National prices up instead of down!!

[beattyfamily]

Hi,

I booked my car for this October in February at $205 total for 8 days EA Full size. (Disney code and coupon).

Well, I check once in awhile because that rate was much higher than my rate of $179 for 10 days last year!!

To my dismay it's gone up instead of down! It's now at $238.67 for a full size for 8 days with my discounts!! That's just insane.

I sure hope they come down before my trip!

Everyday I check here hoping to see a post saying to run over to National because the rates have come down, but it's been a LONG time since I've seen a post like that!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Your rate of $205 sounds pretty good! Our 8 day rental over New Years was around $600 (Luxury-Emerald Choice)! Ouch! That was the best rate I could find from ANY company!

 

[beattyfamily]

Thanks CaliforniaDreaming, now I feel much better! I'm so sorry for you, though!

 

[DebbieB]

I would look for them to go down in August or September. I always book my December trip then, last year I got $115 for a week for full size (with DC discounts).

 

[hercamore]

Hi,

After seeing this thread, I rechecked my rates for a fullsize with national Jan 2.

Jumped from $199 base rate to $345 base rate. What's with that?

I just don't see it going down very much.

Herc.

 

[beattyfamily]

Yeah, I dont' think it's going to come down much either. I've gone the same time of year for the last 2 years and I've never paid more than $180 for a week (or even a week and a couple of days).

It's not looking so good this year.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Originally posted by beattyfamily
Thanks CaliforniaDreaming, now I feel much better! I'm so sorry for you, though!

I will be returning to WDW in a couple weeks, and was able to get an 8 day rental for a Luxury Car with Avis for under $400 - very happy with that rate!

Even though National's rate was high on my New Year's trip, it was great to avoid the counter and have "no hassles" to pick up the car with the Emerald Choice service - even though I didn't get a Cadillac (another story - all they had was Buick Park Avenues!).

 

[mazzarafe]

I too have a National ressie for October for 1 week full size with the 2 DC discounts I'm paying $173. Hoping for rates to go down too. I'm gonna keep checking, people have seen rates drop up to a week before trip.
Last December I paid $165 for 9 days for a full size.

Lets keep those fingers, toes and anything else we can manage crossed for better rates!

 

[dtuleya]

I originally booked our 8 day full-sized rental with National in January. Total costs w/DC membership came to $185. By February the rates had soared. I then became a member of the Emerald Club and after much debating rebooked my reservation through EA w/DC discounts and it came to $200. I figured the extra $15 was worth the "extras" associated with the EA.

I'm going to keep checking though in hopes that they come down a little.

 

[WiscMomof2]

Mazzarafe,

Are there two separate discounts for National through DC? I was only aware of the one where you provide the contract number. Am I missing something?

 

[beattyfamily]

There are 2 discounts available through National. One is a contract number through either Disney or Entertainment book or BJ's or whatever company you like, although Disney's gives the best discount.

THEN there's the coupon section where you can plug in a coupon code. I'm using the Entertainment book coupon; it can be from Disney or another company. To find Disney's go to the Disney Club website.

I'm getting $21.83 for the coupon and another $41.56 with the Disney Contract number.

Good luck and I hope this helps you!

 

[mazzarafe]

WiscMomof2,

I got the Disney discount with the 20% off with the contract number and the free day with the coupon from the DC website.

 

[mousey]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I only can get the
disney connection discount even though I put in the coupon
and contract number? Any suggestions????

 

[WiscMomof2]

I see the other coupon on the DC website now. My problem is I only need a car for our first day because we taking a day trip on arrival day before we check to our hotel at Disney. We will probably end up cabing it back to the airport on our way home. I think for 4 of us it will be cheaper than a shuttle. The rate National quoted me w/ the DC contract number was around $60 for a day w/ all added taxes and fees. To me this seems a little high but I'm new at the rental game so I really have no clue! Is this a fair rate?

 

[beattyfamily]

Rates are VERY high right now; much higher than last year and the year before.

When you are only doing one day, it's much higher than if you were doing a week and a day.

You didn't say when you are going and what kind of car you want; that makes a big difference too.

I would check for you and show you what I got if I knew when you were going??

I did go and randomly pick July 15 (monday) and asked for Full size Emerald Club with the Disney discount and got a rate of 46.44 total after discount;
$54.81 for July 13 (Sat) and then September 14 (Sat) and got $42.71. So it depends on if it's a weekend and what time of year.

As one more example, I tried Dollar with a 5% coupon for July 13 and got a total of $56.84 Full size.

Good luck!

 

[WiscMomof2]

beattyfamily

We need the car on Fri Oct 18. The rate I came up with was $61.22 with the contract number for full size. I also checked hotwire and got and got a quote of approx $30.00 but you have to pick up and drop off at the same location which will not work for us. I really wanted to do National because of the DC and Emerald Isle perk. In the end, I'm really not going to sweat a few bucks too much. Thanks for checking though.

 

[beattyfamily]

funny, my total from National with Emerald Club, Full size for one day on October 18 and with the Disney Club contract discount came to this:

Time & Distance 1 Day @ 42.99 42.99
Time & Distance 0 Hour @ 21.50 0.00
Extra - Time & Distance 0 Day @ 42.99 0.00
Extra - Time & Distance 0 Hour @ 21.50 0.00
Unlimited Distance-time & Distance 0 Distance @ 0.00 0.00

Base Rate _____ 42.99

Less Discounts: -8.60

SubTotal _____ 34.39


Add Surcharges & Taxes: (subject to change)
Concession Fee Recov Chrg 9.8 Pct 3.37
Fl Schrg/tire&bat Fee 2.05 Usd/dy 2.05
Fla License Fee .43 Usd/day 0.43
State Tax (6.0%) 2.41
Fftxrsu (0.0%) 0.06

Total Estimate _____ 42.71

Did I do something wrong? Maybe there's more info I need or something...

Also, don't forget that rates can definitely come down closer to your trip so keep checking but hold on to your old reservation and check with a new reservation so nothing changes on your old one!

Good luck!

 

[WiscMomof2]

I haven't gotten my Emerald Club application materials yet so I just plugged in my dates and the contract number on the general reservation page. I didn't realize that the rate would be cheaper with Emerald Club. I thought the main perk of that was the Emerald Isle thing. I hadn't read anything about it affecting rates. Can you tell I'm a rookie at this? Thanks for all your help.

 

[WiscMomof2]

I haven't gotten my Emerald Club application materials yet so I just plugged in my dates and the contract number on the general reservation page. I didn't realize that the rate would be cheaper with Emerald Club. I thought the main perk of that was the Emerald Isle thing. I hadn't read anything about it affecting rates. Can you tell I'm a rookie at this? Thanks for all your help.

 

[WiscMomof2]

Sorry for the double post....computer acting up!!