Weekly Car Rental Deals

I only had a little more than a week until my ultimate departure which would take me away from my home country of Canada for an extended period of time, so I figured that perhaps I could rent a car one last time and go to the Rocky Mountains I loved so much. I didn’t have my car anymore and the weather was beautiful so I really thought I should take advantage of it and head to the mountains while I’m still here. Renting a car was the only option at this time so I started looking around for the best Weekly Car Rental Deals.

My primary thinking behind renting a car for a whole week was that I would be able to use it to go to the Rockies and after I had returned, I would still have an automobile to take care of the items I needed to find a storage solution for. I was still going to work and was going to stay employed until the last day of August – literally until my departure date.

Another thing that got me looking for Weekly Car Rental Deals was a billboard ad I saw by the Westmount Mall in Edmonton which advertised weekly rental of a compact sized car at Budget Canada for mere $99 a week. Considering that weekend rental would cost me half of that, I figured I might as well rent a car for a whole week and have myself set not only for the trip to the Rockies, but also to move all of my possessions to wherever I end up storing it.

I phoned Budget to find out about the deal advertised but it was as I suspected – restricted as to the kilometers you can put on the car and the deal only applied to very small cars. Plus the Budget Rent a Car office near me was not open during convenient hours. I kept it in mind as an option, but didn’t dwell on it too much. Instead, I’ve spread my search for better Weekly Car Rental Deals across other providers and it did prove to be a good strategy. Don’t follow the billboards.

I ended up renting a car from Hertz. Weekly rental of a mid size sedan with unlimited kilometers was less than $120 with all fees and taxes in. Considering that I didn’t need car insurance because my travel visa card had worldwide coverage, this was an amazing deal for a week long car rental of Toyota Corolla. Yes, I could have had a car for a week for $99 plus fees and taxes, but it would have been Chevrolet Aveo (a miniature car) and I wouldn’t be able to take it to the Rocky Mountains because I would go over allocated distance quota.

Photo: Silver Toyota Corolla I Rented for a Week from Hertz to Drive Through the Canadian Rockies
Photo: Silver Toyota Corolla I Rented for a Week from Hertz to Drive Through the Canadian Rockies

Hertz is usually one of the more expensive car rental companies but you get what you pay for. They clearly don’t focus on people who are cheap (aka myself), but will go out of their way for people who are willing to pay for the luxury of preferential treatment. Weekly rental of a mid size sedan through Hertz would normally cost around $250. I was able to push it down to its 50% level through the use of a time limited coupon code (it’s already expired). The use of it has not been questioned anytime by any Hertz representative, their car was superior to comparable models rented through other companies by having more options and paperwork necessary to rent a car through them was minimalistic. Hertz is clearly geared to get you behind the wheel of a car you desire without much hassle.

This was the very first time I have rented with Hertz and it was a pleasant experience. I had rented car many times before, including rentals at international locations but always with different companies to save money. This time timing was on my side so I was able to get a deal I would not get with any other provider, yet I still received Hertz treatment. It is likely I won’t be renting with Hertz anytime soon, if at all, but I’d definitely rank them as one of the finest car rental companies in existence. Saves you a lot of hassle not having to deal with crap when renting a car.

That being said – there were a few things I did not like about Hertz. First of all – they did not offer customer pick up. I had to take a bus all the way to downtown Edmonton (I did it because savings I was getting in this weekly special were worth it). I don’t know whether all Hertz offices do it this way, but that was a crappy part of their business. Second thing I did not like was not really their fault but it still made it a bit annoying. When I came to pick up my car, there were two people there before me, each occupying one of the available agents. Those people kept asking irrelevant questions and one of them didn’t even end up renting, but they kept me stuck there for an extra half an hour. I had my car pick up booked for 5pm but I didn’t get my car until 5.30pm. If I had something important to catch, I would have missed it. That would have spoiled it for me entirely. And even though I can’t really blame it on Hertz as a company, being a customer you still wish you got what you booked at the time you booked it for.

Photo: Beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains
Photo: Beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains

Other than that, everything about Hertz was perfect. Perhaps a little too perfect to be true. Either way, I had my car and was ready to hit the road from Edmonton to Jasper to enjoy my last weekend in the Rocky Mountains. The feeling was amazing especially since I knew that the weekend after that would be the weekend of my departure to South East Asia. Whoaaaa.

Alaska Roadtrip with Cruise to Vancouver

As I was doing my research on the best priced plane tickets to an interesting destination to start off my worldwide travel, I found out that due to new taxes imposed upon visitors to Alaska, cruise ships sailing that way will be forced to charge additional $50 per passenger, making this cruising option less attractive to travelers. Because of that, many of major cruise line companies made public statements that they will be discontinuing or limiting their Alaska cruises and will instead move their ships to the Mediterranean Sea where demand and income from have been continuously growing. This was supposed to take place at the beginning of 2010.

I’ve always wanted to visit Alaska so when I realized that many of the cruise ships that used to serve this area will not be there as of January 1st, 2010, it became clear that prices for Alaska cruises will go up. Those few ships that will still serve the arctic state will have little competition so they will be able to jack prices up plus there will still be that additional $50 per person fee imposed by the state of Alaska so if one were to take an Alaska cruise, they should do it before the end of 2009 or have to pay significantly higher price.

This prompted me to start looking into available options. I wanted to visit Alaska and take an Alaskan cruise before prices become too unaffordable. But at the same time I thought of combining it with other adventures to make it a roadtrip of a lifetime. I thought of doing the following:

  • Rent a car in Edmonton
  • Drive up the breathtaking Alaska Highway all the way to Anchorage – a 3,000 km long journey that would take about 4 days to complete
  • Enjoy the scenic views and make stops at interesting locations along the way, such as the Liard River Hot Springs
  • Enjoy the nature and scenery of Alaska for a day or two
  • Drop off car rental and board a southbound cruise ship sailing to Vancouver
  • Take a mesmerizing 7 day cruise exposing the beauty of Juneau, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan etc. while it’s still cheap
  • Spend a day or two in Vancouver, known as one of world’s most beautiful cities (which I have not visited in my life yet)
  • Rent a car to drive back to Edmonton
  • Drive across beautiful British Columbia enjoying the mountains
  • Make a stop at Frasier Canyon known as one of world’s most exciting white water rafting areas
  • Drive across Canadian Rockies
  • Drop off rented car in Edmonton and savor the road trip of a lifetime you have just finished

This seemed like the ultimate roadtrip, the ultimate adventure, the trip that combines some of the best and most coveted areas of the world in one go. And because time was against me, I could not put it off as prices for cruise ships were bound to rise significantly come 2010. So I started doing my research to make this roadtrip come true but hit a solid wall when I started phoning up car rental companies.

First of all, hardly any of the worldwide rent-a-car companies has an office anywhere in Alaska making it impossible to drop a car off there. Secondly, the few that do would charge an arm and a leg for drop off at a location that’s different from pick up location. I wasn’t quite aware of this fact prior to this research. I’ve rented a car many times before in different countries, but have always dropped off where I’d picked it up. But because many big car rental places have offices worldwide, I thought it was a no brainer that you could pick a car here and return it there. I was wrong. Unless it’s some kind of special, drop off at a different location will incur an extra cost – often multiplying your initial cost by a large factor. But if you intend to drive across the border and drop it off in another country, that’s when it starts getting ridiculous.

Alaska is a US state whereas I would be starting my roadtrip in Edmonton, Canada. That means I would be renting my car in one country, but dropping it off in another. Most of the time you can’t even do that. Rental terms and conditions restrict the use of a rented automobile to the same country. Crossing borders is not allowed, unless some special arrangements are made or it is a company that specializes in car rentals for people who need to drive internationally. Either way, after many phone calls and no luck finding a company with the office in Alaska, I was eventually able to trace some down, but dropping off a car registered in Canada in the United States state would make it an extremely costly venture. Similar extremes would apply to the car I would rent in Vancouver to drop it off in Edmonton. Vancouver is located in British Columbia, whereas Edmonton is in Alberta. Again – these are two different provinces, hence different license plates and registration cards. A lot of hassle involved so the cost of it would be very high.

The only other option I had was to rent a car for an extended period of time (3 weeks) in Edmonton, drive it up to Alaska, board the cruise ship and pay also for the car to get on board, then get off the ship in Vancouver and drive the same car back to Edmonton. This was an option that was priced a little better than the other one, because it eliminated high international drop off fees, but was still extremely expensive. Cruise ships are intended for vacationers. They specialize in sailing people, not cars. If you want to take a car with you, you’d be looking at a very high cost, which totally defeated the purpose of trying to get on the Alaska cruise ship before prices go up in 2010. And if I were to do it, I would have to shell out a big chunk of cash to have my rented car on board the cruise ship and while it is there, I wouldn’t even be able to drive it, but the cost of the rental for the time while I’m on a cruise ship would still count, hence I would be normally charged by a car rental company for those days whether I’m driving it or not.

In other words, while I’m on the cruise ship, I would not be able to use my rental car, but I’d be paying big bucks for each day of having it, plus I’d be paying super high cruise ship fee to have the car on board. All of that made the cost of my awesomely planned, but impossible to execute roadtrip sky high. The plan was top notch, but it was impossible to carry out unless your pockets are big.

Best Way to Rent a Car with Avis Coupon

I found the best way to Rent a Car worldwide which I want to share with you. Not only is it the best way to rent a car, it’s also the cheapest. It’s just a simple Avis coupon code that works wonders when it comes to bumping the price of your car rental down. And given that Avis have offices worldwide – virtually in any country where car rentals are possible, this little trick can hook you up with well maintained vehicle for a great price.

I found out about it as I was looking for the ways to rent a car in Iceland but was not willing to pay $1,000+ for a ten day rental. Iceland is a very expensive country and it’s reflected in prices of their car rentals. I wanted to make the best out of my 10 day trip so in order not to waste time waiting around for buses and to be able to also access more remote places, I saw car rental as the best solution. But since it’s so extremely expensive to rent a car in Iceland, I had to work out some magic and find a solution that would hook me up with a car, but prevent me from spending more than a grand for it.

To make a long story short, my research has eventually lead me to the Avis coupon code which can cut the normal price down to near one half of it. It worked in Iceland, it worked in the Dominican Republic, it worked in Canada and will likely work in most destinations where Avis has their offices. How much discount you will get varies from one country to another but I have not found any better way to get less expensive, yet internationally backed up car rental since.

To get to the best way to rent a car, go to Avis.com and select your country of origin from the Country/Language drop down menu (or you can go directly to Avis.ca if you are Canadian). Choose your date and time for pick up and return and then choose your pick up location. This is all pretty standard stuff that will get regularly priced quotes. In order to get much better prices, you need to enter following code in the AWD (Avis Worldwide Discount code) field:

K444404

Screenshot from Avis.ca Website Shows Where to Paste the AWC Discount Code
PHOTO: Screenshot from Avis.ca Website Shows Where to Paste the AWC Discount Code

Previously normal car rental prices will now be slashed into much more attractive level. I have never seen car rentals for better price than when using Avis with this code. Good thing is, that after three different rentals in three different countries using Avis and this discount code, I have never been asked any questions. Nothing. You just paste it in the AWD field and make a reservation. Car will be waiting for you at your chosen location and when you return it, you will be given the receipt with the price you were quoted by the website and that price will be charged to the credit card you have provided the Avis representative with when you were picking your car up. It worked for me in Iceland, it worked for me in Canada and it worked for me in the Dominican Republic. No questions asked. None whatsoever.

Then again, given Avis’ international reputation, I would not expect anyone ever questioning the code or where you got it from. Avis are in it to be a worldwide leader in car rental services. They want your business and will be glad you have chosen them over a competitor. It’s none of employee’s business to question where you got which code from. But most of all, they are there to provide you with a reliable car and process your pick up and return in a courteous and professional manner. They are not booking agents so chances of anyone at the pick-up location questioning the code are virtually nonexistent. Based on my experience so far it is exactly like that but if you think about it, I don’t see how it could possibly create an issue at pick up location so I believe you can safely use the code and enjoy the benefits of great rental prices.

And remember – don’t worry about feeling guilty. Avis is a multimillion dollar company. You are bringing them business that’s profitable for them any way you spin it. The fact that you are not paying the normal price does not mean that you are ripping them off. Far from it. You are just being a smart renter and paying a price that’s fair, not a price that other’s who don’t do their homework have to pay. Each time I see people paying retail prices for travel and tourism related goods and services, I quietly laugh on the inside knowing that I saved myself from being overcharged.