Renting a car allows travelers to explore holiday destinations on their own terms. With a rented vehicle, travelers can immerse themselves in a place’s local culture by getting off the beaten tourist path and visiting lesser-known stopovers. Unfortunately, rental car rates are notoriously volatile, especially during the peak holiday season. To get budget car rental deals, travel experts recommend following a host of tried-and-tested tips. These can help travelers book low-cost car rentals for their next road trip.

Avoid making rental bookings at airports

Renting a car at an airport is convenient when flying into a new city. However, that convenience can be heavy on the pocket, as general prices rise with demand and other costs, such as airport surcharges, also come into play. These surcharges are often fixed dollar amounts, typically listed on the receipt as a “Customer Facility Charge”. Travelers may find them as a percentage of their overall rental amount, added to the rental amount. Often, airport-based car rental charges can amount to hundreds of dollars, depending on the length of the trip. To avoid this and find the best car rental prices, travelers can make reservations online in advance.

Make use of memberships

Many service subscriptions and memberships come with additional benefits. For example, travelers with a Costco membership can use it to save money on their next rental car. A bonus in this case is that travelers can often employ a driver for free. 

Apart from that, AAA memberships help travelers save money by providing discounts for Hertz rentals. The organization ensures that AAA members receive experienced, safe drivers for their road trips in rental cars.

Frequent-flyer programs also offer discounts on rental cars. For example, American Airlines offers AAdvantage members 35% off Budget and Avis rentals, but to avail themselves of this, members must rent from an airport.

Use car rental aggregator sites

Instead of scanning various car rental sites, travelers can start their search on aggregator sites. An aggregator site gathers rental car deals from numerous companies and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and presents them in one place for users to easily compare prices, vehicle types, and features before booking.

On OTAs, like Kayak, Hopper, and Priceline, travelers can filter for companies that allow them to drop off the car in a different country from the one where they rented it.

Aggregator sites make it easier for travelers to find affordable car rental options in the quickest time. 

Try the car-sharing alternative

Car sharing is like Airbnb for rented vehicles. Peer-to-peer car-sharing companies, such as Getaround and Turo, let travelers rent cars directly from their owners. The owners set the price and mileage limits. Once travelers book, they meet their host to pick up the keys and the car. Those living in areas where many offer their cars can use this option to save money and pick up their vehicle closer to home. In some cases, the owner may deliver the vehicle to the client themselves.

Popular affordable car rental portals

Priceline

This is one of the cheapest car rental service providers travelers can find online. Priceline was one of the first companies to introduce the “opaque rentals” option, in which customers get budget car rental deals but do not know the provider or car type until they arrive to pick up the vehicle. While that may sound odd, it is an effective way to save cash on rented cars as long as travelers are not picky about the specific car type they want. Based on availability, Priceline offers among the lowest prices for any kind of vehicle.

AutoSlash

AutoSlash works a little differently from most other car rental providers. First, travelers enter their trip information into the portal, and then the system asks for additional information to see if they can get any good deals. Customers can enter their credit card type, any memberships they have, and any frequent flier programs they are part of.

Instead of instantly displaying search results with rental options, AutoSlash sends clients an email to view them. Essentially, the system takes its time to scan all possible online alternatives to find the best deal for clients. This unique deal-finding system is known to be effective in finding lucrative car rental package deals for travelers.