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I had some moments of slight panic yesterday. I was trying to rent a mini-van for our upcoming trip to Chicago. I called the usual suspects. I've generally had good luck with Enterprise Car Rentals, they are affordable and stuff and they are located very near my apartment. But, when I called them they told me that they don't offer any rentals with unlimited miles (I swear they have in the past). So this is what they quote me for a minivan for Thursday - Monday: $94.00 per day with 800 free miles. Any mileage above that costs 35 cents per mile!
Now, Chicago is 900 miles away from here. Multiply that times two (since we plan on returning) and you get 1800 miles. Add in all the other small trips and stops and we can be safe by saying we will drive 2000 miles. So, that would leave us with paying 35 cents per mile for 1200 miles. That equals 420 bucks. Add that to the price of the actual rental ($94.00 x 5 days = 376) and you get $796.00 (not including all the extra little fees). Yikes!
So, I went online and checked out all the other rental places. They either didn't have minivans or they would cost just about the same.
Then I had a crazy idea. I went to hotwire.com (which Lesa and I have used to book hotels and car rentals on our trips) and I checked out what it would cost to rent a minivan at Bradley Int'l Airport. I found out that I can get a minivan with unlimited miles for $200 total for the whole four days!
So, how crazy is that?!? I haven't booked it yet because I'm still looking for the strings-attached, but, I guess I will. I'd say it's worth $596.00 to drive to Bradley and back (it's only a little over half an hour away). Crazy.
Crazy!!!
3 comments:
Perhaps this is why:
MILEAGE IS UNLIMITED WHEN VEHICLE REMAINS IN CT, MA, VT, RI, NH, ME, AND NY. IF TRAVELING OUTSIDE OF THESE STATES, MILEAGE IS CHARGED AT 150 FREE MILES PER DAY AND .20 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL MILE, FOR THE ENTIRE RENTAL. VEHICLES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN FL, NC, OR SC.
I felt the need to look it up for you.
Well, even with the charge mojo mentions, it still seems cheaper (I didn't actually do the math though).
Why not call Enterprise back and quote this price and see if you can get them to waive/lower the mileage? Or do so with a local company?
It's worth a few extra calls and some haggling.
Mojo, where did you find that info? I can't find it.
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