When renting a car several things are required. You need a credit card to make the deal, a reservation and confirmation. You can do this on the internet if you have the time. You might find that you get a really good deal and save some money this way. Besides, there is no risk in checking around for the best deal.
With a little bit of training and a little bit of vigilance, you can spot the good deals. The technique described here is easy and absolutely legal and abides by all the rules. Pay careful attention and learn how to save yourself a bundle when renting a car!
1. Planning a trip? Make a reservation ahead of time, and find the hottest deal you can without any penalties for cancellation. Most agencies don't have these, unless it's peak season or for a specialty car. If this is a last minute booking, skip this step.
2. Wear a pair of comfortable walking shoes, bring along your laptop and a good book to read while you wait!
3. Once you arrive at the car rental agency, access a discount website from your laptop. Prepare for last-minute delays as most of these sites prevent you from placing car rental reservations within two hours of pick-up time. Choose a reservation from the website, indicating the amount of time you decide upon. Then, select the class of car that is just below your preferred class.
4. Take your car rental Costa Rica reservation price, your discount site estimate, and shop around. Walk from agency to agency and negotiate. Smile, be polite, and be cunning, whatever it takes to get a price lower than what you have. You see, the more people who walk up to a car rental agency in the airport, the better location that agency gets. They have a reason to give you a good price as a walk up. They want your traffic. They want you to come back.
5. Make sure you check out all available deals before deciding on one. Also remember to ask for discounts from one company if another has offered the same. The companies are in competition for your business and many will want to match or top the other deals.
6. The few minutes it will take to do this are worth the time and energy involved, even if you find that your original reservation is the best deal. There is always the chance that you will find a better Costa Rica car rental deal, in which case you can simply call to cancel the original reservation in preparation of accepting the better one.
7. As a final attempt to sweeten your deal, tell the agent that you'll only accept the deal if they upgrade you to the next class of rental car for the same price. This is actually the easiest thing for the car rental agent to do. It's usually the agent's decision. Obviously, however, this won't work if they are sold out.
You can get a great deal on a rental car if you make time to use this method. It is important to not give up and take the first deal you find. Make sure and not be intimidated by the car rental agency.
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