"Low-cost" rental companies - are they too risky to use?

[NeutralNovice]

Been doing a search for rental cars for my upcoming trip in January and the prices seem to not want to dip below $150/week from "perceived" premium rental companies like Enterprise, Hertz, Budget, Avis etc. Dollar RAC is a few dollars cheaper but I am not sure if I perceive them as one of those "premium" aforementioned companies.

So while looking at an aggregation website like carrentals.com and Southwest.com, I have noticed other companies I've never really heard of before where prices seem to be quite cheap for a rental at <$110/week. Companies like Advantage, Payless, Fox, and E-Z are included in this category.

Are their prices too good to be true or is there a risk that they will be more shady in terms of rental?

As a sidenote: I am very firm in terms of not getting any add ons and will not cave in to pressure to get them. As I understand it is their job to upsell, I don't ever get mad at them for doing that. I've read stories where people get really pissed because they get highly pressured to upgrade/purchase insurance--but I don't understand why people would. To each their own I guess.

Thanks!

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

You'd probably get better input if you made this inquiry in the Transportation forum.

I've used Dollar many times in the past and had no problems, but I've never used the others you mentioned.

 

[seashoreCM]

A few of them (including Payless and E-Z) reserve the right not to rent to you if you decline their collision coverage and don't prove you have collision coverage on a car of your own (back at home).

Some nitpick on damage seen on the car when it is returned. (Not to say that some name brand companies also do this.)

Meanwhile I personally have had good luck with Payless.

Payless has a shuttle and is located in the middle of the road segment labeled "McCoy-Frontage" near the top right of the diagram. Frontage Rd. is at the first light when using the airport north exit. The toll to the left of Tradeport (exit 9), if you continue on to Disney that way (Route 528 and I-4) is one dollar.

 

[tinatark]

Advantage is the low-rent side of Budget, I think. We've rented from them without issues in the past.

 

[Lewisc]

Hetz is buying Dollar/Thrifty and has sold Advantage.

 

[csharpwv]

I highly suggest using Priceline for rental car purchases.

We made a trip to Southern California to visit the Disneyland resort and we got a GREAT deal from Hertz!

We wanted a convertible, and the going rate for a convertible was $65+ and we got a convertible for $31 or $32 a day - a GREAT deal in my book!

 

[Lewisc]

Some issues with PL (NYOP) rentals:

1. You may get stuck paying an extra driver fee (assuming you want a second driver) even though your code or membership in a quck rent program would otherwise waive the fee.
2. The PL criteria as to what car goes in what vehicle type might supersede the agencies. In other words you might reserve a full size car but get a car the agency normally rents as a smaller vehicle.
3. The penalty rate if you return the car an hour late or need to extend the rental are much higher then your PL rate and probably higher then a "regular rental" rate.

PL will generally work with you if your flight is delayed or you have to cancel the rental because your flight is cancelled (weather)

 

[bumbershoot]

Have you checked out mousesavers.com to find the various codes and coupons to bring the prices lower through the more typical companies?

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

We booked a rental car through Priceline and used Advantage. We didn't do the blind bid your own rate thing. I went through the Priceline available offers where you can see which company you are renting from and got a full sized car for $13 a day.

We originally booked through E-Z but Advantage was much cheaper.

They didn't push anything on us. They offered the insurance but we told them that our credit card and our own personal car insurance both covered rentals. I happened to have the documents to prove it in case they tried to give me the run around, but they didn't.

The only issue I had was the cars they considered full size were what other car rental companies considered mid sized. I don't even remember what kind of car we had but it was a mid sized car.

I will definitely use them again next trip.

If you do use Advantage they are the very first rental car desk you come to when you get to the bottom level of the airport on side A where the rental counters are.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I had good luck getting a good deal using Hotwire.

 

[hsmamato2]

we used Advantage last week -great rates,great car- no difference in service at all. The bill was for hertz car company......I was thrilled with 124.00 for 10 days! (total)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

To get a specific car or type, I've gone with the lower budget folks (For example, in San Diego, I rented a convertible for the same prices as a mid-sized by going through a lower end rental company. I mean, it was SAN DIEGO! I NEEDED a convertible! Luckily, I had a boss who told me to show that it was same price as going through our usual rental company. )

The rental office isn't usually as nice, and the cars may be older with more miles. As some OPs have mentioned, some are a bit stricter about insurance and will want to make a copy of your insurance to keep on file - your initals declining coverage won't always cut it.

Also there are plenty of folks on these boards who know which companies are the best for Disney, so they can give you good advice!

 

[jgreco]

Try Priceline, just got a mid-size car for $13 a day from Hertz in Washington DC last week.

 

[bumbershoot]

I just read a post on the Transportation forum letting us know that Advantage is gone from MCO now; it's offsite since it was sold to some other company by Hertz.

 

[Jenny3]

We used Advantage for our recent trip in November and they were great! No complaints, no pushy salespeople and everything went very smoothly. Our total cost was $81 for 6 days, got a new Toyota Corolla (had booked a compact; we got 'upgraded')

 

[hsmamato2]

oooh Advantage is gone that quickly? well, I don't know how their hertz desk could make money sitting right next to it..... I guess they started a foothold by offering great prices recently....now they've got some good reviews out there...(mine is one of them)