Cheapest way to rent a car,

[ninaprincess]

My car got rear ended today and I need to rent a car. When I rent I usually pay $50/day. But I hear people renting cars for $19 or $20 a day, where can I get these deals? Thanks,

[sdrealtor]

Through your insurance company you should be able to get rental cheap from enterprise

[spdrun]

If you’re paying for it yourself, go to Travelocity and plug in a two-week car rental period at the San Diego airport (SAN) – Advantage is $198 for 24 June through 8 July including taxes. Fox is about $225.

So more like $15/day 🙂

As far as insurance, yours may pay for it if you have collision/comp. Otherwise, you can try going after their insurance directly. I did that when some dumb bint hit my car in NJ — they paid book value + 10 days car rental after coming out and appraising my car less than 24 hrs after the crash.

[Anonymous]

I’ve always found the best deals on this site:
http://www.rentalcarmomma.com/

[Coronita]

If you got rear ended, the other person’s insurance should pick up the tab for it… But if you need to first get the rental yourself, go to enterprise. Say your car is in the shop and they have a discount. If you have AAA, ask if there is a AAA discount too.

[svelte]

The best deals are usually found at rental car outlets that are not at airports.

I think this is because airports add on a tax of their own to each rental car agency on their property.

Not sure where you live, but in north county the stand-alone Enterprise locations are usually the cheapest and almost always come in well under $50/day.

And as flu said, the other insurance company should be picking up the bill anyway. If you get hit, they pay.

[spdrun]

A lot of the very cheap “airport” places aren’t actually on the airport’s property, BTW.

[svelte]

[quote=spdrun]A lot of the very cheap “airport” places aren’t actually on the airport’s property, BTW.[/quote]

Then they aren’t airport places, eh?

That is probably how they are cheaper – they avoid that airport tax.

[Coronita]

The internet is your friend.

http://www.carrentals.com/search/san-diego-ca/2012-07-01-10-00/san-diego-ca/2012-07-04-10-00

10 bucks a day for a compact at a no-name brand car rental place.

22 bucks a day at enterprise

20 bucks at dollar
https://www.hotwire.com/car/details-billing.jsp?inputId=car-results&rs=0&actionType=0&searchId=6583930691&selectedSolutionId=181651504013&isOneWaySearch=false

[ucodegen]

I usually use Hotwire. My average has been below $20/day. I generally rent full-size.. mostly Chevy Impalas. I tend to prefer them (though they may be a bit dated, byt they are quite roomy .. which is important because of long legs).

Best deals I have had, have occurred when they didn’t have the car I reserved.. Got a Mustang Convertable at $18 and a full size Yukon (Suburban sized) for about the same in SF. The Mustang was because I reserved a full size, and they didn’t have it. Yukon was because I reserved a Minivan and they didn’t have it when I came to pick it up.

I have noticed that some of the rental places try to ‘switch’ you to a lower car even though you reserved a better one…

Just ran a hotwire (sorry flu, your link doesn’t work past 10 minutes or so..). Got Economy=14.95, Compact=15.95, MidSize=15.95, Standard=18.95, FullSize=17.95, Premium=27.95. These are right off of the airport – shuttle to and from. In some cases, timing the reservation helps.. I did this one for last minute– pick up at 8:00pm today. Keep an eye on when there are events in SD or where you are going. In those cases, reserve real early or last minute. Prices rise significantly 1 to 2 weeks before event as most people place their reservations for the event at that time. Last minute gives the best chance of low price but you get the risk of not getting the car you want or not even getting a car rental.

Oh, by the way, you get better prices when renting for a full week than a few days. Multiple weeks gets you marginally better than 1 week, but not much. The only exception is when there is an event in town that occurs in the middle of the week.

[ninaprincess]

Thank you for your recommendations. I found some good deals for under $20 day through hotwire. But before I rent a car, I need a good and trustworthy body shop. I searched on Yelp and found Chapparone Auto Body in Kearny Mesa. They have very good ratings. Do you guys have any experience with this shop?

[zzz]

I have heard that you can also look at renting a car from those really small privately owned places..I’ve seen a few throughout the metro area, might want to to yelp for some places like the 2 below

http://www.yelp.com/biz/dirt-cheap-car-rentals-san-diego
http://www.yelp.com/biz/west-coast-rent-a-car-san-diego

[sdduuuude]

Try honkcarrentals.com
Poor customer service record really good rates.

Hotwire is great, too.

Find your best rate, then try to name your own price at a lower rate using priceline.com.

[Coronita]

[quote=ninaprincess]Thank you for your recommendations. I found some good deals for under $20 day through hotwire. But before I rent a car, I need a good and trustworthy body shop. I searched on Yelp and found Chapparone Auto Body in Kearny Mesa. They have very good ratings. Do you guys have any experience with this shop?[/quote]

If you’re anal and insurance is going to pay… I like West Coast Specialities.

http://westcoastspecialties.net/index.shtml

Their work was top notch. My 550 front bumper was swiped by a hit and run in a parking lot. And the work was awesome. And I’m really anal… If I was going to get any custom body work, I’d go there. They do a lot of higher end cars too, but never found them to be arrogant. They were recommended to me by some folks on bimmer forum.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=703291

http://www.yelp.com/biz/west-coast-specialties-san-diego

Chapparone was also good. My beater Audi was rear ended a few years ago (when it wasn’t a beater). Owner is really cool, and their work was good. Down to earth body shop. Also was recommeneded by both the bimmer and audi forum. And I ended up going their after my first trip to….

Amato’s in Sorrento Valley, when some people swore by their work. I found them to be arrogant (to me). Back then, the economy was good, and they basically told me my car wasn’t good enough for their body shop. And that they *might* be able to get to my car months later. And they sent me off to another body shop. Ended up going to Chapparone… So, I have no comment on their actual work, just think they were a big prick (to me).

[spdrun]

Back then, the economy was good, and they basically told me my car wasn’t good enough for their body shop.

Did you tell the greaseballs where they could put your car?

Translation of their greaseballese: “You’re probably liability-only, and thus paying for the work yourself. We can’t bend you over and cheat you like we do to the insurance companies, since you’d probably call the police.”

[Author]

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