You may be wondering where is the best place to rent a car. Is it Avis, Alamo, Budget, Enterprise??? Here's a cost saving secret...COSTCO! There are actually a lot of places you can look for the best price for a rental car. Often Costco and Hotwire will share the best prices with you. I prefer using Costco for several reasons:
1. Costco reservations can be cancelled and changed if needed. Hotwire reservations cannot be. I have even heard with a Costco reservation, you can no show with no penalty. However, I have not tried this first hand. I like to be respectful whenever possible and cancel my reservation if needed. (Please always check the terms of your reservation to make sure no policies have changed since this blog was written.)
2. When booking Costco, you can see the rental car company you are renting at the time of booking.
3. With Costco, you can add a reward number to the reservation, except when renting with Alamo.
4. Anyone can search for car rental prices on Costco. Yet, you do have to be a Costco member to be able to rent through them. A Costco membership can be purchased for $55. Are you saving $55 in the rental? Compare to see.
5. Costco rentals include an additional driver and unlimited miles at no charge. (Again, always check your reservation agreement to verify.)
Bottom line is to shop around but I've found that Costco is the best deal for us most of the time.