YSK: You might save on car rental by cancelling and re-booking over time before your rental due date

Car rental prices might decrease over time as the rental getting closer to its due date.

I encountered it when booked a car rental, waited for about a month, cancelled and then re-booked again.

I rented from https://www.booking.com/cars

These are the rental prices over the months before the rental due date:

  1. $547.73 (first price) - cancelled
  2. $502.27 - cancelled
  3. $475.10 - cancelled
  4. $439.86 - final price
whoreticulture ,

They don't charge a cancellation fee?

odium ,

I think it's usually free cancellation if the cancellation is more than x days before rental starts for many car rental companies in the US.

speaker_hat OP ,

For me they didn't, it was free cancelation until 48 hours before the rental due date

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

Yup, I did this every year when I was going to the states for 3-4 weeks in summer. I started booking in January, then about every week I checked the price for the same summer date, in general it was cheaper so I cancelled/rebooked, multiple times.

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

Also instead of rent from airport, I rent from smaller places (that handle Hertz/Enterprise/National/etc) and I always booked a subcompact, and 50% of the time they had none and gave me a compact/full size car. I had multiple Yaris yes, but one time I got a Dodge Caravan, a Fusion Sport V6, a Flex, a Jetta, a Soul, etc.

speaker_hat OP ,

Similar happened to me, I booked a gas car but received a hybrid instead.

I'm curious, what's the advantage of renting not from the airport? I prefer the airport because it's easy to locate, especially when the airport is new and I'm dizzy after long flights

Noodle07 ,

I assume outside of an airport is cheaper

elbarto777 ,

OP just said it. Because 50% of the time they gave them a compact/full size car for the price of a compact.

Pandemanium ,

If you really are dizzy after a long flight, you probably shouldn't be driving, especially in an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar area. Maybe you were just being hyperbolic about the dizziness, but people can make the same kinds of mistakes driving while sleep deprived as while driving intoxicated.

Nighed ,
@Nighed@sffa.community avatar

Obviously, check the price before booking. I assume like most things here it can either go up or down as you get closer depending on demand.

speaker_hat OP ,

Yeah.

I checked the price, I booked, and then cancelled the previous one.

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