10+ Tips To Save Money On Car Rentals

Vacations can get expensive. And you can save on more than just your next car rental when you follow the tips in our How To Travel On A Budget post.

Get Unlimited Miles.

If you’re renting a car, it’s probably for one of two reasons. Either you’re driving somewhere far and you’d rather put the miles on someone else’s car or you’re on vacation somewhere new and you want to go explore everywhere you can.

To make sure you can drive all the places you want to drive, rent a car with unlimited miles.

Some rental car companies will include a daily allotment of miles and if you exceed them, you have to pay per mile. That can really add up. If you’re renting a car for vacation, you don’t want to have to worry about choosing activities based on how many miles you have left for the day.

So definitely look for a car rental that includes unlimited miles. It makes the most sense if you’re actually planning to drive around and explore.

Watch Out For Hidden Fees Based On Your Travel.

I went to pick up a car once at a company we used often. At the rental counter, they asked, as they always do, where I was going. “To New York for my husband’s grandma’s 100th birthday party,” I said.

“Oh, New York. That’s an extra $50 a day,” the worker said.

I was shocked. We rented from that company numerous times and never had an additional fee. And I was told we must have gotten lucky. Lucky was that I was at the airport with different companies as options. I found another company that didn’t require me to pay a daily fee to travel to New York and rented from there instead.

Take Your Chances With Wild Card Rentals.

Thrifty Car Rental has a Wild Card rental option. You pay for the cheapest car (a compact car) and you’ll end up with any car they have available. So you can either get your company rental or a free upgrade. Either way, you pay the lower price.

In theory, you can end up with an SUV for the price of a economy car, which would save you a ton of money on your rental.

When we were renting once, the man working behind the counter told us to rent this way from now on. He said in his experience, you always get a better deal because the car given is always worth more than what you pay.

But, if you’re traveling with a large family and the type of car matters to you, like maybe you need a lot of trunk space for luggage, this might not work out. You could end up with a tiny car (we did get a Chevy Spark once when we did a compact car rental) and not have enough room for all your bags.

Don’t Pre-Pay For The Gas.

Car rental companies expect you to return the car with a full tank of gas. When you’re picking up the car, the rental car companies give you two options: You can either fill the car up before you return the car or you can just pay for the car rental company to fill it up after you return it.

​And that sounds like a no brainer, right? Instead of taking time out of your day to fill up the car, the rental car company will just do it.

But there’s a catch.

The rate the car company charges to fill it up is so much more than the actual gas prices. I’ve seen it at over $9 a gallon.

And it gets worse.

They’re going to charge you for an entire tank of gas at that rate, regardless of how much gas is in the tank when you return it. So you could return it half full, but you still have to pay for a full tank of gas. Not worth it. Just say no at the counter and fill it up on the way to dropping it off.

If you fill it up yourself, you can save on that too with our How To Save On Gas On Your Next Road Trip tips.

Skip The Rental Car Insurance. Maybe.

Before you rent a car, call your car insurance company and see if you have insurance coverage to any damages to a rental. Some plans have that, some don’t. Our current insurance does, so we are able to skip the extra insurance when we’re renting a car.

Stephanie pointed out on our Facebook page that your credit card company may offer free car rental insurance if you use that credit card to book.

And honestly, you can be a really good driver, but you never know what’s gonna happen in a rental car. When we were parking in El Yunque in Puerto Rico, we heard a large crunch as we got out of the car. Another tourist in a rental car had driven right over a concrete median in the parking lot. And then he was stuck with a terrible decision: Keep driving or back up. Either way results in more crunching. When he pulled into a parking spot, the whole driver’s side front end of the car was hanging off.

​”Well, I really messed that up,” he said. Calmly. He. Said. Calmly. If it was me, I would have been yelling and letting it ruin my vacation, but he just shrugged it off.

He probably had rental car insurance.

Avoid The Extras.

Many rental cars come with a built in GPS now, but, for ones that don’t, you have the option of adding a GPS to your rental for an additional cost. Skip that. You can just use your phone as a GPS.

Same with a toll pass, like E-ZPass, SunPass, etc.

Some rental companies will allow you to avoid long toll lines by using their E-ZPass (or similar system, depending on where you are). You’ll pay per day for the use of it, plus the cost of tolls. If you have the option, deny theirs and use your own or just pay tolls with cash.

Fun fact, though. When we rented a car in Puerto Rico, we were told that legally, each rental car has to have a toll pass. Some of the toll roads accept cash, but most use AutoExpreso, an electronic toll collection system. So, there’s a pass in every rental car that’s charged when you go through a toll and a bill comes in the mail about three weeks later. You don’t have an option to use cash in a rental car.

Check Discount Sites.

Before you book your rental car, be sure to check out discount sites like Groupon or Orbitz. You can look up car rental companies by name. You can find any active discount codes for that company, then follow a link to the car rental company’s page.

Even better, when you click through, the discount code may be populated for you already so you don’t even have to remember to enter it at checkout.

If you don’t have an account for a discount site, you can just google the name of the rental car company plus the words “promo code” and see if any rental car discounts are available.

Book Through A Cash Back Site

If you’re not booking through a discount site and going through the car rental company’s website, make sure you book through a cash back site, like Top Cash Back. That site will give you a percentage of your total cost back in cash if you book through its site.

​First, you go to Top Cash Back. In the search bar, type in the rental car company’s name. Click “book now” and you’ll be redirected to the car rental company’s website. Then, book your car. After your trip is done, you’ll get that predetermined cash back in your account.

I use those sites all the time for my online shopping and the cash back really does add up.

Check Your Memberships.

If you have AAA or AARP (which you can get join if you’re not 50, FYI), you might get a discount at certain car rental companies. Warehouse memberships like Costco offer discounts to members as well. And frequent flier or airline loyalty programs may have discounts or free upgrades for you, depending on what level you are.

So before you book, check out any programs that you’re a member of to see if you can get a cheaper rental that way.

Group Your Rental.

If you’re traveling out of town and need a hotel too, you might be able to find a better rate if you book a car and hotel bundle at the same time.

A site like Orbitz will give you that option. You can also add a flight to your bundle, in case you’re in need of that too. Booking as a package can definitely give you big savings.

Prepay For The Rental.

If you know your plans aren’t going to change and you are definitely going to need a car rental, pay for it when you book it. If you’re not sure, you may incur cancellation fees and that’s gonna end up costing you money rather than saving it.

But, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, they say. And that goes for car rental companies too. They’d rather have your money upfront because you may give it to another company down the line. So car rental companies offer better rates if you pay when you book rather than when you pick up the car.

The last time we rented a car, I did a lot of research ahead of time and found the best deal. Then, I paid when I booked it (because I knew I wouldn’t find lower rates anywhere else) and saved an extra $60 for paying then.

Head Out Of Town.

Companies have multiple rental locations and the best rate may be at a location in a different town. Our airport location always has cheaper prices than our any local non-airport location, which is actually kind of crazy because airport car locations usually charge more.

Look around at nearby locations if you’re able to travel to them and you might be able to find a better price that way.

Don’t Add Additional Drivers.

If you’re driving with someone else, you might want to consider only choosing one of you to drive the car. It costs the companies more to insure multiple drivers, and the companies pass that expense on to the renters. So additional drivers can result in additional charges. If you can agree on one driver, you may be able to save that multiple driver fee.

Return The Car On Time

Car rentals are usually for a 24-hour time. When you book the car, you’ll have to give a time for when you’re picking it up and when you’re dropping it off. Your price is quoted based on that. But, you will get charged for late returns.

So, you want to be aware of when you’re picking up the car and return it as close to that same time as possible. If not, you may get stuck paying the full daily rate because you kept the car an extra 30 minutes.

Some drop-off locations close (shocker, I know), but they may offer after hours drop-off times. In those cases, you have a little leniency because there’s no time stamp of when you dropped the car and keys off.