Travel Tips
Would you like to shave $100, maybe even $200 off of your vacation costs? Of course you would! And here’s how you can do it:
Make your car rental a day (or two) shorter!
This tip won’t work every time for every traveler, but the opportunity is there more often than you might think. If your plan is to fly into town, pick up a car, and head to the hotel, press pause for a moment.
The average cost of a rental car in the U.S. is $99 per day. Why pay that much to pick up a car at the airport only to park it at your hotel for the night? Instead, make sure your hotel has a free airport shuttle that can pick you up when you land. Then take the suttle back to the airport in the morning to pick up your car.
Like that plan? Then try it again on your way home. If you’re flying out early, and planned to spend the last night at an airport-area hotel, do the same thing in reverse. Check in and drop your luggage and family at the hotel, then go return the rental car at the airport. Use that hotel shuttle again to get back to the hotel, and then to the airport again in the morning.
Just like that, you shaved $200 off of your rental car costs! Of course, there are a few things to watch out for. Don’t book a hotel just to drop the car off early, unless you can find one for under $100. Make sure your hotel has a free airport shuttle, as fewer hotels do now. And, of course, your results will depend on your rental rate.
We’d love to hear your tips to save on your rental car! Please share them in the comments below. We’ll re-post the best, so be sure to include your Twitter handle and a link to your blog, if you have one. Or click for more #Travel140 Travel Tips!
If you enjoyed this post, consider signing up for our updates (All wham, no spam!) and sharing with your friends on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter with the buttons below. (A million thanks in advance!)
Nice Post… Thanks for sharing with us such an amazing tips for trip to reduce cost.
This is great, renting a car is cheaper than take the public transportation when you reach your destination, simply because there are many destination where the public transportation is very expensive or complicated so it’s a good idea to save yourself some money and get a great car rental deal before your leave.
very nice thanks so much for sharing
I like your idea, Rob, but my husband doesn’t want to spare any expense when it comes to his own comfort, lol! We usually don’t rent a car if we travel to a big city, where we can use the public transportation to get around. However, it seems smart to shorten your car rental if your hotel has a shuttle. Great tip.
Thanks Anda! We rent cars less and less with every trip. But we’re not above saving a little here to spend a little there – especially when it helps us to justify splurging on our comfort. 😉
We did this recently in London and it worked like a charm. I don’t think it actually saved us any money but I get so stressed dropping cars off before flights and worrying we will miss our flight that it was absolutely worth it. We dropped our rental car off at Heathrow the night before our flight to the US (we live in Australia but were coming home the long way – lol) caught an uber to the airport hotel and then had a nice relaxing morning the next day before heading back to the terminal for our flight.
You bring up a good point – the stress saved is probably worth more than the money! No sense undoing all of that R&R on the day before you head home! Thanks for your comment, Lyn!
Great tips to reduce cost,in my next trip I’ll definitely use those tips. Proper planning can make trip great.
Thanks for sharing great experience.