Chester T. Dean 
Slow travel on a budget
By Patrick Robertson
Last month, I told you how to get the lowest airfare prices. After booking your plane tickets, the next step is to book a rental car if needed.
Here are some simple tips and tricks you can use to get the lowest price available.
Join all major car rental company loyalty programs. They are free to join.
There are three main advantages. The first is that all your information is in their database, so it is very quick to book future rentals. The second and more important benefit is that you will save hours of queuing at the rental car counter. The third benefit is the special offers and discount emails you will receive.
All major car rental companies are accelerating the member loyalty process. They either have a separate line for loyalty members with your paperwork already prepared, or your contract and keys on a notice board by the counter or in the garage where the cars are parked. Many times I got off the plane and was sitting in my car in less than 10 minutes.
I always book my car rentals as soon as I have booked my plane tickets. In many cases, this is nine to ten months before departure. I do a search on Expedia to get an idea of the prices offered, then I reserve the cheapest car. As a loyalty member you usually get a one level upgrade, so I always book a compact car.
A few years ago, I started booking most of my rental cars through my Costco membership. You are guaranteed a one-category upgrade. It’s considerably cheaper than other third-party booking agencies like Expedia. But most third-party booking agencies are cheaper than booking directly through the car rental company.
The advantage of car rental reservations is that you can cancel the reservation at any time, which leads to this strategy. I keep looking at car rentals for bargains. Often at some point between booking and departure there will be a better deal than when you booked.
I reserve the new price, then I cancel my first reservation. It’s important to book first, then cancel, not the other way around, as deals can disappear in minutes. You might cancel and not be able to get the new offer and end up paying more than your first booking.
The longer you book a car rental, the lower your cost per day will be. Per day you could pay $40, per week $30, per month $20. In Europe, you can rent a car if you rent for two months and pay $15 per day.
Using these tips, I’ve rented cars for as low as $8 a day in Las Vegas. I was given a $200 a day Escalade for the price of a compact. Generally, I reserve a compact and I have the choice of a top-of-the-range model.
The global pandemic has had a major impact on car rentals in North America. When car rental traffic declined by more than 80%, car rental companies sold their fleets to reduce negative cash flow.
As travel began to increase, car rental companies encountered another problem. There were no vehicles to buy to rebuild their fleets. The shortage of vehicle computer boards for automakers has led to a significant reduction in the manufacture of new vehicles.
How does this affect the budget traveler? Car rental prices have gone from $40 per day to $400 or more per day. The simple law of supply and demand. I had a nephew visit in August who paid $1800 for a three day rental. I recently searched for car rentals on various days at the Calgary airport and there were no cars available for rent for any amount.
At the moment, car rentals in North America are not a good option for budget travelers. For travel in the near future, we will be looking at other transportation options like trains, buses, private cars and drivers, taxis, or ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft. You might even want to try private carpools listed on social networks like Facebook.
Luckily, car rental prices in Europe haven’t changed much. Several different groups of my friends have just returned from Europe where they have rented cars in Romania, Germany and Italy and have not noticed a difference in rental rates.
Next month, find out how to save $1,000 on home rentals.
–Patrick Robertson is a travel writer and longtime resident of Fernie. He is an expert in independent travel planning and finding budget travel deals. Visit my tools page at www.budgetslowtravel.com/tools for powerful planning tools. Like me on Facebook.
