Optimizing Car Rentals

Hello Annabelle,

I have been trying to get my head around car rentals and how to pick the best option/bonuses and it has not been a fun process.  Unlike the airline and hotel world that felt complex but logical (and as such kind of fun to research about), I feel like I am just going in circles with the car rentals.  Everyone and their dog seems to have a discount code and some points (e.g. airline) to be gained.  But then wait you need to pay for those points to get them.  Urg!

So in an attempt to see what is going on I am going to write my thoughts down.  Feel free to not read this post as it is really just my own muddles in written form ;)

I first looked on the Chase Travel Portal because the Chase Sapphire Preferred has primary CDW and so I thought booking with that card made sense (the United MileageExplorer card also has primary so that is another option).  I found a week in Orlando for $150 which seemed great to me (especially with a 3X through the portal) BUT then it turned out that that company (Alamo and National) doesn't include the spouse for free.  And I will be doing some driving on the trip so I want that included and not another $10/day.

So then my assumption was maybe everyone in Orlando charges for the extra driver (which I am thinking now may not be true but I am not sure).  So next I looked at Costco because they include an extra driver as part of the package but there rates are more like $195 and some involve having to get a coupon to get that rate.

We seem to be able to get discounts by being United MileagePlus members, Delta members, Interval International members, etc.  So I started looking up this bonus points offer through Interval International (the time share organization); well it turned out it was only for Interval Gold members, which I am not.  But that got me looking at Hertz and it looks like they will include both drivers if you are both Hertz Gold members and that is free to sign up for.  I was on the phone with them to find this out so I ended up making a booking for about $215 for the week.  It is the "discounted" price but it still seems high and it is actually a compact price with an upgrade that is supposed to be included.  But the upgrade is "subject to availability" which makes me nervous.

I confirmed that it is the same discount with the other plans (United).  The advantage of using Hertz is that Andrew rents through them on his work trips and so we might actually be able to eventually build up to a free rental.  It looks like none of the plans are stellar on building to free rentals very quickly though.  That said, at a minimum we should get him signed up so we are building something.
I just looked back at the Chase Portal and the cheapest rental they have (not at Alamo or National) is $233.  This post seemed to indicate that Avis, Budget, and Enterprise don't charge for a spouse (although it is from 2013) so I was considering them.

I think part of the muddle is what am I trying to do here.  Should I be going for airline points (where you have to pay the daily fee), some frequent car rental program, or just the cheapest fare.  At this point it looks like the Chase portal doesn't make sense for the cost but do I go with the more pricey Hertz rental for building loyalty or a Costco rental for the cheaper value.  Sadly it seems like $195 is the cheapest I can get right now, renting with Alamo through Costco.

It seems like buying the frequent flyer points is only valuable if you are getting an additional bonus.  Many of them are around $1 per day so if you are only getting 500 points for $7 it is pretty steep.  2000 points for $7 is 0.35 CPM is actually a pretty good deal so maybe it is worth going for the airline bonuses, even with the cost, now that I know how crappy the car rental loyalty programs are.  Well how crappy exactly: with Hertz a non-peak week is around 2250 I think and you build a point for every dollar spent.  So if a week is $200 so you spend $2250 and get a $200 value.  I guess that is around 1%.  Urg...for some reason this all makes my brain hurt!

Delta is actually one of the best for not charging too much for getting the points but they are showing a rental at $248 so that doesn't help.  I just checked on Air Canada, who partner with Budget and Avis but don't give a discount code on the site.  I just checked out the bonuses listed on this site and they didn't seem to come up or help.

I is making me realize how well I did with my last Ottawa booking.  I managed to get something like 5000 Delta points for about a dollar!  Actually just looking up the same Delta offer now and seeing if I link to it a different way whether it will give a different result (rather than just looking through the main Delta page).  Wow, now it is showing a cost of $190 with Hertz with the promotion!  But when I log in and actually try and book it is not showing the page correctly!!!

I finally got it to load and I booked two different rentals.  At first it would only show me a compact, which I can get for $166 and then a full-size which came up later for around $190.  So it looks like that is the best I can do.  Using the Delta limited-time promotion which should also give around 1900 bonus Delta points for very little cash.  I booked it under my name since I am building the Delta points.  I signed up for the Gold Hertz Rewards.  And hopefully if Andrew signs up too we can use these reservations with an extra driver for free.  I think I will want to call to just make sure.  I signed up for the Hertz Gold Rewards with the CSP and I think it said you have to use that card for your first booking.  That works since it will give us 2X on travel and has the primary car insurance and then the Delta bonus and discount is separate from using a Delta card.  In the end not too bad!

But what a rigamarole!

Related Links:
- Rental cars in terminal at MCO (Orlando)
- Million Mile Secrets has a whole series I haven't completely read on car rentals

Hugs,
Jen