SAVE by renting through Avis.com? I don't think so
Written: Aug 29 '02 (Updated Aug 29 '02)
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I need to rent a car! We are planning a trip to club Med and had originally planned on using their transfer service but after talking to others, we decided to rent a car instead.
One of my main concerns of course is Price and I realized going into this that I might end up having to check more than a few sites to find the best deal.
Not having a lot of time to get this all taken care of ~ I started searching online in a sort of alphabetical way and headed over to Avis
FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND THE SITE
Across the top are links to eight different areas ~
Rates and reservations, deals, renters guide, programs, partners, about Avis, my Avis and Customer Service.
These eight links follow you from page to page, so you can click one at any time.
First place I go (of course) is Deals and am pleased to see a deal on mini vans! I click on it and am taken to a page to begin the reservation process.
MY EXPERIENCE
Ok, let's get down to business! I am actually pricing two cars ~ a mini van for us and a 4 door mid size car for my sister and her family, both out of the same airport.
Rental Date and time
Pretty straight forward ~ I just put in the date and time I will be picking up and then dropping off the car.
Rental Location Information
Here I can put in the City, State and Country OR the airport code of where I'll be renting from. Since I know the airport code, I use that.
I could also check a box if I was planning on dropping it off at a different location than where I was picking it up from.
NOTE: I have to look up the flight time and so I leave the page up while I look. When I come back (just a couple of minutes) I have timed out and get this message ~ To maintain the security of your travel information, we have cleared your current session. Please click here to begin again. I find this annoying but it was just a few questions so I just do it with a few mumbles under my breath.
PAGE 2
Discount Codes
The code for the mini van is already put in for me which is nice. I don't have any others to add ~ the code said it was not valid with any others anyway.
Optional Equipment
I do not need any car seats (and my sister will bring her own) nor do either of us need boosters so I leave this area blank.
Country of Residence
This is a drop down menu and I choose the United States.
PAGE 3
This is the price quote page and one nice thing is it list ALL of the cars and their prices so you can compare them.
I look and see WITH the discount a Mini Van (Chevrolet Venture or similar) will cost $493.80.
My sister's Intermediate (Pontiac Grand Am or similar) will run $244.63
On the right hand side of the page is a run down of the times and places of my reservation and below that a run down on the rate and discounts I am being shown. I am given a link to modify either of these sections.
According to this, I HAVE been given the mini van discount AND the lowest rate available.
NOTE: My youngest has just pulled out her tooth (looking for vacation money LOL) and again, I turn away a minute or two and come back to this message ~ To maintain the security of your travel information, we have cleared your current session. Please click here to begin again.
Ok now this time, it was MORE than a few questions and I do NOT want to start over! Fortunately, I had written down the rates and that was all I needed at the moment as I had planned on comparing prices on a few more sites anyway. If they DID have the lowest prices, I would gladly start over and put in ALL the information AGAIN.
As it turned out, I was able to find the vehicles for less than Avis quoted! In fact, SIX other sites were at LEAST $100 LESS than Avis on the van and $90 less on the car!!
I don't know about you but, I want to SAVE my money and those stats SAY A LOT to me and I obviously did NOT go back and book with Avis.
THE UPROMISE CONNECTION
This MIGHT make an argument on renting FROM Avis! If you are a member of UPromise you can get 5% back into that account! Now oddly, when I ran my info through using that code the car price remained the same but the Van priced DROPPED over $50! Now, that is STILL a higher price than at other sites but it could be a factor in your decision.
I did not go that route because it is NOT valid when booked through a travel agent and since I would book my own, I would get a commission of more than 5% regardless of what site I used. But it might be worth figuring into your numbers.
THIS AND THAT
** You can make reservations toll free at ~ 1-800-230-4898 in the US
** 1-800-272-5871 in Canada.
~~ ** ~~ ** ~~ 2BUZY'S FINAL THOUGHTS ON THIS SITE ~~ ** ~~ ** ~~
I think that the Avis website is well organized and easy to navigate but I think it is a real PAIN in the behind to get timed out so quickly!
I would not recommend this site for blindly going in an renting a car. Their prices are just TOO HIGH!
I would suggest this site for price comparing and/or if you didn't mind paying more if it contributes to your Upromise account. Of course you could always rent for less somewhere else and apply 5% of the different to your child's account and come out ahead!
As I have said before (and will say again) I am a true believer of searching, searching and then searching some MORE to obtain the BEST prices when traveling! I want to spend the least amount of money for the best I can get ~ the more I save, the more I can travel!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
2buzy
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