🚙 Rental Car

Companies / Platforms

• Enterprise Holdings
  • Enterprise
  • National
• Avis Budget Group
  • Avis
  • Budget
• Hertz Global Holdings
  • Hertz
  • Dollar
  • Firefly
  • Thrifty
• Turo: Airbnb for cars
• U-Haul: 搬家卡車
• RVezy: 露營車 (RV)

Hourly

• Zipcar
• Getaround

Booking

No single site wins every time. Search in two layers: pull a baseline from AutoSlash, then cross-check the same two or three channels.

• AutoSlash: the baseline. It runs the search against hundreds of coupon codes, memberships (AAA, AARP, Costco) and corporate codes at once instead of just comparing list prices. Fill in the memberships once and the profile sticks.
• Costco Travel: Slick deal for certain rental agencies, currently Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise. Comes with one free additional driver, and some Costco cards give extra points. Costco membership required. US works better.
• Card travel portals (Chase Travel, Citi Travel, Capital One Travel): pricing varies a lot between them. No need to open all three, just the one or two where you hold the card and can pay with points or earn a multiplier.
• Booking direct with a discount code: every brand has a code field (AWD for Avis, BCD for Budget, CDP for Hertz) that takes AAA, AARP, Costco or issuer codes. A discount code stacks with one coupon code, but only one discount code at a time.
• Cashback portals (Capital One Shopping, Rakuten): occasionally 30-45% back at Hertz or Sixt. When one shows up, clicking through and booking direct often beats every aggregator.

warning

Easy things to miss while comparing:

• Don't book prepaid. Rates swing by tens of dollars within a day, and a non-refundable rate gives up every drop that follows. Book pay-at-pickup and let AutoSlash track it, then rebook when it falls. It tracks reservations booked elsewhere too.
• Portals usually can't carry a loyalty number (Hertz Gold, Avis Preferred), which means the counter line. On a late arrival, paying a bit more to book direct can be worth it.
• Damage waiver is a hidden cost. Some cards are secondary only inside the US, so compare the price with coverage in mind.

Price Trend

Swing markets

New York, Boston, Denver, Seattle, Anchorage, Honolulu. Steep summer peak, cheap winters, 2.5x between the best and worst cell. Timing pays off most here.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Jan	53	48	46	48	54	56	52
Feb	56	51	49	51	57	59	55
Mar	62	56	55	57	64	66	61
Apr	68	62	60	63	70	73	67
May	75	69	66	69	77	80	74
Jun	92	84	81	85	94	98	90
Jul	107	98	95	99	110	114	105
Aug	102	93	90	94	105	109	100
Sep	72	66	64	67	74	77	71
Oct	68	62	60	63	70	73	67
Nov	64	58	56	59	66	68	63
Dec	79	72	70	73	82	85	78

National baseline

Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Washington DC, Nashville, Salt Lake City.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Jan	48	44	42	44	49	51	47
Feb	50	46	44	46	51	53	49
Mar	53	49	47	49	55	57	52
Apr	57	52	50	52	58	60	55
May	61	56	54	57	63	66	60
Jun	72	65	63	66	74	77	70
Jul	77	70	68	71	79	82	76
Aug	74	68	66	68	76	79	73
Sep	57	52	51	53	59	61	56
Oct	55	50	48	50	56	58	54
Nov	53	49	47	49	55	57	52
Dec	64	58	56	59	66	68	63

High-supply markets

Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Houston. Mild summer peak, December bump, only 1.8x across the grid. Timing effort pays off less here, so spend it on the booking channel instead.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Jan	37	34	33	34	38	40	36
Feb	39	36	35	36	40	42	38
Mar	42	39	37	39	43	45	41
Apr	45	41	40	42	47	48	44
May	47	43	42	44	49	51	46
Jun	52	47	46	48	53	55	51
Jul	54	49	47	49	55	57	53
Aug	53	48	46	48	54	56	52
Sep	46	42	41	43	48	50	45
Oct	45	41	40	42	47	48	44
Nov	46	42	41	43	48	50	45
Dec	56	51	49	51	57	59	55

保險

大致上有這幾種保險，主要需要保的是前兩種，其他兩種只要不要耍笨基本上用不到：）

• Damage Waiver: 車體險；不用負擔自己開的車的損壞費用
• Liability Protection: 第三人責任險；不用負擔被你撞爛的車 (或人) 的費用
• Roadside Assistance : 道路救援；拋錨、爆胎、沒油、鑰匙鎖車等等費用
• Personal Effects: 個人財物險；保險公司賠償在車內被偷的財物

Company	Enterprise	Budget	Avis	Hertz	National
Damage Waiver	DW	LDW	LDW	LDW/LLDW	LDW
Liability Protection	SLP	SLI	ALI	LIS	SLP
Roadside Assistance	RAP	-	Extended Roadside Assistance	-	RSP
Personal Effects	PEC	PAE	PEP	PAI/PEC	PEC

tip

大部分信用卡會有包含 DW，但是會有額外的條款和限制，像是

• Primary or Secondary Coverage
  • Primary: 信用卡負責全部的費用
  • Secondary: 信用卡只負責超過租車公司保險的部分
• 租車天數 (通常不超過 30 天)
• 駕駛地區
• 出險金額上限

另外，如果你本來就有車險，它們也有可能本來就涵蓋了租車的保險。

如果這些其他保險涵蓋的範圍夠用，也許可以省下一筆錢 ✨

可能的額外費用

• Additional Driver Fee: 額外駕駛費用
• Young Driver Fee: 未滿 25 歲的額外費用
• Toll fee: 通行費，通常自己用車牌號碼申請 Toll pass 會比較便宜，可以省下租車公司多收的手續費，但在某些州自己搞可能會是一件麻煩的事情
• Skip pump fee: 不加油還車，租車公司通常會按照比較貴的油價收費
• SiriusXM®: 衛星電台，沒用過但聽起來廢到笑

Tips

• 領車：檢查油箱、問要加哪種油、拍照錄影 (有保 DW 的話可以跳過)
• 下車：把個人物品放後車廂或看不到的地方，避免不必要的麻煩
• 出事：報案留底，不然保險可能不理賠
• 攔停：警察如果問「你知道你為什麼被攔下來」，永遠回答「不知道」
• 還車：記得先加油