Rental Car Strategies?

04-10-2025

keg97 wrote
I've used Sixt and been very happy. Smokin' great deals on BMW's and they even offer me several exterior colors to choose from.

On an upcoming soccer trip to Seattle, Sixt was pricey so I'm getting something off Turo. I've used Turo and like it. Getting a brand new Wrangler to see how I like it for a week since I'm considering getting one for the household.

lol...that is how I got my Jeep.

We rented one back in 2020 to take to Tahoe for a road trip and it (the JL) was much nicer than the older (JK) ones we would get for our hawaii trips and by the time we got back home I started searching them and ended up getting a 2021 JLUR and loved it.....

Recently sold it and got the new Bronco.....so far very happy :thumsup:

04-10-2025

Socal_R8 wrote
We have a Hilton Grand Vacations membership and usually go to Hawaii twice a year so I have the rental car down to a science.

If you are a Costco member, Costcotravel.com is great....
what you do is start searching about a month out, you can book with many different options and all the mjor companies and select just about any kind of car you need...

Then check back in a few days to see if prices have gone down....they usually go down as it gets closer to your arrival day...the sweet spot is usually about 2 weeks out.
There is no cancellation fees and you can book and cancel a many cars as you want.

Their prices use to be unbeatable, but there are some better prices now and than on places like Priceline, but don't have the convenience of free cancellations and other things.

Also, if you are a AAA member they have some good deals also using their rental car site,

I use this book and recheck strategy, too.

04-10-2025

414bhp wrote
What is your strategy for getting a decent rental car in the US? Any different advice for doing the same in Italy?

It's simple for me - whatever car I'd want to buy next (but don't have time for a test drive).
Right now I'm renting RAM 2500 (and I love it) :cool:

In Europe - whatever they have with manual (and the smaller the better).

04-10-2025

i always use Turo when possible in the states. but they may not be available in some european countries. You know exactly what you are getting in terms of spec.

not a fan of rental companies in general because they always overbook. so you are at the mercy of availability. most cars in the fleet are poverty spec in terms of options.

04-10-2025

I only use Costco. I'll never use turo because there is no requirement to make sure the car is safe, especially the condition of the brakes and tires. But if I'm looking to buy a new car and want to sample it for 24hrs, then I'd probably find something on Turo to beat up.

04-12-2025

Socal_R8 wrote
lol...that is how I got my Jeep.

We rented one back in 2020 to take to Tahoe for a road trip and it (the JL) was much nicer than the older (JK) ones we would get for our hawaii trips and by the time we got back home I started searching them and ended up getting a 2021 JLUR and loved it.....

Recently sold it and got the new Bronco.....so far very happy

Ha!!!

How did you like the change from the JLUR (likely what I'd be looking at) to the Bronco. I really haven't looked at the Bronco much b/c my heart just wants a Jeep. The Bronco might be "better" in many/most aspects, but it doesn't speak to me.

04-12-2025

keg97 wrote
Ha!!!

How did you like the change from the JLUR (likely what I'd be looking at) to the Bronco. I really haven't looked at the Bronco much b/c my heart just wants a Jeep. The Bronco might be "better" in many/most aspects, but it doesn't speak to me.

Loved my JLUR...Only sold it to help with the monthly car payments when I picked up the R8 last year....let the wife pick the replacement and she liked the Bronco Sport. Fast forward a year and I somehow convinced her to sell it for the big Bronco

Just got it last week, but so far I love it. It is much more refined on the road and much more comfortable on long trips. Has much better tech with the GOAT modes and ease of use..also it has much higher safety rating and reliability compared to Jeep

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38738281/wrangler-vs-bronco-crash-test-is-eye-opening/

I also prefer the look of the Bronco, but if you are into serious rock crawling the Jeep is the way to go, but the Bronco is quite capable on most trails that will scare you.

04-21-2025

Just ended up booking an 8 day compact SUV for Maui in mid May using Priceline...

$248 OTD was incredible price compared to Costco and all the other sites.

04-28-2025

414bhp wrote
I think the Charger I got was pretty average on sound. Maybe you had a premium package?

I liked having the NA V6 and RWD with the Charger.

Must have had the HK system

08-23-2025

Well, for our Italy trip we ended up booking directly from Alamo. We had two needs that made the booking a little harder and pushed us to Alamo: my wife wanted an automatic and we needed a one-way rental from Pisa to Civitavecchia. For this scenario, Alamo had the best pricing and also its Civitavecchia rental office had the best Saturday hours, so that sealed the deal. (I’ve learned that Italian rental offices often close early—or completely!—on Saturday and Sunday.)

I tried to be super careful about picking my class of SUV to get something big enough for our luggage but small enough for Italy. The intermediate SUV class I booked was promoted as a “Volkswagen T-Roc or similar” and we ended up with a Jeep Renegade hybrid. I guess the Renegade is "similar?"

The funny thing about our international Alamo booking was that the reservation said “serviced by Enterprise”, and the Enterprise agent gave us keys with a “Locauto” tag! (Locauto is an Italian car rental company.) It just goes to show that American brands overseas often partner with local companies.

Our rental agent informed us that the Jeep Renegade was built in Italy, which surprised me. Apparently, this Jeep shares a lot with the Fiat 500L. During our week-long rental, I kept spotting other Renegades on Italian roads, so I guess it is somewhat popular in Italy.

As warned, roads and highways in Italy are much narrower than those in America and the city parking lots were tight, tight, tight! In this environment, I was happy to have the Jeep Renegade as it balances a compact footprint with reasonable passenger space (thanks to its height). The trunk space was tight, though, and it barely fit our luggage.

The other difference we needed to account for were local child seat laws. Italy requires kids to be in booster seats longer than California does, so we had to purchase a travel booster for my fourth grader. I was also surprised that the seatbelts in Europe don't lock when you fully extend them. This is how you lock the belts to hold a kid's car seat in place in the USA. Are European car seats only using the LATCH anchors to hold them in place?

Ultimately, the Jeep Renegade was well suited to our needs if a bit boring to drive. (I wrote my driving review of the Jeep here.) I would have loved to have a Fiesta ST or Focus ST on curvaceous Elba, but I made due by driving the Renegade with gusto! Beautiful Italy made up for the Renegade’s deficiencies.

review-2024-jeep-renegade-01.jpg?w=800

08-23-2025

Socal_R8 wrote
Just ended up booking an 8 day compact SUV for Maui in mid May using Priceline...

$248 OTD was incredible price compared to Costco and all the other sites.

I've just returned compact SUV (CX-5) in Maui at $170 OTD, from Avis.
Avis offered to upgrade me to full-sized SUV for free, but I declined since we were doing the road to Hana...

YMMV,
a

08-24-2025

if you are a Costco member, check out Costcotravel.com Nobody beats their prices

08-24-2025

I usually do maybe 2-3 trips each year from NC to FL just for a few days for some business events. I've actually started renting a car in FL instead of Uber just to go from airport to my house (I keep a car at the FL house). Especially now that I'm like an hour from the airport and uber can be $100+ each way and I'm not a fan of Ubers to start with. I always get some crazy person or some stinky car plus I tend to get car sick when not driving.

Almost always book from Hertz since I have president circle status and they almost always have the cheapest price. Super painless I just go straight to the president circle lane and pick whatever I want. Honestly it's usually a bunch of shitty cars regardless, but I just need it to get home. Sometimes they'll have something fun like one time they had one of those hemi V8 Dodge SUVs. I actually have a trip coming up and booked a car for $120. That's less than a one way Uber ride.

08-26-2025

Three Stents wrote
if you are a Costco member, check out Costcotravel.com Nobody beats their prices

That is what I used to think but lately https://www.priceline.com and https://www.economybookings.com

have been even cheaper

09-23-2025

Here’s one more rental report for you all! We rented from Sixt at the international airport in Lisbon, Portugal. Booking online was easy, and I reserved a compact station wagon as I love wagons and wanted to try something we don’t have in the USA.

The pickup was a debacle, as Sixt had an hour-long line to check-in with the desk agents upon arrival. My wife went ahead to the parking garage kiosk to see what the scene was there, and patrons were waiting another 30 minutes to 1 hour post check-in because the cars they’d been assigned were still getting cleaned and readied.

As a result of the increasingly unhappy texts from my wife, I upgraded with the check-in agent to a car which was immediately available. I’m not sure the extra cost was worth the hour saved, but we left in a Mercedes CLA 180d wagon.

Once we had our car keys, the rest of the experience was good. The CLA worked well with my smart phone for Android Auto. The A/C worked well, which was required as we visited during 100*F weather, and the little diesel engine was both frugal and reasonably peppy. These smaller European diesels aren’t the snappiest engines, but its more relaxed nature worked well with the car’s softer suspension and automatic gearbox.

Even though we were in Portugal, not Germany, I got to drive long highway distances at high speeds. There were enough lead-footed drivers in Portugal to chase and alert me to speed cameras. I could see how this CLA would gobble up hours on the German autobahn.

We were mostly staying in Algarve beach towns, and in this environment the roads have modern dimensions (much better than Italy) and cars larger than the CLA would have worked fine. When we got into the old heart of Lisbon and Sintra, I was happy to have a smaller car, which was easier to squeeze through tight parking lots.

Even though the CLA wagon is one Mercedes’s smallest models, the trunk is massive and the rear seats are reasonably sized, too. It worked great for four people and a bunch of bags.

I’m not sure I’d rent from Sixt Lisbon again, but overall the experience was decent.

review-2024-mercedes-cla-180d-04.jpg?w=800

review-2024-mercedes-cla-180d-04.jpg?w=800

09-24-2025

I you have a Capitol One Venture X card, you get a $300 annual travel credit booking through the travel portal. Both me and my wife have it so between us we use our $600 credits every year for rental cars. Not sure if this is allowed here, but here is my referral link.

09-24-2025

We just use National. Wife's company has an account (about 50% or more off standard rates). We travel enough we're executive status, and earn enough free days for use when we're on a personal trip. The Wrangler JKU we rented in Oahu for 9 days last year was free & the one we're renting there again in December for 9 days is also free.

Can't beat that with a stick. :cool!:

05-01-2026

Hi guys, didnt want to open a new thread, so i would like to ask you here
4 of us are going to watch group stage of Football World Championship this summer (14-28.June), and we would like to rent a car, first in Dallas for 3-4 days, then later on the East coast (Phily or Boston)
I was told that Turo is cheapest and best option, since you rent a car from private person.
I used sixt in Europe for 2-3 times and didnt have any issues except waiting to pick up the car for 40min but its ok.
What would your advice be? Thx in advance

05-01-2026

maticCRO wrote
Hi guys, didnt want to open a new thread, so i would like to ask you here
4 of us are going to watch group stage of Football World Championship this summer (14-28.June), and we would like to rent a car, first in Dallas for 3-4 days, then later on the East coast (Phily or Boston)
I was told that Turo is cheapest and best option, since you rent a car from private person.
I used sixt in Europe for 2-3 times and didnt have any issues except waiting to pick up the car for 40min but its ok.
What would your advice be? Thx in advance

In theory Turo is easier as the host can drop the car at your feet but you do runt he risk of them cancelling and screwing you. Rental companies are a safer bet, however I will never, ever understand why it takes so fucking long to rent a car at the counter. It's so ridiculous.

05-01-2026

costcotravel.com

05-02-2026

414bhp wrote
I'll look into Sixt! Thanks!

Sixt in LA tried to charge us for paint chips and scratches that were already on the car. Got out of it but still pissed.

05-07-2026

mr2t wrote
Sixt in LA tried to charge us for paint chips and scratches that were already on the car. Got out of it but still pissed.

My friend liked them and then he had a similar problem. Other rental places will try to pull this. Always go over the car before taking it, take pictures and point out any scratches.

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Rental Car Strategies?