Car hire - sky scanner or renting when over there

[Boris85]

Hi all, I know a lot of people have already touched on how expensive car hire is for Orlando at the moment but I’ve noticed sky scanner are returning some good prices for our potential trip in May and wondered if anyone had experience of booking it that way. I’ve found an standard hatchback type with insurance for £361 for two weeks via sky scanner with trip.com using green motion. There’s plenty of other options being returned as well. They look like they’re located on airport property. Might be an option for people looking for prices if anyone has any experience booking car hire this way. Must admit, it’s not an Avenue I’ve looked at before.

Also, does anyone ever book car hire when over there? Can that be cheaper? We’re staying at cabana bay and know they have their own Avis rent a car desk so wonder if it’s worth doing it that way.

Thanks in advance

[Orlandoguy]

I would never book a car over there, always book before you to least that way you know what you are paying and you will get all the correct insurances you require. A lot of the car hire places at hotels are still closed or working on reduced hours so you would need to be sure it was open though you’d hope by next May that it would be. There’s a recent thread on here about issues a dibber had picking up a car from HRH May be worth a read

[duchy]

Skyscanner is just a screen scraper, some of the companies are better than others. You’d need to look at the reviews for the individual companies.
I use them for looking at flights and on my next trip the flight I ultimately booked I found there however I opted to not book with the absolute cheapest fare offering as the reputation of those providers isn’t the best but chose to pay around £30 more (which was still excellent value admittedly ) for the same flights with a company with a good reputation. The principle is the same.
Presume you’ve tried Andy for an offline quote already?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. Check out Green Motion reviews.

Hiring a car at the desk anywhere in America is a bad idea. You are hostage to their prices and the Insurance add ons we all need are expensive.

[Bozza]

As someone who wings holidays quite often, I've hired out there plenty of times and always got a good price, but when I've done this I've always hired online, sometimes on my phone whilst literally standing outside the rental office.

Even as a gambler, I'm not sure I'd advocate this approach at the current time though. I'm happy to pay more for convenience, but the risk at the moment is not getting a vehicle at all.

Have you tried Virgin Holidays for a car-only deal? They've been quoting some decent prices relative to most.

[dan223]

I don't think green motion are onsite, I think an airport shuttle. They aren't one of the main big brands, and have terrible reviews. I would also suggest checking you have proper insurance coverage.

As for taking out at the desk, I can't imagine this ever working out cheaper than arranging in advance, you'll pay local rates and they add everything on as extras rather than providing you all inclusive rates.

Book online at somewhere that has free cancellation/modifications (Andy, autoeurope etc) and then keep checking every few weeks, and adjust as needed.

[Boris85]

Thanks all, I’ve looked at all the normal options for car hire and wouldn’t normally consider the above. Just trying to think outside what I’d normally do given the prices. Still plenty of time though for things to change. Appreciate the replies.

[duchy]

Only time I had a US booked hire the collection was a nightmare. I was travelling with my American friend who travels a lot and was travel savvy. The Avis guy obviously heard my accent and decided we were easy prey . He tried to add insurance, which we declined as it was booked with a very high level (US) Amex card that included insurance .
He pushed and pushed (he must have known it was covered and my friend was clearly American with her southern accent) and eventually got quite rude so we just told him we’d take our chances thanks. Not the nicest arrival experience and I’ve not bothered with Avis since.
I’d always prepaid fully inclusive before before so never experienced the car hire scams . He was so insistent I can see why it sometimes worked .
Must have been something about that trip, we drove from the airport to BC to find they’d tried to charge us twice , sorted it there and then and the CM receptionist who sorted it out sent us chocolate and treats the next day for bern so nice about it and not shouting at her as some guests had done.

[duchy]

Originally Posted by Boris85

Thanks all, I’ve looked at all the normal options for car hire and wouldn’t normally consider the above. Just trying to think outside what I’d normally do given the prices. Still plenty of time though for things to change. Appreciate the replies.

See more...

Maybe look at getting an Uber on arrival and picking up a car next day off airport might give you a better price ?

[dan223]

Originally Posted by Boris85

Thanks all, I’ve looked at all the normal options for car hire and wouldn’t normally consider the above. Just trying to think outside what I’d normally do given the prices. Still plenty of time though for things to change. Appreciate the replies.

See more...

Contact Andy if you haven't already, he knows how to source the best prices in the current state. Most of the deals currently require collecting offsite, i.e at a hotel or office, rather than the airport