Renting a car for 3 weeks

I have never done this because I am cheap and think that I could buy a good car for the price of renting for that duration of time. I am going on vacation down south and need a car down there anyway (inlaws live in Atl), so it would be nice to have a car down there whenever I need one. The issues that I am wrestling with are I don't have time to fix a car while there, I don't have time to shop for one while I am there, but I don't want to throw rental car dough out the window. You guys and gals are smart, please give me your thoughts. Just rent and call it a day or try to find something? I need to seat 5 and be reliable. Thoughts?

priceline

If it was 3 months, I'd tell you to buy a car. Three weeks? Meh, don't bother.

It's all about the bidness....... How often do you to GA? What do you spend on rental cars when you are there? How much aggravation can you tolerate compared to dropping the car off and saying (Or thinking) " Take your ugly Pontiac/Hyundai/Dodge and shove it up your *....?"

Short answer: Priceline or Rentawreck....

Rog

I have had great luck naming my own price for rental cars on priceline.
In the car rental world a 5 day rental is usually the same price as 7 day weekly rental.
I would offer $75 per week for a mid size ($15 for 5 days but less than $11 per 7 days.) $225 for a car that you would pay $299 in monthly payments if you bought it at retail.

If you do not like the car they give you ask what else is on the lot for the same price (note they will try to upsell you.) If theey have nothing different that day, just take what they have. On another day, bring the car back and say it shakes at highway speed. They will not test it while you are there but rather send you off with something else on the lot. Hopefully something you like better.

Note: I have never used priceline to rent a car for longer than a week. I do not know what their time limits are.

Never rent from an airport location; the taxes are exhorbitant. Check out Enterprise, I used to do a montly rental with them when I was consulting in Alpharetta. Work the discounts, AAA, Alumni, your employer/school (AARP). If you have loyalty points from hotel, airline, or credit card, look for deals.

Thanks for the advise. I will rent. I will try to avoid the airport location, but that might be hard. I will check this out though Thanks folks

if you are visiting relatives.. try to find a local renter place. here in AC we have "just 4 wheels" that rents older cars for pretty damn cheap

Check the forums at www.flyertalk.com for car rental advice. Those guys are obsessive about points, discounts, stacking coupons. Its my first stop when trip planning to see what current promotions are available.

For the absolute lowest prices on weeklong rentals, I use hotwire (like priceline, but it shows you a price) or priceline. Priceline is usually a bit cheaper than Hotwire, but it takes a bit more trouble with the bidding. My friend who travels 50 weeks a year uses Priceline exclusively. I know for hotels you can use a site like betterbidding.com to figure out what the going rate on priceline is. Not sure if it works for car rentals though.

Also, if you use hotwire or priceline, you pretty much have to use the airport locations.

We are no strangers to travel, and rental cars here at GRM/ CMS. Here's what I do to get a good rate:

Go to www.Kayak.com it is a search engine that finds the best prices from most of the major sources. (priceline/ orbitz / hotwire / etc) Once you have the lowest price available, to to www.priceline.com and bid 40% lower than the lowest quoted rate. If it isn't accepted, go to 35% and then 20%. You may also be able to upgrade your car for no extra $$.

I did this during a recent trip to the MidWest and it worked well.