In our final Travel Tip Tuesday post for April we present our last rental car related travel tip for the month: Use club memberships to save additional money when renting your car.
This entire month of April we’ve been sharing Rental Car related travel tips during our deep dive into rental cars and transportation needs for frequent travelers. If you need to catch up, here’s what we’ve covered so far in April’s Travel Tip Tuesday:
- Travel Tip Tuesday #11: Never Prepay your Gas with a Rental Car
- Travel Tip Tuesday #12: Skip the GPS when renting a car
- Travel Tip Tuesday #13: Using off-airport rental car companies could save you some extra money
- Travel Tip Tuesday #14: Use A Car Rental Carbon Offset to Mitigate the Emissions Impact of your Rental
And, of course, you can read all of the preceding Travel Tip Tuesday’s here.
So, we’ve come to the end…well the end of our focus on rental cars anyway. Next month we will focus on a new topic each Tuesday in our Travel Tip Tuesday series. But, let’s get to this last tip.
Travel Tip Tuesday:
As noted in the intro, the travel tip this week recommends you use club memberships to save additional money when renting your car. For example, if you are a AAA member you can use your code or account number (depending on the rental car company) to save a few extra bucks during the rental.
For example, Hertz offers 20% discounts for AAA members. Thrifty offers 10% discounts for car rental. The amount of discount for AAA members varies by company but almost all (I’ve yet to find a US company that doesn’t offer something) rental car companies offer AAA discounts.
AARP, also offers discounts for its members for certain companies. Avis, for example, offers 30% discounts for members of AARP and Budget does as well (same company, different rental car programs).
Big box retailer Costco also provides rental car discounts for its members. Take Enterprise Rental Car as an example. Members can receive special pricing (at time of booking – and based on destination, time of year, etc) when renting a car. See this link for more info on Enterprise & Costco. This program also applies to Avis, Alamo and Budget.
Costco competitor Sams Club also offers deals for rental car companies – check their home page for details.
Using your discount usually involves providing a code or membership number at time of booking. In many cases you can do this in your company’s travel system or (if booking personal travel) in the travel portal you are using, and of course directly with the car rental company themselves.
In some cases, you may have to book it through the retailer’s portal.
Some company’s strongly encourage employees who are participants in such programs to use them, whenever possible, and I’ve even heard of companies mandating it (for those that have such memberships.
And, of course, if you are booking personal travel, the use of these programs could save you some decent coin leaving you some extra cash to spend on trinkets!
PS…if you are feeling particularly unscrupulous, I’ve heard stories of folks booking using an outdated (or even fake code) to get the discounts. In most cases the rental car company is supposed to check the card when you pick up the car, but most don’t. We don’t recommend this because, well, it’s wrong…
======================
Hey…if you are looking for a cool gadget to take with you on your trip, look no further than an Air Conditioner Mounted Magnetic Phone Holder. You can mount this in your car and use your GPS app and actually see where you are supposed to turn while driving. I personally recommend the WizGear and you can read my product review here.
======================
Thanks for tuning in to Travel Tip Tuesday again
Thanks for tuning in this week and this entire month of April where we hit the subject of rental cars pretty heavy. We hope it was valuable for our readers. Next month is going to focus on Healthy Travel Tips…so be sure to subscribe to our blog!
And please do yourself a favor and check out 9 Secret Rental Car Hacks You Need to Know
We’d love it if you’d follow us on social media including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Or, join the conversation and leave us a comment below, too. We love comments.
For readers interested in more travel tips and travel advice, you might be like these great articles:
- 147 Business Travel Tips – the ultimate list of road warrior tips & tricks
- 31 Amazing Hotel Hacks Travel Pros Use all the Time
- 53 Amazing Gifts for Business Travelers in the 2019 Gift Guide for Travelers
- 9 Healthy Travel Snacks – eat smarter on the road
- Ultimate Bitcoin Travel Directory: How and where to use crypto for travel
- 11 Best Hotel Beds – Where to Buy that Hotel Mattress You Loved!
- 7 Habits of the Healthy Business Traveler: How to Stay Healthy While Traveling for Business
- 101 Travel Hacks for the Business Traveler – the Best Business Travel Hacks
- 11 Packing Tips for Travel (the best packing tips for air travel)
- 26 Must Have Travel Gadgets & Gear to add to your travel kit
- 9 Travel Safety Tips to help you stay safe on your next trip
- The Best Travel Gifts for Her – A Gift Guide for Women Who Love to Travel
- The Ultimate List of the Best Travel Blogs 2019 Edition
Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I may also earn commissions from other affiliate programs as applicable.
2 comments
I just got back from a European road trip today, and the magnetic phone holder you suggested was superb. As to car rental rates, they can be extremely variable. I wonder, but am too lazy to actually check, whether the United Airlines price, which pays x number of miles plus offers a x percent discount, is better, worse, or about the same as a Costco deal, AAA deal, etc.
Glad to hear it worked out! I love it (as silly as that sounds for such a simple travel gadget). But hey, the little stuff adds up on trips.