Rental Cars: Saving Money, Avoiding Fees and All the Secret Tricks with Jonathan Weinberg

All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins

Chris Hutchins

Business, Education, Investing, Society & Culture, Places & Travel, Self-improvement

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2022

⏱️ 83 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

#66: Rental car expert, Jonathan Weinberg, joins me to discuss saving money and getting the best rate when renting a car. We also delve into the state of rental cars today, strategies to avoid paying exorbitant fees, the advantage of status loyalty programs, car rental insurance, money-saving hotel, airfare, and travel hacks, and much more. Jonathan Weinberg is the co-founder and CEO of AutoSlash, a website dedicated to saving people money on car rentals. Full show notes at: https://allthehacks.com/rental-cars-jonathan-weinberg Partner Deals Vuori: 20% off the most comfortable performance apparel I've ever worn RocketMoney: Easily cancel your unused subscriptions Daffy: Free $25 to give to the charity of your choice Gelt: Skip the waitlist on personalized tax guidance to maximize your wealth Selected Links From The Episode AutoSlash | HotelSlash - discount code: allthehacks Resources Mentioned: Hertz Gold Plus Rewards Upgrade to Hertz President Circle with your Capital One Venture X card Enjoy Emerald Club Executive level membership with your Visa Infinite card National One Two Free program Kyte - Rental Cars, Delivered On Demand AutoSlash Blog post: Hot to Avoid Car Rental Additional Driver Fees Full Show Notes History of the rental car industry and the state of rental cars today (2:05) Advice about when and where to book your rental vehicle and the many variables that complicate the search (5:21) How the AutoSlash search engine operates (11:15) Prepay versus postpay and searching for the best rates (12:45) Using discount programs to save money and get the best rate (14:01) Avoiding exorbitant fees and hassle by exercising caution when using an employer or corporate discount code (17:03) Timing the booking of your rental to get the best deal (20:05) How flexible are pick-up times, what companies offer grace periods for late returns, and how do weekend rental rates work? (23:07) The differences between a 4/5 star brand and a 2 stars brand (28:01) Other benefits to consider when choosing a car rental company to rent from and the advantages of status loyalty programs (33:18) What to look for when choosing your rental vehicle (35:55) Factors to consider when choosing to rent from the non-traditional rental companies (37:40) Exercising caution when using opaque rentals or broker websites (40:43) Rental companies overselling their inventory and what to do if your rental is not available (44:11) Negotiating discounts when you get upgraded to a larger vehicle (48:49) Never leave money on the table by paying for pre-paid fuel (49:52) Using your credit card car insurance, personal car insurance, or rental car company insurance. (50:59) Should you add more liability coverage than what is included, and are you covered if you book with points? (53:17) Using Amex rental car coverage (56:07) Tips to avoid paying for various add-on rental fees (1:00:04) Tricks to score free upgrades (1:05:15) Documenting imperfections on your rental car (1:06:05) Tips and tricks when renting a car internationally (1:08:17) Two ways to use AutoSlash (1:11:35) Money-saving hotel, airfare, and travel hacks (1:14:17) Connect with All the Hacks All the Hacks: Newsletter | Website | Facebook | Email Chris Hutchins: Twitter | Instagram | Website | LinkedIn

Transcript

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1:02.4	Money.
1:06.0	Hello and welcome to another episode of All the Hacks, a show about upgrading your life,
1:10.9	money, and travel.
1:12.1	If you're new here, I'm your host, Chris Hutchins, and I'm a die-hard optimizer who loves doing
1:16.8	all the research to help you get the best experience in life without the expensive price tag.
	...

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