Kinda off topic, but I will be in Denver... in between trips with Darren Kilgore and Brent Doerzman... from July 28th-31st and am looking for a good rental car place. I am hoping to get a good deal on a Subaru or a small SUV so I can head out to the Crested Butte or Capitol Peak areas for a few days of camping and wildflower photography.
Anyone out there know of a local place that I can find a good deal?
Jimmy, I hate renting cars, but I've done it a half dozen times in the last few months. Outside of the airport location, I don't have any experience in Denver. But, I will give a heads up that that the small SUV seems to be the most popular model to rent in the Denver area. Every time I've rented one, the rental company was out of them, and I had to go with a full-size SUV (it's an upgrade, right?) or settle for a car.
Also keep in mind that when you sign your rental agreement, you are probably agreeing to drive only on paved roads. I've seen this on a number of rental agreements over the years. Just a head's up.
Just a quick search.... Avis says their vehicles "may not be driven on non-paved roads". Hertz vehicles "are to be operated only on regularly maintained roads", whatever that means.
All the roads in Ouray/Telluride are regularly maintained They plow them once each summer.
Posted by Laurie Wendt on July 4, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Jimmy, When I need to rent a car I first go to the website orbitz.com. I use this website to check prices, it lists most of the major car rental companies. After you put in your dates and times for the car rental at the bottom of the chart click on "view more car types" and "view all car companies" to get all available options. Advantage and Payless are cheaper than the rest but I've never used these companies. I know some people who have and they've not been happy with their service. The time that you put in for the rental can be important. If you can rent it for 4 days (24 hour period) you may get a better rate than if you rent it for 3 days 12 hours etc. It goes to an hourly rate for anything less that a 24 hour period. So keep that in mind. I have set up rentals for 24 hour periods then returned it a few hours early with no problems. After I compare the rates from orbitz.com I go to the actual car rental website to make my reservation. All will have specials that you get just on their website so you may be able to find an even better rate. If you are a Frequent Flyer member for an airline you can get some really good specials by using the special codes they provide on their website. Enterprise Car Rental is also a good company to rent from if you want to rent it from a neighborhood location.
One of your best bets is to use Priceline and name 'Your' price. Then wait to see if a company accepts your offer. Start out low and if no one accepts go up in small increments. We just did that on a two week van rental in the PNW and Hertz accepted our offer which was 'much' lower than the cheapest rate from any other rental co. It was one of the best deals of the trip.
If your interested A quick check on Dollar.com shows a midsize suv for $47.36 a day at the airport rental location. Rate good for 3 day rental. Cheapest I could find with a quick check. That's for unlimited miles.
One way of saving some cash, and maybe a better chance of finding a SUV in stock, is to rent in Denver and not at/near the airport. I have seen airport taxes up to 20%, although I don't know what Denver's is.
Jimmy, how's San Diego treating ya?
The way I've rented for trips was through the Eagle/Vail airport for previous San Juan trips. I usually rent from Alamo FWIW since they have pretty good 4x4 rental deals.
Discussion
8 repliesAnyone out there know of a local place that I can find a good deal?
Thanks in advance!
Jimmy
Jimmy, I hate renting cars, but I've done it a half dozen times in the last few months. Outside of the airport location, I don't have any experience in Denver. But, I will give a heads up that that the small SUV seems to be the most popular model to rent in the Denver area. Every time I've rented one, the rental company was out of them, and I had to go with a full-size SUV (it's an upgrade, right?) or settle for a car.
Just a quick search.... Avis says their vehicles "may not be driven on non-paved roads". Hertz vehicles "are to be operated only on regularly maintained roads", whatever that means.
One way of saving some cash, and maybe a better chance of finding a SUV in stock, is to rent in Denver and not at/near the airport. I have seen airport taxes up to 20%, although I don't know what Denver's is.
Duane
The way I've rented for trips was through the Eagle/Vail airport for previous San Juan trips. I usually rent from Alamo FWIW since they have pretty good 4x4 rental deals.
Cheers bro!