If you have been craving some travel during the long pandemic and were hoping that now it’s finally possible to have a trip stress-free you might be up to quite a surprise. Due to the rental car shortage, the prices have increased significantly. We at Wisecars.com want to help you find the best deal and this is why we put together a helpful list.
- Book early
If you’re traveling during a busy period, we advise booking even 6 months in advance. If you’re traveling during off or shoulder season, you will most likely find the best deal 1–3 months in advance. Keep monitoring the rental deals, most companies will match the price or let you cancel if you have free cancellation.
2. Make sure to run the search with the correct details
As suppliers have different deals based on residency, make sure you can clarify the country where you live. All car rental companies have a minimum and a maximum age range and most of them have young or senior driver fees. Make sure to provide your correct age in the search to avoid any kind of surprise. We also advise double-checking the location. Even more so, if you want to pick up the vehicle in one city and drop it off in another. Insert the pick-up and drop-off times as exact as possible- arriving late might mean you will not get your vehicle and dropping off later might incur extra fees. The same applies to locations- in most cases, if you pick up the vehicle in one location and drop it off at another one, you will be charged a One-Way fee.
3. Explore deals in nearby locations as well
The golden rule of car rental is that downtown locations are usually cheaper than airport locations. You might also find other companies or locations, which offer a bigger fleet to be reserved.
4. Play around with the pick-up and drop-off times.
Car rental days are usually calculated based on 24-hour “blocks”. For example, if you pick up your vehicle at 1 PM and drop it off the next day at 2 PM, most car rental companies will charge you for 2 days of the rental instead of 1. Some suppliers also have cheaper deals available for off-peak pick-up times, i.e. mornings. Sometimes, the weekly rate is also so much lower it makes sense to extend your travel plans. Some suppliers might charge some fees for early returns.
5. Make sure you know what size of a car you need
Usually, you book a car class: meaning if you book a Nissan Versa you might instead get a Toyota Corolla or Hyundai Elantra. If you find out that you need a bigger vehicle while already picking up the vehicle the cost for an upgrade might be quite high.
Renting for the first time? Check out our ultimate car rental guide: https://www.wisecars.com/en-us/how-to-rent-a-car/
About Wisecars.com: Wisecars is a car rental broker focused on delivering a seamless and simple car rental experience. Founded by people with years of experience in the industry, Wisecars has been marked as the 7th best car rental agency by Trustpilot and is in the top 100 car rental themed sites by Similarweb.
