When you're traveling and in need of a car, your best option is to turn to a rental agency. The problem with that is that some rental agencies want your right arm, left leg, and first-born child in order to rent. Luckily, there are several websites you can refer to that provide you with great prices and special offers for car rentals.
- Kayak
Kayak is the travel super-site, combining deals on hotels, flights, cars, and more all into one place. It's one of the best options to use because it's easy to handle all of your arrangements ahead of time in one place. Kayak also offers some of the best prices of any site out there.
- Booking Buddy
Booking Buddy is a lot like Kayak, combining a number of different deal searches into one place. It allows you to arrange rental dates ahead of time in almost any city in the world. Booking Buddy also offers visitors information and news about must-see locations and things to do all over the globe.
- Priceline
Priceline is a very well known site, largely due to William Shatner's narration and their often humorous commercials. However, it is also a powerful price aggregator, allowing users to arrange to pick up a rental car from an address, city, or airport anywhere in the country. It compares prices from a number of different rental agencies into a single location so users can choose from whatever is cheapest or most convenient.
- Hotwire
Hotwire often offers the absolute best prices on rental cars for a one, or rather eight, reasons: it's paired with eight rental car companies, including big names like Hertz, Enterprise, and Alamo. It's a blind-booking approach, which means you pay before knowing the company. However, all of the companies that Hotwire works with are reputable and trustworthy, making it an easy choice to use their services.
- AutoEurope
While all of these sites offer some international deals, they are best used for domestic rentals. If you're looking for something across the pond, AutoEurope is the place to go. With more than 8,000 locations all over the globe to pick up your rental, AutoEurope makes finding personal transportation in another country easy – plus, they go the extra mile by acting as a liaison between you and the rental car company. If any problems arise, AutoEurope will step in and help you negotiate.
There are numerous benefits to renting a vehicle overseas or at home. If you aren't fond of public transportation – or there's simply none available – renting a vehicle will allow you to go where you want to go on your own terms. Just make sure that you're licensed to drive wherever you are. Take the time to research beforehand to ensure that you find the best prices and best deals, no matter what your final destination may be.
