RatherBeOnATrain

I collect Thrifty's Free Day certificates instead of miles. Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to use them, e.g. get the most bang for the buck?

My thinking is to use them:

(1) At non-airport locations since airport locations will still charge you the airport access fees and tourist taxes.

(2) For mid-week rentals, when the daily rate is highest.

(3) For four 4 day rentals in order to avoid getting charged a weekly rate (though I'm not sure if using a single certificate on a 4-day rental turns it from a weekly rental rate to a 3-day rental. Anyone know for sure?)

(4) For 1-day mini-van rentals at home, in order to use the van to haul 4x8 sheets of plywood, bags of landscaping material, and other heavy stuff home from Home Depot/Lowes/other home improvement stores.

Any other pointers?

Auto Enthusiast

Do Thrifty free days work for one-ways, like National's version? Thrifty, unlike National, has an unbundled taxable drop charge immune from discounts, which reduce the base daily rate only. So, would you still have to pay the drop charge?

jackal

I think your ideas are great.

Anchorage in the summer (~$120+ per day for an economy) is a great place to use them.

I have not seen any restriction on one-way rentals on the coupon, so I would assume they would be usable. While I've never tried, I would assume you would still be responsible for the drop charge, however.

Tuneman1984

The certificate does not say anything about one-way rentals, so I would assume it works. But it does say that the certificate only goes against the time and mileage, not additional fees or taxes. So if your rate was $59.95/day plus a $150 drop charge, you'd have the $59.95 disappear but you'd pay the $150 drop fee plus taxes.

On occasion I have seen Thrifty go the Avis/National route of charging a high daily rate with no drop fee, though this is typically between major centres in close proximetry (e.g. Calgary-Edmonton). So if your rate was $194.49/day plus taxes, you'd only pay the taxes.

I've always wondered about the "mileage" part of "time and mileage". Let's say your rate is $49.95 with 200 free kms, and you drive 500 km in that day. Wouldn't the certificate mean you still pay only the taxes? I've never tried this but I'd be concerned about having to dispute the T&C's with a lone counter rep.

jackal

This may be a Canadian thing. I haven't seen this to be the case in the U.S.