down to the original price by waving my printed confirmation, but the credit card account still showed the higher price. When I called Budget customer service, they said that they had been having problems with Costco rates not going into their system properly and that my card would be adjusted when I returned the car. (This did happen with no problems when I returned the car.)
Word of Warning - Make sure you have your Costco reservation printed and check the amount before you let them swipe your card.
I asked why their agents weren't aware of this glitch, but never got a good answer.
Warning though concerning Budget and Costco. When I went to pick up my rental car from Budget at LAS, the price came up different and I didn't notice until they ran the card. I did manage to talk the agent back down to the original price by waving my printed confirmation, but the credit card account still showed the higher price. When I called Budget customer service, they said that they had been having problems with Costco rates not going into their system properly and that my card would be adjusted when I returned the car. (This did happen with no problems when I returned the car.)
Word of Warning - Make sure you have your Costco reservation printed and check the amount before you let them swipe your card.
I asked why their agents weren't aware of this glitch, but never got a good answer.
Jun 12, 2016, 5:10 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,663
One thing I like about Costco is that my wife is automatically covered when we rent a car through any of the companies.
Warning though concerning Budget and Costco. When I went to pick up my rental car from Budget at LAS, the price came up different and I didn't notice until they ran the card. I did manage to talk the agent back down to the original price by waving my printed confirmation, but the credit card account still showed the higher price. When I called Budget customer service, they said that they had been having problems with Costco rates not going into their system properly and that my card would be adjusted when I returned the car. (This did happen with no problems when I returned the car.)
Word of Warning - Make sure you have your Costco reservation printed and check the amount before you let them swipe your card.
I asked why their agents weren't aware of this glitch, but never got a good answer.
Warning though concerning Budget and Costco. When I went to pick up my rental car from Budget at LAS, the price came up different and I didn't notice until they ran the card. I did manage to talk the agent back down to the original price by waving my printed confirmation, but the credit card account still showed the higher price. When I called Budget customer service, they said that they had been having problems with Costco rates not going into their system properly and that my card would be adjusted when I returned the car. (This did happen with no problems when I returned the car.)
Word of Warning - Make sure you have your Costco reservation printed and check the amount before you let them swipe your card.
I asked why their agents weren't aware of this glitch, but never got a good answer.
Jun 25, 2016, 5:19 pm
#8
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Location: Lincoln, CA
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Interesting comments. The only problem we had with Budget @ Detroit was that the line was 35 people long when we got to the rental center. I so wished I had fastbreak. It took a full hour plus 10 or 15 min to get to counter. Unbelievable. I typically like Enterprise or Alamo. I don't travel that frequently so I'm no expert, however.
Jun 25, 2016, 6:04 pm
#9
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: Delta, Hilton, Marriott, Hertz, Avis, National, Starwood
Posts: 1
I always use AutoSlash. Just last week I was in Sarasota and had a Tahoe for two weeks with Avis for $526 including all taxes. AutoSlash started out at $1200 for the two weeks and rebooked the rental 4 times for me. I had no trouble at all with the rental. I just started using AutoSlash after doing it myself for years. It's a pain keeping up with checking the reservation yourself.
Jun 25, 2016, 7:30 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 1,174
Dang...
Costco often has good deals. I have two other go-tos: 1) Thrifty's hot deals are often amazingly low, and 2) Entertainment book coupons (used with the right promo, they can be as good as Costco).
And, FYI the rental agent for a car rental in CHS asked to see my Costco card last time I was down there....
And, FYI the rental agent for a car rental in CHS asked to see my Costco card last time I was down there....
the nerve, what's this world coming to... !!!
Jun 25, 2016, 7:33 pm
#12
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Location: Lincoln, CA
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I booked hotels under AARP discount as well as govt rate. Neither hotel asked for the id cards. I booked the Budget rental car through costco (had to enter my id number on the website - costco travel at the time) but did not have to produce card at counter. I did have all the cards with me, however.
Jun 25, 2016, 7:33 pm
#13
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 1,174
So I guess the lesson is...
Interesting comments. The only problem we had with Budget @ Detroit was that the line was 35 people long when we got to the rental center. I so wished I had fastbreak. It took a full hour plus 10 or 15 min to get to counter. Unbelievable. I typically like Enterprise or Alamo. I don't travel that frequently so I'm no expert, however.
Jun 25, 2016, 7:37 pm
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Lincoln, CA
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well I called Fastbreak while in the 1 hr and 15 min line. They told me the first time I rent, I must go through the line. Ugh. Kind of defeats the purpose. I don't travel enough to get hooked up w/ the express programs of all the diff agencies and, seriously, I've never had to wait more than about 5 min in the rental car agencies to get my reservation until this very interesting trip to Detroit.
Sep 26, 2016, 9:46 am
#15
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: USA
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Just adding another data point; Costco comes through yet again.
It wasn't the rock bottom cheapest - Kayak did have a cheaper rental available at an off-terminal agency - but Costco was very close. Most importantly, Costco was giving me that rate at an Alamo location that has consistently high reviews for customer service, whereas all of the other car rental services at this airport sound awful (except National, which I also would have loved to try, but were way higher priced).
I had also tried Autoslash.com; they were very pretty close to the Costco rates, but again, not for any rental agencies that provide decent service.
Definitely glad I checked!
It wasn't the rock bottom cheapest - Kayak did have a cheaper rental available at an off-terminal agency - but Costco was very close. Most importantly, Costco was giving me that rate at an Alamo location that has consistently high reviews for customer service, whereas all of the other car rental services at this airport sound awful (except National, which I also would have loved to try, but were way higher priced).
I had also tried Autoslash.com; they were very pretty close to the Costco rates, but again, not for any rental agencies that provide decent service.
Definitely glad I checked!