Car Rental Tips

  • 10 Ways to Save Money When Renting a Car

    Planning to hit the road this Labor Day weekend? So are most vacation-minded Americans: AAA estimates 27.3 million people will travel by car for ...

  • What to do if your Rental Car Breaks Downs

    As a general rule, rental cars are exceptionally well-maintained and rarely break down. It just makes good business sense for the rental car companies to keep their vehicles in perfect working order, because they can’t rent a car that is not ...

  • Save Wear and Tear on Your Own Vehicle by Renting Instead

    Every now and then you probably have the need to take a long road trip in your own car – maybe you are taking one of the kids off to college or going to see grandma a few states away. Whatever the case might be, it’s a good idea to check the ...

  • Check Weekend Rental Car Rates to Find the Best Deals

    There are a lot of different ways to save money on a rental car, and of course booking your rental car reservations through RentACarNow.com is a good start. Here’s another easy tip – if your plans are ...

  • Why it’s a Good Idea to Rent a Car before You Buy It

    Buying a new car, or even a late model used car, is a huge investment and one that is likely to only be second to your home in cost. That’s why it’s surprising how many people buy a car after only taking a short test drive around the block. ...

  • What to do if Your Plane is Going to be Delayed

    Unless you have your own plane and pilot’s license, chances are that you are going to experience a delay at the airport. Sometimes it’s due to weather, other times there’s a mechanical issue with the plane, and still other times there will be ...

  • Another Way to Score a Rental Car Upgrade

    We’ve talked a few times on this blog about some of the best ways to get a free rental car upgrade, so here’s another way that’s quick and easy – be nice to the agent at the counter. Will this work every time? Of course not, but you might be ...

  • How a One-Week Rental Can be Cheaper than Six Days

    We all know that there are seven days in a week, so it stands to reason that it would be cheaper to rent a car for six days rather than seven. But as with many things in the travel industry, logic is not always in total control. One such example ...

  • Enterprise Introduces Electric Car Rentals at Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco

    Enterprise Rent-A-Car continues to roll out electric vehicles for rent with the latest location being the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. That makes Enterprise the first rental car company to offer electric car rentals at a hotel in the ...

  • Fox Rent A Car Makes Things Easy on Younger Renters

    If you are under the age of 25 and have tried to rent a car, you know that it can be quite difficult. The policies vary by rental car company, but if you are between the ages of 20 and 25 then Fox Rent A Car might be the best choice for you. The ...

  • How to Rent the Car of Your Dreams

    Everyone has a dream car – for some it’s a lightning-fast Ford Mustang and others long for the luxury of a Mercedes sedan while still others want to have their hair blowing in the wind as they cruise down the highway in a convertible. While your ...

  • If You Are Looking to Buy a Used Car, Consider a Rental Car

    RentACarNow.com is all about saving you money on your next rental car, but we also have a few tips if you are looking to buy a car. Especially in the current economy, more and more people are realizing the ...

  • Electric Vehicles Becoming Available as Rental Cars

    Enterprise Rent-A-Car recently became one of the first rental car companies to offer electric vehicles when it introduced the Nissan LEAF at one of its San Diego locations. The announcement comes after Enterprise also introduced the Chevy Volt at ...

  • Earn Hotel Points on Your Next Car Rental Instead of Airline Miles

    Everyone knows you can earn airline miles with a rental car, but most rental car companies now require a surcharge in order to get those miles, and in many cases it’s a deal that’s simply not worth doing because the extra fee can exceed the value ...

  • Watch Out for Frequent Flyer Mile Surcharges When Renting a Car

    Perhaps inspired by the airline industry, which now charges customers an extra fee for everything from snacks to blankets to checked baggage, the rental car industry has created a few new fees of its own in recent years. One of those is frequent ...

  • National Car Rental Offers Chance to Win up to 350,000 Airline Miles

    You can never have enough airline miles, so if you are looking to bulk up your account balance then check out the “Tales From The Road” contest being offered by National Car Rental. The contest offers three chances to win, and although the first ...

  • Remember the Importance of Inspecting Your Rental Car Before You Leave the Lot

    As we’ve mentioned before on this blog, it’s very important to take a few minutes to inspect your rental car before you drive off the lot. You don’t need to go over every inch of the car with a magnifying glass, but you do need to do a bit more ...

  • Alamo Rent a Car Announces $5,000 Facebook Sweepstakes

    The only thing that beats getting a great deal on rental cars at RentACarNow.com is free rental cars. Of course free rental cars are not easy to find, but one way is with the Alamo “Ultimate Escape” ...

  • How to Earn Extra Airline Miles on Your Next Car Rental

    It used to be that it was pretty easy to rack up a significant number of airline miles every time you rented a car. But just as it’s now harder to redeem those airline miles or points for a free flight, it’s a little harder to earn much from ...

  • What to Consider When Renting a Car

    When renting a car there should be some questions you ask yourself. What type of car do I want? How many people are you going to need? And of course,” How much am I willing to spend?” This will help you avoid making a hurried or expensive ...

  • Save Money by Checking Rental Car Rates Before Booking Airfare

    Most people book their airfare first and then start shopping for the best rental car deals, but in many cases it makes sense to reverse that order. Let’s say you are taking a trip to New York City and you find that airfare is a little cheaper at ...

  • Advice for Returning a Rental Car After Hours

    Depending on where you rent a car and when you return it, you might run into a situation where you need to return the car when the rental company is not open. Now this won’t be a problem if you are renting from a major airport, because many of ...

  • Tips to Avoid Surprise Charges for a Rental Car

    Sometimes surprises are great, like a surprise birthday party or a surprise refund from the IRS, but a surprise charge from a rental car company is not. There are numerous unexpected and little known things that rental car companies can charge ...

  • Can You Let Someone Else Drive Your Rental Car?

    A lot of people assume that it’s OK to let someone else drive their rental car, but we all know what can happen when you assume. So before you let someone else take the wheel of your rental car, it’s a good idea to know the rules, especially ...

  • Make Sure You Don’t Pay Extra for an Optional Upgrade

    Rental car companies are generally pretty good about having the right car on the rental lot for every reservation, however, they are not perfect. There will be times when you get to the rental counter and the class of car you reserved is not ...

  • Five Easy Steps to Save Money on Rental Cars

    Everyone likes to save money, but not everyone likes spending hours of research time just to save a few bucks. After all, if you need to spend four hours searching around for the lowest car rental rates and end up saving an extra $15, is that ...

  • You Can Save Money on Last-Minute Car Rentals

    If you are trying to fly somewhere at the last second, you often need to pay a pretty penny. The airfare system is set up to capitalize on last minute travel, especially since most are business travelers, and when there are only a few seats left ...

  • Why Renting a Car is Often Cheaper than Flying

    It seems like just about every week the airlines are inventing a new fee or raising airfares, and that’s why so many people are now considering the option of renting a car instead of flying. Of course if you are taking a trip from New York to ...

  • Tips for Renting a Car When Traveling with Kids

    Whether you are taking a family vacation to Orlando to visit Disney World or just visiting grandma and grandpa, there’s a good chance you are going to need to rent a car. The first tip is to check the rates at

  • Why It’s a Smart Move to Check Non-Airport Rental Car Locations

    If you are looking for the best rental car rates, then you’ve already made a smart move by checking out RentaCarNow.com. Here’s another tip that can save you even more – make sure you check locations other ...

  • Tips for Changing Your Rental Car Reservation

    Unlike most airline reservations, it’s quick and easy to change or cancel rental car reservations. Of course if your plans change and you no longer need to rent a car, then that’s a good reason to cancel your reservation. But another good reason ...

  • Easy Ways to Make Your Rental Car Experience Smoother

    Regardless of whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, easier is always better. But anytime you are traveling, you need to expect the unexpected and be ready for any little bumps in the road that might come up. The key is to be ...

  • A Little Double-Checking Can Save You Money on a Rental Car

    While it might not be practical to read the entire rental agreement when you pick your car (and that would probably annoy the people behind you in line), there are a few basic things you should be aware of and do a quick double-check before ...

  • How to Extend Your Car Rental Reservation After Pick-up

    Whether you are taking a family vacation or a business trip, sometimes plans change and you might want to keep your rental car longer than your original reservation. It’s quick and easy to extend your rental period, but there are some things to ...

  • Do Credit Cards Include Rental Car Insurance?

    While it’s true that many credit card companies automatically provide rental car coverage to cardholders, that statement is not as cut-and-dried as you might think. If you’ve ever taken the time to read the back of your credit card statement, you ...

  • Useful Advice for a One-Way Car Rental

    One-way car rentals are now much more common than they used to be, in part because they are more affordable than ever. At RentaCarNow.com, you will find a variety of options if you are looking for a ...

  • Can You Smoke in a Rental Car?

    If you've been traveling long enough you might remember the days when you could smoke on an airplane, but of course those days are long gone (at least in the United States and Canada) and now smoking bans have spread to restaurants, hotels and ...

  • Helpful Rental Car Safety Tips

    When you visit RentaCarNow.com, your first priority is probably to save money on your next rental car reservation. We are ready to help you do just that, but we also want to make sure you have a safe and ...

  • Can You Reserve a Rental Car for Someone Else?

    One of the more common questions about rental cars is whether you can reserve a car for someone else. The quick answer is yes you can. When you reserve a car at RentaCarNow.com, you generally do not have ...

  • How to Rent a Car without a Credit Card

    Until fairly recently, it was almost impossible to rent a car without a major credit card. But that has slowly changed, and while it can be a bit of a hassle to rent without a credit card, it can be done. If you don’t have a credit card, the next ...

  • Always Ask for an Extra Key with Your Car Rental

    Whether you are on a vacation or a business trip, you want to do whatever you can to minimize the chances of unexpected headaches or problems. One easy way to do that is to always ask for an extra key when you pick up your rental car. Although ...

  • It Pays to Read the Fine Print on Your Rental Car Contract

    It seems like we are bombarded with so much paperwork these days that it’s become a habit to sign contracts without even reading what they say. And while that's not a big deal in many situations, you should at least glance through a rental car ...

  • When to Get an Unlimited Mileage Rental Car

    Even though most rental cars companies now provide unlimited mileage as part of the standard rental agreement, that hasn’t always been the case and it’s still far from being a universal rule. It wasn’t all that long ago when unlimited mileage was ...

  • Do You Really Need to be 25 to Rent a Car?

    One of the most common rental car questions, especially from younger people, is whether you really need to be 25 years old to rent a car. It wasn’t long ago that the answer was almost always yes, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore. Many ...

  • Why You Should Rent a Small Car in a Small City

    Whether you are a seasoned traveler or getting ready to make your first trip in a long time, you are probably familiar with many of the standard rental car types: compact, mid-size, full-size, luxury, SUV, etc. But one thing even frequent ...

  • Save Money with a Full Week Rental Instead of Five or Six Days

    Common sense dictates that renting a car for an entire week is going to be more expensive than a five- or six-day rental period. But as is often the case in the travel world, sometimes the best bargains can be found in situations that don’t ...

  • Make Your Rental Car Reservation Early for the Best Rates

    If you are looking for the cheapest car rental rates, the good news is that it’s generally very easy to change your reservation if rates go down. But on the flip side, if rates go up then you don’t need to worry if you already have a reservation. ...

  • Always Check for Damage on Your Rental Car Before Leaving the Lot

    It’s easy to get a great deal on a rental car at RentACarNow.com, where in addition to the lowest rental car rates you’ll also find a variety of helpful money-saving tips and tricks. Here’s another tip ...

  • Why You Might Need to Buy Gas Even When the Tank is Full on Your Rental Car

    It’s pretty common knowledge now that it’s usually a good idea to fill up your rental car with gas on your own rather than take the pre-paid fuel option. And if you only drive your car a short distance and the tank still reads “full” when you ...

  • How to Save a Full Day Charge on Your Rental Car

    There are plenty of ways to save money on a rental car, starting with using RentACarNow.com to find the lowest rates. But what if you could also save money by renting your car for one less day? Don’t ...

  • Keep Checking Back for the Best Rental Car Rates

    When you buy an airline ticket, you are pretty much stuck with the price you pay, for better or for worse. If that price of that ticket goes down, well that’s just too bad. If it goes up, then at least you can be happy in knowing that you got a ...

  • Don’t Pay Too Much For Gas With Your Rental Car

    When you pick up your rental car, one of the first questions you will be asked if whether you want to prepay for gas. Despite what the agent might try to tell you, that’s almost always a bad deal. Even though it’s true that the rental car ...

  • Save Money by Checking Alternate Locations

    Checking out the rates at RentACarNow.com is a great first step to saving money on your next car rental. Here's another easy tip – make sure you check the rates not only at the airport, but also at ...

  • Bigger is Not Always Better with Rental Cars

    When you are shopping for the best rental car deal at RentACarNow.com, it can be tempting to reserve the biggest car available on your budget, especially when the next class of car is only a few dollars ...

  • A Tip for Saving Money on a Rental Car: Consider All the Options

    A couple decades ago, it was generally a good idea to go with a big-name rental car company, like Hertz, Alamo or National. Those companies typically had newer cars with lower mileage, while some of the "no-name" companies would give you an ...

  • When to Decline a Rental Car Upgrade

    You get off your plane, have your RentACarNow.com confirmation in hand, and get up to the rental car counter and get offered a fabulous deal – a free upgrade to a larger rental car! Surely this is a deal ...