Car rental hidden fees?
May 24, 2016, 1:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 3
Car rental hidden fees?
Going through the ultimate rewards travel reservation I'm getting quotes of about $200 and $500 for a couple of reservations. The same itineraries are $550 and $1600, respectively, when booked directly with Alamo and other rental companies. Not sure what can explain this huge difference. Have any of you noticed such great differences? Is it possible that UR does not include all fees?
Thanks for your help
Thanks for your help
May 28, 2016, 11:33 pm
#3
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,620
FWIW, I've been using Costco (costcotravel.com) to book my last few rentals. MUCH better pricing than even our corporate rates. It was a similar situation to what you're seeing where the rental car agencies were either sold out or were charging $120+/day. Costco ended up being 1/5th that.
For all of my rentals, a second driver & unlimited miles were included free. Their site says this may not always be the case, but it has for me. For all of their reservations, no cancellation fees. Bonus: You can use any credit card you wish to pay for the rental. Not just Amex.
For all of my rentals, a second driver & unlimited miles were included free. Their site says this may not always be the case, but it has for me. For all of their reservations, no cancellation fees. Bonus: You can use any credit card you wish to pay for the rental. Not just Amex.
May 29, 2016, 7:36 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
FWIW, I've been using Costco (costcotravel.com) to book my last few rentals. MUCH better pricing than even our corporate rates. It was a similar situation to what you're seeing where the rental car agencies were either sold out or were charging $120+/day. Costco ended up being 1/5th that.
"The Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car locations at this airport do not participate in the Costco Travel program."
Well, these same locations also don't accept coupons when booking through avis.com, apparently because they're not a corporate location.In fact, I just tried orbitz.com for the same ANC rental, and came up with rentals available for several hundred dollars less. (And orbitz typically shows higher Avis / Hertz rates than I get with just ordinary airline / hotel discount codes that are available to anyone.)
So I suggest you check each rental you consider at costcotravel to make sure it's lower, and don't just assume it always will be because it was in a couple cases.