Aarp car rental discount

Budget Travel

Outwitting car rental companies

By ARTHUR FROMMER

Sunday, October 19, 2003

With the cost of car rentals soaring in many parts of the country, a number of our readers have taken to recommending various stratagems and tactics for checking the rise. Every week I receive recommendations ranging from the hare-brained to the highly impressive as to how we can outmaneuver Messrs. Hertz, Avis, National and Budget.

The largest number of tips advocate that you always rent the smallest available compact car. Since these are in limited quantity at the various outlets, the chances are good, the tipsters claim, that the compact category will be sold out when you arrive, and you'll be upgraded without extra charge to a larger car. Though you won't save any money, you'll at least get more value for money spent.

A variant on the compact-car ploy, in the letters of numerous readers, is that you attempt to pick up the ultra-small car you've rented as late in the day as possible. That way, the chances are again enhanced that all the compact cars will have been rented, and you'll again be furnished with a larger car for no extra charge.

Several readers advise making a reservation far in advance to guarantee the availability of a car, but then calling the car company as the rental date approaches to determine whether the rate has dropped on cars for the day of your rental. This frequently happens, they say, and you can then switch the reservation to the cheaper one and cancel the costlier booking.

If you're planning a hotel stay in a city where you'll also need a car, advises one reader, then arrange to pick up the car at your hotel, one day later than the date of your arrival. Upon reaching the city, this person uses the free shuttle bus to go to his hotel, sleeps overnight, and then -- refreshed -- picks up the car at the hotel the next morning. That way he saves a day's rental.

Don't forget, says another reader, that large car rental companies often place ads in the travel sections of major newspapers, offering special discounted rates to people who mention a certain combination of letters or numbers at the time they make their reservations.

Additionally, the "majors" place ads in the AARP magazine or in publications associated with AAA. Most AAA offices even have car rental discount coupons available to anyone who walks in. Don't overlook coupons or the newspapers to save on car rentals, he concludes.

King Features Syndicate

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