How to get a cheap rental car?



After booking a flight, a room, and settling your itinerary, all that’s left is renting a car. Sometimes you can get by on public transportation, but a lot of popular travel destinations don’t have a public transit system. If you’re traveling for work, your schedule may not allow for it even if it’s available. Or maybe you prefer the flexibility that comes with having your car to drive. Plenty of places that have public transport still have locations that are only accessible if you’re driving yourself. Even if you don’t, have your car to drive gives you a lot of freedom in your schedule, and that can be vital when planning a trip; you only have so long to explore your destination, and public transportation may not run often enough to meet your needs. Car rental is an essential part of any travel plans, so we’ve put together a list of the top ten car rental sites available.

In reviewing each site, there were several factors that we considered, ranging from price to ease of use. We wanted to be sure that our list would be useful for anyone, regardless of budget or travel destination. That means we’ve included well-known companies like Enterprise and Hertz, along with lesser-known sites such as Turo. We didn’t want to exclude smaller companies, especially since they often offer services that the big names like Enterprise can’t or won’t’. We decided to focus on just the ten best sites so that you don’t have to spend all day trying to sort through a never-ending list of rental companies. The small size of the list also means that you can be sure that each site has been individually tested to ensure authenticity and reliability. Each review is divided into a few paragraphs. We focus on the unique features each website offers, break down what they do well and what they don’t do well, and provide an easy-to-read bullet point list of the pros and cons. We also made sure to focus on companies that operate world-wide, so that no matter where you’re traveling, one or more of the sites on this list is an option for you.

What are the main metrics that are considered for good car rentals sites?

The first thing we looked at was the user interface. A lot of people overlook the importance of having an easy-to-use, easy-to-navigate site. It doesn’t matter if a company has rental cars in every nation on earth and offers every vehicle you could want; if the website is hard to navigate and the information you need is hard to find, it’s the wrong place to rent a car from. If you can’t see the available cars behind giant pop-up ads that you can’t get rid of, the website is useless. Equally bad are homepages that are so crowded with images and information that you can’t make any sense of what you’re seeing. We selected only those websites with clean, simple designs that were easy to navigate and presented no challenges in the user experience. You won’t find yourself wading through endless, useless information on every page on these sites. They only show the information you need, and they’re simple to use. It’s stressful to plan a trip, and the car rental company website shouldn’t be something that adds to that stress. Worse, if a website is hard to navigate and it’s challenging to find the information you’re looking for, it’s a safe bet that the people running that website have something to hide. A reputable company should never make it difficult to find all the information you want on their website, especially when renting a car.

What are good search filters that you find yourself a perfect car for your travel?

We also felt that it was essential to look at the search filters and sorting options. Everyone renting a car is going to have different needs. A family of four will want a spacious car with lots of room for people and luggage, and if the kids are small, they’ll probably want something with an interior that’s easy to clean. If you’re traveling solo on a business trip, you’ll want a small car. Taking a vacation with no kids, you may want something fun to drive. In addition to all of those qualities, you’ve got fuel economy, sound systems, four wheels vs. two-wheel drive, and even color. The options are nearly endless, and if there are no filters or not enough filters, you could spend hours scrolling through the available rentals before finding the car that fits your needs. Search pages rarely display all the information you need, too, so more likely, you’ll be scrolling, stopping, clicking on one car, going back, scrolling some more, and on and on. Having the ability to set a lot of filters before searching saves you time and frustration because once your filters are set, you knew that every car on the list meets your requirements. Sorting options allow changing how the search results are presented to you. For example, if you’re on a budget, you might want to sort the available rentals by price, from low to high, while if you were more concerned with convenience over price, you would opt to sort options by distance. You can also sort from high to low if you’re looking for the most beautiful car to drive. Sorting the search results can save you almost as much time as applying the filters because it usually means that the car you want will appear at or near the top of the search results. A site with excellent search options is also a sign that the company has a good selection of cars and cares as much about the customer experience as they do about the bottom line.

Do Car Rentals sites have rewards programs?

We looked at rewards programs, too. These are programs offered by companies that provide repeat customers with benefits that range from discounts on bookings to free add-ons, like Satellite Navigation or an additional driver. Often collected in the form of credits, they are particularly useful for frequent travelers, such as those travel for business regularly. These programs are designed to make money for the rental companies, and not as a way to reward their customers. Still, there are no drawbacks for you; you don’t have to pay any membership fees to qualify. You are just rewarded for using the same rental company over and over again. It costs you nothing other than what you would’ve spent anyway, and you get rewarded for it. It’s a win-win. Enterprise Plus and Hertz Gold are two great examples. They off exclusive add-ons and also provide on-the-go booking, so customers can reserve their vehicle and drive off without having to wait in line and fill out a bunch of paperwork. The only problem is that some companies don’t offer rewards for a reasonable cost. Avis, for example, has a rewards program called Avis Preferred that requires you to earn 700 points before you receive any benefits. You earn one point for one dollar, so you have to spend $700 with them before you get any benefits, which is hardly worth it. If you’re a frequent traveler and you find yourself renting cars regularly, this isn’t as much of an issue. For most people, though, you want to lean towards the rewards programs that offer those benefits much sooner. You also want to be sure that the program provides rewards you’d want to use. A rewards program is useless if you never earn rewards from it or if you don’t earn anything you want. Almost every good car rental company has an excellent rewards program, both because it’s in their interest to keep you coming back and also because those rewards programs are probably responsible for a good percentage of their growth. A quality rewards program is a sure sign of an excellent rental experience.

What sets the difference from each car rental site form another?

We wanted to focus on what set each company apart from the competition, especially with the most well-known ones like Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis. A lot of car rental companies are offering more or less the same things. The cars are the same, the add-ons are the same, the fuel policies are similar, and often the prices are similar too. That means that it’s often unique features on each website that will set it apart. These unique features usually give you a different way to either book a car or sometimes even to offer your vehicle for rental, which means you can offset the cost of renting a car by charging someone else to rent yours while you’re away.

Turo, for example, is like Airbnb for cars. Instead of renting from a huge company, you’re renting cars from an individual and, in turn, you can rent out your car. You’ll find that the prices are often lower than for a traditional rental service, and it can be a more exciting experience overall. Renting out your car can do more than just offset the cost of renting while you travel, too- you can end up making a profit off of it if you play your cards right. You can read reviews from previous renters, view photos, and even contact owners directly to find out more about the car you’ll be renting. This way, you can be confident that you aren’t getting a bad deal or a bad car, and the owner can be reassured that they’re renting their car out to a responsible driver. Sixt has a Lucky Dip option, which some customers call ‘Sixt Roulette.’ Mostly, you take the risk of ending up with a car that isn’t especially great, but there’s a chance that you’d end up in something that would otherwise be far outside your price range. It’s a unique approach that’s gotten some mixed reviews from customers. Although it can also mean getting a lower quality vehicle, it’s the ideal choice for those who aren’t picky about what they drive and don’t mind taking a bit of a gamble. Both of these are examples of unique attributes offered by car rental services that ultimately add to the whole experience of booking a vehicle; that’s the sort of thing we like to see, and we’ve factored it into our reviews.

Now answer to question: how to get cheap car rental?

Finally, we considered pricing. While it may not always be the most important consideration, it’s never something that you don’t care about. Comparing rental costs from different car rental companies isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, because there are several variables to consider. This can be anything from the difference between daily and weekly costs to the cost of adding a driver. Some companies that seemed cheaper for the basic package (a four-seat car with fuel) ended up being far more expensive when you add on a GPS and insurance. That means it’s essential to understand everything that goes into the final price the rental, rather than jumping at the option with the cheapest daily rate, which may end up being much more expensive in the end. We didn’t just look at daily or weekly rates but factored in everything that contributes to the final cost. After all, if the insurance on a rental car is too much for your budget, that’s not a company you want to rent from since you should never be renting a car without insuring it. Primarily, what we’ve done is rated the sites on the overall value, not just the cheapest rates. This way, you don’t end up getting fooled by a deceptively low daily price.

Why is this the best list of Car rentals websites for travelers?

This list is an essential tool for travelers. We’re sure that these are the ten best car rental companies in the world. There are plenty of places that are impossible to reach without a car, and there are plenty of travel situations that require a car rental for other reasons. We’ve considered all the factors that go into making an excellent car rental experience and used them to put this list together. Whether you’re looking for the cheapest rental, the most fun car to drive, or the most exciting experience, there’s something on this list for you.