Monday, August 15, 2011

Who Has the Best Rental Car Rates?

As a New Yorker I do not own a car, so I do a lot of renting. Finding the best rates is something that I take pride in. This article compares the average prices of the major car rental companies. Rental prices vary from place to place, but I have found that some companies are consistently cheaper than others, regardless of where you are renting. This article simply compares prices and doesn't take into account service differences. I've given five star ratings to the best values.

Dollar Car Rental

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Best Value (Rated Five Stars)

Savings up to 10% are available from membership and awards programs, plus discount codes are available from a number of online sources. The same company owns dollar and Thrifty, so their pricing structure is very similar. Standard rental prices are among the cheapest in the industry. Though additional discounts are generally not more than 10%, the low standard rental rates make renting from Dollar a great value.

Budget Car Rental

Best Value (Rated Five Stars)

Savings of up to 30% are available from membership and awards programs, plus discount codes are available from a number of online sources. Budget's standard rental rates are below industry average. This plus the availability of large discounts makes renting from Budget a great value.

Enterprise Car Rental

Good Value (Rated Four Stars)

Various discounts are available, but there are not as many as can be found with some of the other companies. Enterprise Holdings owns Enterprise, National, and Alamo. Enterprise seems to be the cheapest of the three. Standard rental prices are slightly above Dollar and Thrifty, placing Enterprise at the lower end of the industry. Additional discounts can also be found, so renting from Enterprise is a relatively good value.

Thrifty Car Rental

Good Value (Four Stars)

Savings up to 10% are available from membership and awards programs, plus discount codes available from a number of online sources. The same company owns dollar and Thrifty, but Thrifty seems to be a little more expensive. I stress the word little. Standard rental prices are among the cheapest in the industry. I rate Thrifty with only four stars because coupon code discounts are on the smaller side, but renting from Thrifty a good overall value.

Avis Car Rental

Good Value (Three Stars)

Savings up to 25% are available from membership and awards programs. Discount codes are readily available from a number of online and offline sources. Avis standard rental rates are at about the industry average, but the availability of additional discounts makes renting from Avis a good value.

Zip Car

Good Value (Three Stars)

Frequent renters can also qualify for discounted pricing. Zip Car is a great value for renters that need to rent for less than a day. If you only need a few hours rates can be as low as per hour. Daily and weekend rental prices are competitive with large rental car companies.

Alamo Car Rental

Low Value (Two Stars)

Savings up to 15% are available from membership and awards programs. Discount codes available from a number of online sources. Owned by Enterprise Holdings, Alamo is focused on providing value to leisure renters. Even with this focus standard rental rates are still above industry average. Regardless of the deals you are able to get, renting from Alamo is generally not as good a value as renting from Budget, Thrifty, Enterprise, Dollar, or Avis.

National Car Rental

Lowest Value (One Star)

Savings up to 15% are available from membership and awards programs. Discount codes available from a number of online sources. Also, owned by Enterprise Holdings, National focuses more on business renters. Standard rental rates are above industry average. Like Alamo, regardless of the deal you are able to get, renting from National is generally not as good a value as renting from Budget, Thrifty, Enterprise, Dollar, or Avis.

Hertz Car Rental

Lowest Value (One Star)

Savings up to 15% and more are available from multiple membership, awards programs and discount codes. Hertz focuses on business and leisure renters, but the better values and perks seem to be geared more toward the business end. Standard Hertz rental prices are the most expensive in the industry, so if you are not a business or preferred customer renting from Hertz is generally not as good a value as renting from the others.

Who Has the Best Rental Car Rates?

Christopher Russell writes about savvy shopping and provides Budget BCD codes and other car rental discount codes on his website Bargain Bookmark.

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