I am a true novice in the area of car rentals ~ others will no doubt give you better advice, but this is what I've found.

1. Go online to check out Costco's car rental prices. Alamo's link from Costco will offer you a variety of discount choices.

2. Find one that meets your needs and compare it with others.

3. When you find a good deal, make a reservation but then keep checking back. You don't need to commit by giving your credit card #. Chances are that the prices will change a great deal before your trip. You can make a new reservation at any time.

We need a car for 8 days in August. My newest reserved mid-sized car through Costco/Alamo is only $103 (including taxes) -- a much cheaper price than when I first started.

Try going through Sam's Club, I got a better deal through them. $168. //full size/opted to take the full tank with refill at end of week. It was $72.00

felt like a decent rate.

Some of these "good deals" have hidden charges. So remember what your mom taught you, if a deal looks to good to be true, watch out.

We've used Costco and Priceline.com Better price on Priceline. Do you need a full sized car? Driving on Big Island or carrying more than two adults? DH and I always choose smallest available for just two. (Sometimes we actually get one; often get larger because they're 'all out' of compacts.)

April 09 is way out there. Prices will fluctuate between now and then, and sometimes a really good deal will pop up. Keep checking and trying to beat the price you have. Persistence will most likely pay off.

With Costco, I got a much better price going straight to the Alamo website and booking through it using the codes and coupon than I did using the Costco site. Both Costco and Sam's discount codes for Alamo will get you a second driver at no extra charge, which is a big saving, though not all rental companies charge for second driver.

The benifit to using Costco online vs priceline is you're not locked in to your price.You haven't paid for anything yet so if the price drops you can make a new reservation. The site links you directly to rental websites and usually automatically fills in the coupon codes, wich you can change for different deals to find what's cheapest. Sometimes it looks expensive because the just show the costco price and won't add the coupon until you're at the counter.

As far as who's cheaper through Costco, I found that it's usually Alamo and Budget. It just depended on the day. The benifit of Alamo is they include a second driver in the price for Costco members which is usually an extra $15 to $25 a day.

the car prices on costco are still pretty high -- im watching them daily

right now i have to reservations for nov 08 both from budget/costco --- full size car for a week 142.68 with all taxes and the other is 166.56

prices will go down --you have to just keep checking === i will post once there is a break in the price

just checked priceline for the dates i have and they want 210.00 for the same type car -- so budget/costco is still cheaper

We too are watching the rental costs for a 3 week rental in Oct/Nov.

So far, Alamo (thru Costco) is the cheapest. We like that it includes a 2nd driver for free. Does Budget charge for a 2nd driver on their rentals?

thanks,

lwbc

The last time we used Budget - which was the last time we used Budget - there was a charge for an additional driver. I also noted when ckecking for an upcoming trip that some of the windows popping up for Alamo on Costco no longer state the second driver is free and was told that they are phasing this out????? Avis does not charge for additional driver if it is spouse.

Persistence pays in the rental car game - it is annoying, but on the other hand it keeps your mind looking forward as you keep checking the rates. For our vacation we ended up with Alamo on one island and Avis on another - the rates not only fluctuate daily, they also differ from island to island.