I need a rental vehicle for 6 people for 4 days labour day weekend in YVR.

All the rental car websites say that to guarantee seating for six I need to book a minivan or an enormous-sized SUV, these cost about $550.00 for four days including taxes and fees.

Some of the regular-sized SUV's (such as the Ford Explorer) come in six-passenger configurations as well as five-passenger configurations. However it seems if I try to book one of these I will not be guaranteed seating for six. The regular-sized SUV is more affordabe than the minivan or enormous SUV, besides being nicer for me to drive.

Does anyone have a way around this? Over a hundred dollars a day for a piece of **** North American minivan seems excessive to me.

I already tried Pricelining a minivan, I failed, but I'm not so keen on being locked in anyway in case the trip is cancelled.