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
    • odium@programming.dev
      0·
      8 months ago

      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.

  • Magister@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 months ago

    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@lemmy.world
      0·
      8 months ago

      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@lemmy.oneOP
        0·
        8 months ago

        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

        • El Barto@lemmy.world
          0·
          8 months ago

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

        • Pandemanium@lemm.ee
          0·
          8 months ago

          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@sffa.communityEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    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.