Tag Archives: rental car

7 Things You Need to Know Before You Rent a Car

lady picking up rental car
Planning to rent a car on a trip this upcoming Holiday Season?

Believe it or not, there are a lot of things you need to know before you book your rental car that could save you hundreds of dollars.

What do You Need to Know?

1. Search Expedia for Company with Best Rates and then Book Direct

keyboard typingGoing onto a site like Expedia will give you a quick overview of all the rental car agencies offering vehicles for your itinerary and indicate cost, mileage allowance and whether or not the rental kiosk is located in the airport terminal or if you will require a shuttle.  Select the vehicle that best suits your budget and itinerary and then go to the rental car agency’s website directly.  The reason you should do this is not only will you save a few bucks (Expedia does have a mark-up) but you can also earn travel rewards with that specific rental agency or gain frequent flyer points (not an option at Expedia).

2. Rental Cars Do NOT Have Snow Tires

baldtireIf you will be driving anywhere where there is a chance of snow, regardless of the vehicle you chose, it will not have snow tires.  I have yet to find a single rental car agency that equips their vehicles with snow tires and the reason being is added expense.  It is cheaper for them to write off the odd vehicle that is in a collision due to inclement weather than it is to invest in snow tires for each vehicle in their fleet.  The best option is to rent an AWD or 4×4 vehicle BUT not if it is old and has bald tires.  When you arrive at the rental car kiosk, request a new vehicle and be sure to inspect the condition of the tires before you accept the vehicle.  If the tires are bald, you are better off driving a newer FWD that has tires that are newer and in better condition.  Rental car companies do not spend a lot of money maintaining their vehicles like you and I may do.  Furthermore, most people who drive rental cars, drive the s^%& out of them, so be sure to check those tires before you leave!

3. Do NOT Purchase Insurance Through the Rental Car Agency

Car-insuranceEvery single rental car agency tries to sell you on purchasing their insurance which can be in excess of $23 per day! In most cases this is completely unnecessary. In most states and provinces, the car insurance that we have on our own vehicles covers us when renting a vehicle.  Additionally, several major credit cards include travel insurance, specifically rental car insurance.  Not sure if you are covered by either? Call your insurance company and your credit card company before you depart.

4. Do NOT Pre-Pay for Fuel: Plan on Fueling Up Before You Return the Vehicle

fillingupThis is probably the second biggest waste of money next to purchasing insurance.  If you agree to pre-pay for fuel, you are paying for a FULL tank of fuel regardless if you use it or not. This way you are paying to fill the ENTIRE fuel tank as though you brought it back completely empty which would never happen.

If you opt to return the vehicle with a full tank of fuel and forget, you will be billed up to 3X the price of regular fuel PLUS a refuelling fee!  When the agency bills you for fueling up, sometimes they don’t even pay attention to the exact size of the fuel tank of the vehicle you are driving and just bills you for some random sized fuel tank. This happened to me once when I returned a Chevy Impala with a tank ¾ full, and got billed for 88L (or 23 gallons) of fuel! The tank of the car was only 63L (or 17 gallons)! When I complained, they informed me that their calculations were based on an average sized fuel tank, not specifically the one I used.  What “average” vehicle at a rental car agency has a tank size of 100L?

5. You Can Not Reserve a Specific Vehicle

Chevrolet-Impala-2015The vehicle in the picture on the website when you are making the reservation is only a representation of a general vehicle type.  If you reserve say a Chevy Impala, you might not get that same make and model but rather anything similar in its class, so don’t be disappointed if you don’t get the precise vehicle you thought you reserved.

6. Don’t Assume You Have Unlimited Mileage

unlimited-mileage-car-rental-with -auto-europe-travel-tipsWhen booking your reservation, be sure to note if the mileage is restricted on the vehicle.  Often the ‘discounted” vehicles do not come with unlimited mileage.  If you plan on driving any significant distance in your travels, be absolutely sure that your rental car package comes with unlimited mileage otherwise you will pay a hefty fee for each km/mi you drove over the allowance.

7. If you Drop off a Vehicle at a Different Location You will Incur a Fee

routeAtoBIf you plan on picking up and dropping off your vehicles at different locations, be prepared for additional fees.  If your plans are somewhat flexible, for instance you can either go from A to B or from B to A, be sure to check out the fees for both options.   When I travel to Alberta, it is almost $1000 cheaper for me to pick up a car in Edmonton and drop it off in Calgary than it is for me to pick it up in Calgary and drop it off in Edmonton.  Do your homework before you book. You could save a small fortune!

I hope that in reading my tips, you will be much more prepared before you rent your next vehicle and possibly save a lot of money.

Safe travels my friends.

Cheers,

TSW

Travelling to the US? Now is the Time to Cash in Your Travel Rewards

Rewards

Are you a Canadian who is planning on travelling to the US over the holidays to visit friends and family?

If you are, now is the time to book because the closer you get to the holiday season, the prices of flights increase dramatically and the availability also decreases as these flights book up.  Typically flight prices are the lowest 60-90 days prior to departure.

When pricing out flights to the US, most airlines will charge you in USD.  As most of you are aware, our Canadian dollar is at an all time low.  So that $500 USD return flight that used to cost you close to $500 CAD when our dollar was at par, will now cost you closer to $675.  Same goes for that hotel stay that used to cost you $200 per night and will now cost more along the lines of $270!

What can you do to avoid this?

Cash in on your travel rewards!

Currently, the rewards required for any particular route are in line with prices of when our dollar was at par and therefore the same number of points, will get you the same trip as before so essentially at the same price without being gauged by the poor exchange rate.

For example, if the $500USD flight was 35,000 air miles last year, it is still 35,000 air miles now.  Therefore if you use those points you will save the $150-175 that you would have lost to the exchange.

Don’t have enough points to fly?

No problem. Most rewards programs allow you to use those points towards hotels and car rentals as well. So even if you have to purchase your flight, be sure to use up those points on your hotel and/or rental car.

If you have collected points at a hotel chain, inquire to see how many you have acquired because you may be surprised to find that you actually have accrued enough points for at least one night hotel stay.

If you haven’t collected enough points at a hotel chain, some travel rewards programs like Aeroplan will allow you to convert points from your hotel stays into travel rewards.  This way even if you have a relatively low number of points at a few hotel chains, if you convert them and add them to your existing rewards you many have enough points to cover your flight. Contact your primary provider and see if they are able to do this for you.

Don’t have a clue how to manage your travel rewards?

Be sure to read my previous article on How to Maximize Your Travel Rewards Benefits.

So, bon voyage my friends! I hope you are able to use these tips and save yourself some hard earned dollars.

Cheers,

TSW