I Saved Almost 50% On My Car Rental By Doing Nothing

For years, I have heard about AutoSlash and its ability to save money on car rentals.

Up until a few month's ago, I had never tried AutoSlash. For those unaware of AutoSlash, its a rental car booking website similar to Orbitz. The difference between Orbitz and AutoSlash is that AutoSlash works to reduce the cost of your rental from the moment you book until your rental.

My first experience was good, but the savings was nothing to write about. However, for my upcoming trip to Charleston, I rented a car for 3 days with AutoSlash. The cost was just under $75.00.

A few days after, I received this email:

AutoSlash found a new rental for $40.42, a savings of $34.36. To get this savings, all I had to do was reply "Yes" to the email. Almost 50% savings with a simple "Yes" email.  Score!

If you need a car rental, give AutoSlash a try.
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Another 500 Mile Bonus Offer from United Airlines (Targeted)

United Airlines is back with another chance to earn 500 bonus miles.

To earn the bonus miles, you have must complete two different offers from four partners by July 31st:

The partner offers are as followed:

1) Make one stay at a Hyatt Hotel and credit the stay to MileagePlus

2) Make one stay at any Hilton Hotel and credit the stay to MileagePlus

3) Use SuperShuttle and have miles credited to MileagePlus

4) Rent a car from Avis and have miles credited to MileagePlus


This is the second month that United has made this type of offer. Last months' offer was much easier than this one: complete a dine at a restaurant and survey and bank 500 miles.  This offer requires some type of planned travel.

Personally, I am going to pass on this one. I am not really traveling this month and 500 miles isn't worth spending money for no reason.

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No More Cheating When Returning A Rental Car

Clark Howard and Chris Elliott both have reported that car companies are starting to install technology to track the amount of gas in a returned car down to the 1/10th of gallon. Try to cheat by not filling the tank all the way, you will get a surprise on your credit card statement a few days late.

Howard reports:

Avis is using a new technology that can read the amount of gas in the tank down to tenths of a gallon. If you return it just a hair less than full, they will charge you at just under a dollar per tenth of a gallon of gasoline. That's the equivalent of almost $10 a gallon, when you factor out the numbers they're using!

Elliott uncovered the Hertz is taking it one step further by adding technology to shut down a car for unsafe driving:

Avis isn’t the only car rental company measuring fuel down to a tenth of a gallon. Hertz is installing this technology, which is referred to by the industry term electronic fuel metering, in its fleet over the next few months in an effort to ensure that every drop of fuel is accounted and paid for. 

Mark Frissora, Hertz’s chief executive, says that his company loses $50 million a year in fuel. Its new system, called Zibox, is capable of shutting off a car engine remotely and operating car locks from afar. It relays location data, tire air pressure and fuel-level information back to Hertz, too. In other words, it will know exactly how much fuel you have in the car at any given time. “This is going to be good for customers,” Frissora says.

Personally, I have rented cars which were not quite full on gas. A mile away from the car rental place the gas gauge drops to 3/4 of tank. Therefore, I am out gas & money.

Wikipedia.org

This new technology may help bring transparency into the whole process. On the other side, forcing customers to ensure the tank is fully full is not easy. Not all airports or rental car locations have gas stations right by the airport. For instance, on my trip to Colorado Spring, the closest gas station was 1 mile from the airport. Driving that 1 mile burnt gas and help move the gas gauge slightly off of full. Under the new system, I would be hit for that 1 mile of gas.

Elliott sums it up correctly:

If you’re renting a high-end, low-mileage car, your chances of having a vehicle with electronic fuel metering are good. You can either prepay for a full tank of gas through a rental company’s fuel-purchase option and time the return of your rental to the moment the tank reaches the “E” mark, or you can fill the tank to the top just before you return it and hope for the best.

It’s always a smart idea to save the gas receipt, which should note the time and the amount of fuel you added to the tank. If there’s a dispute, the invoice could prove to be useful.

In every advancement in technology, there are winners and losers. This advancement makes us consumers the big losers.
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Earn Miles While Renting A Car

Just like you should ensure that you can get the biggest bang for your buck while at a hotel by looking to see if you can earn both hotel and airline points for a hotel stay, you should also explore your options when renting a car.

United has a page full of their preferred rental car providers as well as other providers they have relationships with. The full list is available here.

Each company has their own offers but there seems to be a decent value from a few of the providers like Hertz and Avis where you can earn 75 miles per day and then 50 bonus miles per day. If you book through United.com (which I doubt is a good value) you can earn 150 miles. I don't rent cars that often, for one I am just about to turn 25 so it's quite expensive, but I usually go to places that have good public transit or try to rough it and not have a car if I don't have to so this doesn't do much for me. But if you can get a good rate and provide your United number to earn some bonus miles along the way, it's always a good idea!


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Avis Agrees to Buy Zipcar: Great News For Weekend Travelers

It was announced today that rental car company Avis has agreed to buy car sharing company Zipcar. The deal for about $500 million is a good thing for Zipcar users because Avis is going to use their fleet of rental cars to beef up the number of rentals available for rental as Zipcar's on the weekend.

I think this is a great deal for travelers who might not be able to get a good rental car deal for a weekend city visit or for those under 25 who hopefully won't have to pay an underage card as you only have to be 21 (18 in some locations) to have a Zipcar membership.

If you are visiting a city for the weekend and need a car for some of the weekend and can't find a good rental car rate, this is a great alternative. Even better is you won't have to pay the high prices that come with renting a car from the airport and you won't have to pay high parking charges a the hotel. You will just have to pick up and drop off your Zipcar at the appropriate location and continue your vacation! 

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, but it has the potential to be an awesome new tool for travelers.