I made my Alamo reservation through Costco, and beat the line of 65 folks by using their (too-cool!)

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There is no cost to enroll in the different frequent car rental programs so it makes sense to sign-up even if you rarely rent cars.   Award Wallet is a great tool to store your frequent rental car program numbers.
1.   Saves Time.    Signing up will  save you time  because you bypass the line at the rental counter and either go to a shorter line for members of the frequent rental program or straight to your rental car!
You usually get to skip the lines if your car rental program number is attached to your reservation.  This usually happens when you book directly at the rental car companies website or if you include the number while making the reservation in *some* but not all third-party sites such as Costco Travel.
I ve had luck just going to the special booth or line for frequent renter program members and getting them to process my rental even if I haven t booked directly through the rental car company , but through the Ultimate Rewards portal or Hotwire .  I just show them my car rental program card and a copy of my reservation.
2.  No Salespersons Selling You Things You Don t Need.     Rental car staff at the counter earn a commission for selling you insurance and other products.  And sometimes it is annoying when it is late at night, discount tickets sea world san antonio you re tired, and the staff tries to sell you products you re not interested in.
But when you sign-up for rental car programs, you can indicate that you don t want to purchase the optional insurance and that you will bring the car back filled with gas etc.  So you save time at the counter even if someone has to manually process your reservation.
discount tickets sea world san antonio 3.   Earn Extra Miles/Points.     You can  also earn miles or points or credits towards free rentals once you enroll discount tickets sea world san antonio in a frequent rental program.  However, some rental car companies do charge a small fee if you choose to earn airline miles for your rental.
* If you liked this post, why don't you join the  10,000+ discount tickets sea world san antonio readers  who have signed-up to receive  free blog posts  via  email  ( only 1 email per day! ) or in a  RSS reader  …because then you'll  never miss  another update!
If you have the Amex Platinum Card, you also get some additional benefits for signing up for the Avis, Hertz, and National membership programs. Some of these programs give you discounts or free upgrades, but I think the most helpful is the 4 hour return grace period for Hertz.
discount tickets sea world san antonio Rental car membership is not a good thing and skipping lines when renting dropping your car is the worst thing you can do for your wallet. Never ever rent or drive out the rental car before checking everything= in and outside for any damages or cracks or dents WITH an employee present with you or call one to come there let him see and write down any damages. When dropping, have someone discount tickets sea world san antonio checked the car and write down EVERYTHING IS OK .
I rent a lot through Priceline s Name Your Own Price bidding process and have memberships in most of the rental companies they deal with but the T C s of the Name Your Own Price service will not allow one to enter loyalty program numbers. Your article states that some other booking sites also will not accept loyalty program numbers but that you just use your loyalty card and rental reservation at the loyalty program desk to obtain a quicker rental. I was wondering if or any of your readers have had any experience using this technique while renting with a Priceline Name Your Own Price reservation. Will this work at Avis, Hertz or National?
@D, what car rental company would you recommend for those of use under 25 years old and who get hit with the underage driver surcharge? I used Hertz before discount tickets sea world san antonio because they have a promo code to waive that fee. Any other companies you recommend?
I read somewhere (can t remember discount tickets sea world san antonio now where it was) that if you rent a car through Chase s Ultimate Rewards portal, it will make you pay for at least a small portion of the rental with points , thus negating the wonderful insurance coverage that is afforded for car rentals when using the Chase Sapphire discount tickets sea world san antonio Plus, the main reason I always use that card for car rentals. To me, it s not worth getting the lower price for the car rental if I lose the insurance coverage, but I don t know if this is accurate. Does anyone discount tickets sea world san antonio know if this is true?
@P What is the wonderful insurance coverage that is afforded for car rentals when using the Chase Sapphire Plus ? The MMS detailed report on Sapphire doesn t list anything about rental coverage. I have been keeping my Chase United card for rentals, since it gives primary coverage for them, whereas most cards only give supplemental coverage. Sup meaning you have to go thru your personal car insurance first, and the cc only covers what your personal insurance does not. {Sapphire even gave me primary coverage on a U-Haul truck}. Does Sapphire discount tickets sea world san antonio provide primary coverage too?
Yeah Daraius, what s the skinny on cards that offer rental car coverage? Which cards offer what when it comes to coverage and under what circumstances? I know I m not the only one who would GREATLY appreciate the once and for all on this.
There is a downside to these memberships. They do not provide the most favorable rates for those car rental companies. I find that using codes (such as partnership codes with various discount tickets sea world san antonio airlines or Costco codes) provide much cheaper rates when booked at the car rental sites themselves as a nonmember of the elite car rental program. I have even queried some of them about this. Get a higher cost as part of the convenience. And I used to check but never the cheapest rates at the member rates. An upside is that you do get the better cars, condition discount tickets sea world san antonio and lower mileage. But due to higher costs, I take the penalty of going through the line to get the car. Definitely need to comparison shop and not just book as part of their frequent driver programs
I use to rent through Thrifty, discount tickets sea world san antonio and have stopped, the service is horrible, they tried to get me to pay for gas even though I filled it up 6 miles from the airport location, and last but not least, the cars are in bad shape, stains on seats and carpeting, and some have been smoked in. I switched to National and love it. Never an issue, and the care usually have less than 5K miles and have Sat Radio still working.
@Mike S You don t have to pay a higher rate to include your frequent rental number in the reservation. For example, Costco Travel lets you enter your rental car membership number on reservations. Even if you don t have your membership number discount tickets sea world san antonio on the reservation, you can still go to the rental car booth and skip the lines.
What if you don t have your own personal car insurance I live in NYC and therefore do not have a car. Wouldn t the secondary insurance on the Chase Sapphire, or any other credit card, kick in and become my primary insurance?
@Roger - That is correct! If you don t have insurance, it becomes primary insurance. But only for damage to the car. You re not covered for damage to other cars or property, so it makes sense to buy the liability insurance from the rental car company.
Oh man, thanks for clarifying! It seems like I ve been living on the edge for my past couple of rentals thinking my credit card had all the insurance I needed. I guess the saying is true, you learn something new every day!
I m in Orlando, Florida this week for a national volleyball discount tickets sea world san antonio tournament. The parents of all 9 girls on my daughter s team rented cars. One by one they were boasting about their great deal, then I told them what I paid, $82 for 6 days, Budget, not a tiny car, and over half what they paid! I got a loyalty card before I rented, so didn t have to wait on the long line in the airport and went right to my car. Thanks Daraius for millionmilesecrets!!
I made my Alamo reservation through Costco, and beat the line of 65 folks by using their (too-cool!) kiosks to check in. Took a few minutes to verify my info (the machine scans license discount tickets sea world san antonio and credit card), then off to the row and pick out my car! And, yes of course, I inspected it minutely, and wrote down scratches and whatever on the rental documents (Alamo discount tickets sea world san antonio doesn t have a separate damage report form, apparently) and have the check-out person sign that! I also take photos all around the car when I return it; and one showing it in the return line. That shows it was returned in good condition.
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