As someone who loves road trips, and travelling, I have booked maaaaany rental cars. These are my tips on booking rental cars throughout the world at a great price!
Below are some my general tips on how to save money while booking a rental car, a list of my favourites, and where I find the best value when booking rental cars generally.
General Tips for Booking Rental Cars
- As soon as you know your going to do a road trip, book your rental car. Prices surge as their inventory for your travel period dwindles.
- Sometimes you can return your rental car to different locations from your pick-up, but there is often a hefty fee for this. When you are tight on time though, I find it worth it.
- It can be cheaper by booking a rental car that is off airport property. Many of them are nearby, and offer a shuttle.
- It’s cheaper to rent a manual/standard car than an automatic car.
- If you are under 25, many rental car companies will charge you extra.
- When you go to pick-up your rental car, they are going to try and upsell you on the insurance. If you don’t have any rental car insurance coverage through your credit card, I suggest you purchase it at the counter. It’s expensive, but it’s more convenient if you cause any damage to the car. I used a third-party insurer in the past, and ended up losing money due to the exchange rate change from when I paid for the damage vs. when I got the refund (more on this at another time).
- If you work a corporate job (or for an employer generally), your employer might have access to a “perks” system that provides a discount code for certain rental car companies. We did this for a road trip we took through Western Canada in 2020.
- Depending on what type of credit card you have, you may have access to cheaper rates as well. My old credit card was a TD Travel Credit Card, and they partnered with Expedia for preferred rates.
- Don’t forget to get an International Driving Permit if this is required in the country you are visiting. I’ve had to show this during travel a couple of times (e.g. Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan). Many places won’t let you even pick-up your rental car without it. In Canada, you get your International Driving Permit at CAA.
Rental Car Companies for Consideration
1. Discover Cars
We’ve been using Discover Cars since we discovered it nearly 3 years ago now, and they are the best.
Any road trip we have planned, I search with them first, before verifying they have the best value (which they have every time). The companies we have used through Discover Cars have been great too, and I really appreciate all of the reviews.
When we originally found them, we had to verify it wasn’t a scam because the prices are that good. If I were to recommend only one company for renting cars, it would be Discover Cars.
2. Expedia
Before finding Discover Cars, Expedia was the cheapest place to rent a car for me. Granted this was through my Expedia for TD portal, but they also had great rates.
3. Kayak
Kayak is another travel booking aggregator I searched for rental cars through when comparing prices.
4. Major Rental Car Companies
Sometimes your only option is to book with the major rental car companies. This is often more expensive, unless you have a membership with one of them, or some external perk like the corporate perks I mentioned earlier.
If you would feel more comfortable booking with major rental car companies, I recommend checking out Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and Hertz. I actually use Enterprise CarShare often since I live in Toronto, and don’t own a car. They are really great.
Final Thoughts on Booking Rental Cars
Hopefully this guide helps you when booking a rental car! It’s important to consider what your criteria is when booking a rental car. Are you only comfortable driving automatic? Do you want a larger vehicle to have space? Are you willing to go further from the airport for a better rate?
Lots of things are trade-offs, but it will become clear to you what you care about when you look at the prices.
Happy road tripping!
