I needed a rental car for an upcoming trip, so I opened far too many browser tabs and started comparing prices.
I checked credit card travel portals, airline booking sites, AutoSlash and BJ’s Travel. I compared the totals, vehicle classes, cancellation policies and rewards I would earn.
After all that searching, the result was less dramatic than expected.
Most of the prices were very similar.
What Each Site Charged
Here were some of the lowest prices I found for the same three-day rental:
- BJ’s Travel: $213
- AutoSlash: $215.81
- Chase Travel: $227
- Citi Travel: $227.97
- American Express Travel: $228.99
- Delta Cars: $230
- Capital One Travel: $231
The vehicle categories were not identical across all sites. Some offered an economy car, while others showed a compact, midsize car or compact SUV.
Even so, the overall pattern was clear. BJ’s and AutoSlash found the lowest prices, while most of the credit card portals clustered within a few dollars of one another.
There was no hidden bargain waiting inside one particular portal.
The Cheapest Price Wasn’t Necessarily The Best Value
BJ’s had the lowest displayed price, with AutoSlash only $2.81 behind.
However, credit card portal bookings can earn significantly more rewards.
Capital One Venture X earns 10X miles on rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. On a $231 rental, that would mean 2,310 Capital One miles. Venture X also includes primary rental-car coverage when the applicable requirements are met.
Chase, Citi and eligible American Express cards can also offer elevated rewards when booking through their portals.
That does not automatically make a higher-priced portal reservation better. It does mean that a $10 or $15 difference may be less important once the points earned and insurance benefits are considered.
BJ’s offered the lowest cash price. Capital One Travel offered a higher return. AutoSlash remained useful because it found a competitive rate without requiring me to check every rental company separately.
Then Hertz Sent Me A Coupon
Just as I was deciding among those options, I received an email from Hertz celebrating my Gold Plus Rewards anniversary.
The offer provided one free day when renting for at least three days. Since my rental was exactly three days, the timing was ideal.
After entering the promotional code on Hertz’s website, the total dropped to $190.87 for a midsize car.
That was around $22 less than BJ’s, $25 less than AutoSlash, and roughly $36 to $40 less than most credit card portals.
Without the coupon, Hertz would not have won the comparison. With it, the decision was easy.
Could A Shopping Portal Make It Even Better?
When booking directly with a rental-car company, it is worth checking Rakuten, TopCashback or another shopping portal before completing the reservation. However, their restrictions can eliminate the cash back.
Rakuten states that using a coupon code not listed on its site can void the reward. TopCashback has a similar restriction and also says that pay-later reservations may not qualify.
Because my coupon came directly from Hertz, I would not expect shopping portal cashback to track. I might still click through, but I would treat any reward as a bonus rather than include it in the comparison.
Where I Would Search Next Time
After checking nearly every option, I do not think that level of searching was necessary.
To cover the most likely winners, I would check:
- AutoSlash
- A wholesale club such as BJ’s, Costco or Sam’s Club
- The credit card portal offering the strongest bonus
For me, Capital One Travel is difficult to ignore because Venture X earns 10X miles on rental cars and includes primary rental-car coverage.
I would also check my email for targeted rental-company offers before booking. In this case, that was the only thing that produced a meaningfully lower rate.
Final Thoughts
I thought that one rental-car portal might offer a better price. Instead, nearly all of them landed in the same general range.
BJ’s and AutoSlash had the lowest regular rates. Credit card portals cost slightly more but offered stronger rewards. Then an unexpectedly well-timed Hertz coupon beat them all.
Next time, I will skip the exhaustive search. AutoSlash, a wholesale club and the portal with my best credit card bonus should cover most of the market.
But in the end, it might just be a matter of lucky timing that gets you the lowest price on your car rental.
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