It’s common for Snowbirds that travel south for a month or so to fly rather than drive. Convenient, quick and the thought of being in the sun and warmth within a few short hours is highly desirable. Sure, if you’re going to stay for 2 months or more you may be better off to drive down but few rarely do the first few years.
The 3 best low-cost vehicle rental options for Snowbirds are: 1) traditional car rental company; 2) peer-to-peer carshare; or 3) rideshare services. Use HACKS to get the very best deal…
Having traveled to many places in our lifetime we’ve had to make ground transportation decisions each time. While public transit works well in major centers in the world we can say with certainty that it gets a big FAIL almost everywhere Snowbirds live. So, if you aren’t bringing your own vehicle then you’ll certainly want to be prepared and be certain to find an affordable solution. We’ve done this many times.
THE TRANSIT PROBLEM
We love to spend lots of time at our park but we know there is life beyond. We’ve got friends in other communities and we often take the opportunity to explore the region too.
TIP: Use your Snowbird time to check out other areas in and around your region. A short day or weekend trip feels like a vacation within a vacation!
At least once a week we head to the grocery store a few miles away. We like our produce fresh and there’s always something we need to pick up for a pot-luck dinner or happy hour get together in our resort. About every two weeks or so we restock the shelves with staple grocery items and whatever household consumables we need. A flea market trip is usually a trip we make every couple of weeks too. Perhaps most of our trips are to visit friends in nearby 55+ community resort parks, to attend a dinner show or a performance in another park, and a drive into the countryside from time to time although often we go with friends four to one car.
We really don’t need to drive a bunch so every time we’ve considered renting we were facing a question… is renting a car while on a month long snowbird vacation worth it?
We found three options that work for us depending on our plans for the month and a few great tricks and hacks to get a great price.
RENTAL OPTIONS – Old and New
1) The Traditional Approach is Getting Old – and Expensive
Traditional car rentals companies like Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz, National and others are common default selections for many travelers. Some companies entice renters with special services and points to draw and keep them as customers. But potential customers are now scouring the internet and doing their homework comparing options that meet their needs.
Internet travel sites like Booking, Expedia, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Priceline to name a few offer comparison services that work fairly well. We’ve used them with mixed results. A couple of key findings were: 1) some services require payment up front in part or full – we DO NOT recommend anyone pay in advance; 2) additional fees make up a large amount of the total price; and 3) prices change from day to day and you might be missing out on a deal.
Every booking we’ve made using our SnowbirdFAQs car rental price hack has resulted in significant savings.
HACK 1 – How to get the best traditional car rental price?
- Sign up for a few of the travel sites about 2 months before departing if possible (but later timing works too). We use booking.com, hotwire.com, kayak.com, orbitz.com, and priceline.com but use others if you wish. They will ask your name and email but not much more.
- Sign in to each service and enter in your travel plans including rental car pickup location, pickup time, and return time.
- For the next week or so go back to each site, sign in, and every day search the same itinerary again.
- You’ll soon start to see emails from the travel sites with offers aligned to your itinerary.
- Click on their offers and look to see what prices are available. They will know you are interested and looking at their offers if you click on them.
- During the next two to three week period keep clicking on their offer.
- The travel site will see you are interested but you must not like the price. They will soon be emailing even better prices (if there are cars and deals to be had).
- When the price is fair in your eyes or you don’t wish to run any risk of losing the deal then book the deal.
- Unsubscribe from the travel site email notices if you don’t want to be bothered by them until your next trip (click on the unsubscribe link near the bottom of their emails)
TIP: If you’re flying in to an airport consider avoiding picking up your rental at the airport to avoid expensive additional fees. Often only a few miles into the city or suburbs you will find a better all-in price.
2) Peer-to-peer Car Sharing – the newest alternative to a car rental company
This new approach to car rentals is one we are really beginning to appreciate. People that have cars available to rent while they don’t need to use them sign up with an online service that promotes the rental opportunity and arranges all the payment details. The car owner only provides the vehicle to the renter.
Turo.com is North America’s premier peer-to-peer car sharing company and is becoming a favourite of ours. We simply went to their website at turo.com and search dates and a pickup location. We now use their phone and iPad apps too. Signing up is simple and the process to search very easy. They show cars with prices that can fit any budget and have small additional optional fees if you wish to choose a special pickup location, bring the car back uncleaned, pre-purchase fuel, and things like that. Optional insurance is available too. But compared to traditional car rental prices this works great for both short and longer term rentals.
TIP: Be sure to read where the vehicle is picked up and dropped off and the process to do this. Sometimes its as easy as parking the car at an agreed upon spot and locking the keys in the car. Pick up can be just as easy.
Watch for many more peer-to-peer car share options to come. They are certain to become much more popular.
HACK 2 – How to get the BEST PEER-TO-PEER CAR SHARE PRICE:
- Search by price sorting lowest to highest
- Look outside your planned pickup areas – often a few miles away the price is cheaper
- Arrange to pick up and drop off the vehicle at the least expensive location and take an Uber or Lift to or from the airport from there.
- Check with your insurance company to see if you can decline insurance
- When you’re comfortable that you’ve found a good deal, know what you’ve got to do and where you need to go to pick it up, then book the deal and enjoy
RENTING EACH RIDE – Becoming Popular
3) Rideshare Services free up your driveway and your wallet
Rideshare services like Uber and Lyft are becoming so easy and inexpensive to use. We use both almost every time we travel now. Taxis are so impersonal and service isn’t what it used to be either. We like that we can be waiting for our luggage to come on the arrivals baggage carousel and we can open our phone app for Uber or Lyft and by only setting the destination address we get a price and estimated time of arrival. We look for the rideshare pickup area and then when the rideshare service arrives we check the license plate of the vehicle to make sure it matches the car the app told us is arriving, we load, and off we go.
“The first time we used Uber was on a drive to LAX. We didn’t have much time so when we got to the airport and stopped we hopped out with our bags and ran for the check-in desk. As we ran we had this awful feeling that we didn’t pay! Just then our phone beeped and Uber had emailed us the receipt for the auto-payment.”
Now that you’ve arrived at your Snowbird paradise you may have to run out and pick up a few things. Prepare your list and call another rideshare. If you consider how often you actually leave your park community, which for many is not very frequent, you might find that rideshare is much less expensive and much less of a hassle than any other form of rental.
HACK 3 – How to get the BEST RIDESHARE PRICE:
- Open all your rideshare apps on your smartphone
- Input your needs in each of the apps
- Look at the time each service can provide a car and for what price
- Find the cheapest service that best suits your pick up time
- Now, using the app refresh the price every few minutes (prices fluctuate from minute to minute based on demand)
- When you find a fair price book the deal and enjoy your chauffeured ride home
If you use rideshare services to meet most of your needs don’t forget you can usually rent an inexpensive weekend rental at many car rental agencies. Or, you can rent for the day or two you need to take a longer drive. You’ll be able rent and insure the rental for only the time you really need it.
We use rideshare services even when we have our own vehicle or a long term rental vehicle. Why take chances with your or others lives if you’re tired or have had a drink. Take an Uber to dinner, enjoy a glass of wine, and find a Lyft home!
CONCLUSION
Gone are the days that car rentals need to be expensive. Technology enables anyone to find deals matched to their needs. Hack the price of traditional car rentals, use peer-to-peer car share service, or call on rideshare services to meet your needs.