Non-traditional rental cars

I'm checking out renting a large SUV or van for our family Christmas trip.  10 day rental is hard on the wallet but I want to put the 3000 miles on someone else's vehicle.  Besides the chain rentals, brothers-in-law, and Turo, what options are available to rent/borrow a car for 10 days over a holiday?

Local used car lot rents vehicles. 
 

Is Rent A Wreck still a thing?

In my generally small town all we have for rental is 1 Enterprise location.  The next closest Enterprise location is more than 30 minutes away.  The closest of another brand is 1 hour.  When I rented a van to travel last Jan, I had a Enterprise reservation.  I happened to pass the body shop of the local multi-brand car dealership and they have rental cars.  I don't remember the price but I ended up with a loaded Toyota Sienna from the Toyota Dealer for less than a low trim model Dodge Grand Caravan from Enterprise. 

Hertz has some crazy deals currently. 

Sixt offers some interesting stuff. Silvercar is partnered with Audi and will offer you a Q7 for something like $108/day which splits the difference between a Pacifica and a three-row SUV from Hertz IIRC

I've found Hertz better for long trips, some of the other agencies want you to keep their cars in the same state.  Also, as mentioned they sometimes run specials, so be sure to ask.  Note that you can usually get a lower rate if you go to an agency that's not at the airport.

do you live near an airport ?

there are normally (before Covid) good deals for flyers , 

try these guys , they computer check all the websites and discount coupons.

https://www.autoslash.com/quote. 

here is the Flyertalk forum about them

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rental-car-discussion/1449969-autoslash-general-discussion.html

nutherjrfan said:

Is Rent A Wreck still a thing?

We were in Maui last year. 10day rental at regular rental agency was $1400+ for minivan.  After lots of research found a place that that was rent a wreck, and rented late model Dodge Caravans.  My bill $570. 

Second day, vehicle wouldnt start, and died at a stop light. Left us stranded for 6 hours. It was "replaced" with another one exact like that. 

Ours was a 2005 Dodge Caravan - 115K miles. Had seen better days mechanically and physically.  Our valet at the Grand Wailea in Maui gave us dirty looks literally everyday. Dirty or strange looks. Of course I wouldn't buy that and park it in my neighborhood, as no doubt it would lower the property values. Having said that, did the job for us - BARELY. It saved me a lot of money - but I am not sure I would ever do that i n the future. 

Thanks all

stuart in mn said:

I've found Hertz better for long trips, some of the other agencies want you to keep their cars in the same state.  Also, as mentioned they sometimes run specials, so be sure to ask.  Note that you can usually get a lower rate if you go to an agency that's not at the airport.

The part about the "near airport" is so important that it should be expanded upon...

In most areas, if you rent at an airport or train station, etc, they add on a "tourist tax and fees".  These taxes/fees can be as high as $15 per day.  So, as an example, if you pick up OR drop off at these places you get hit hard.  However, the Enterprise and Hertz locations "in-town" often near the car dealerships, do not have to charge these taxes/fees.  Pick up AND drop off at one of these type locations.  Using the wrong location for either the pick up or drop off can generate the taxes/fees.  

Sometimes you can get better deals on vehicles that are not popular among the average renter. 

As and example, last year we went to FL for thanksgiving and rented at the airport. I use Priceline and the best deal was a CC full size pickup.

I ended up paying approx $350 for 10 days with unlimited miles to drive around a 2019 Ram 1500 classic with under 5k miles. 

Clearly purchasing a $1200 XJ is the answer here. 

Just an FYI; the Becker JetVans are not available for rent, per sales manager Troy Becker.  I tried.

You can rent cars though Costco. We did that on our trip to Kona last summer. It was cheaper than any of the chains. We ended up getting a Jeep from Enterprise IIRC.

Some car dealerships have rentals. When we went to Yellowstone a few years ago we were also interested in buying a new Sequoia. I found a Toyota dealership in Bozeman that rented them for about the same price that the chains were renting Jeeps and Explorers. Unfortunately they weren't open on the weekend so we went through a chain instead. Wound up with an Explorer and bought one about 6 months later.