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Mile-high Rental Car Prices in Denver, May 26-June 4 '17

Mile-high Rental Car Prices in Denver, May 26-June 4 '17

Old May 3, 2017, 9:00 am
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Mile-high Rental Car Prices in Denver, May 26-June 4 '17

I'm getting quotes of around $800 for a ten-day rental from DEN from 5/26 through 6/4/17 from a range of companies. Can anyone suggest a way to bring these rates down to earth? $80/day makes my nose bleed.
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Old May 3, 2017, 10:49 am
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Welcome to Memorial Day in the Rockies!

Try Costco.com. $484 for an intermediate car through Budget.
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Old May 3, 2017, 10:55 am
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian
Welcome to Memorial Day in the Rockies!

Try Costco.com. $484 for an intermediate car through Budget.
I was getting ready to check Costco on my wife's recommendation. In the meantime I've got a reservation from an Enterprise location in Thornton for $400 for an economy. Their rate from the airport was almost double that!
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Old May 3, 2017, 2:29 pm
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Originally Posted by ajGoes
I was getting ready to check Costco on my wife's recommendation. In the meantime I've got a reservation from an Enterprise location in Thornton for $400 for an economy. Their rate from the airport was almost double that!
Enterprise is one of Costco's partners. An economy car through Costco and Enterprise at the airport is going to be close to $400.
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Old May 3, 2017, 2:37 pm
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Originally Posted by DenverBrian
Enterprise is one of Costco's partners. An economy car through Costco and Enterprise at the airport is going to be close to $400.
They're quoting $604 for an economy car. While that's a substantial discount off the rate Enterprise quotes on their site, it's still way more than a) I'm willing to pay or b) the $348 Costco quotes (or $400 direct from Enterprise) for the same car and dates from their Thornton location.

My wife theorized that the Memorial Day weekend was driving up rates, but I'm seeing really high prices even if I pick up on Tuesday May 31st.
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Old May 3, 2017, 3:08 pm
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Searching on carrentalsavers.com I find $490 for an intermediate size car via dollar and $423 for a compact via payless. It wouldn't surprise me if autoslash could find a better rate within a few days.
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Old May 3, 2017, 8:07 pm
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Originally Posted by ajGoes
They're quoting $604 for an economy car. While that's a substantial discount off the rate Enterprise quotes on their site, it's still way more than a) I'm willing to pay or b) the $348 Costco quotes (or $400 direct from Enterprise) for the same car and dates from their Thornton location.

My wife theorized that the Memorial Day weekend was driving up rates, but I'm seeing really high prices even if I pick up on Tuesday May 31st.
I see $543 for an economy car from Enterprise via Costco right now, but that's noon pickup to noon pickup.

One thing you might want to consider: Take the A-Train from the airport to Union Station, then walk to a local car rental downtown. I'm seeing Avis via Costco at their 1900 Broadway location for $237, intermediate car, your dates.

Be sure to play a bit with your pickup and dropoff times; that can make a difference of $50-$100 or more.

And I second the advice to try carrentalsavers.com, carrentals.com, and autoslash.

Last edited by DenverBrian; May 3, 2017 at 8:16 pm
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Old May 4, 2017, 7:56 am
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And keep checking rates, which is easy to do on Costco Travel. I often see rates falling as the date approaches. At least if you have an existing reservation, the worst case is that you have spent 5 minutes looking.

Also, in other cities, I have been blindsided by huge add-ons for toll tags. This page discusses those: https://www.expresstoll.com/Pages/Ho...entalCars.aspx
DIA is just east of the major toll road in the area, E470, so just be aware that GPS may route you on that if your are going north (Ft. Collins or Boulder) or south (Colo. Springs, Castle Rock, maybe parts of DTC).
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Old May 12, 2017, 9:01 am
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Now $445 for an intermediate car at Costco, using Alamo.
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Old May 15, 2017, 2:28 pm
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Originally Posted by ajGoes
I'm getting quotes of around $800 for a ten-day rental from DEN from 5/26 through 6/4/17 from a range of companies. Can anyone suggest a way to bring these rates down to earth? $80/day makes my nose bleed.
Need to plan earlier....

Also at this time of year (booking time is March-mid APril) is you can find one way car rentals from PHX to DEN at really cheap rates of around $7/day or less + taxes.
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Old May 15, 2017, 8:51 pm
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Holding at $445 for an intermediate car at Costco, airport pickup and drop off, using Alamo.
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