Million Mile Secrets ran a post this morning from the famous Mr. Pickles about a promotional code through Avis, where you could book a weekend vehicle rental for only a couple of dollars. Normally Daraius is great about pointing out real-world risks of an offer. However, this mornings post really bothered me from a consumer aspect.

I think what really is overlooked is the real possibility of families showing up to Avis to rent their vehicle for $4, and Avis saying sorry. While a lot of people that are going to take advantage of this offer are going to do it just for fun, there inevitably are also going to be people who book using this promotion, show up with their family for a rental vehicle on vacation, and get turned away at the counter.

Avis reserves the right to not honor the price when you show up to rent your vehicle.

Therefore, as a word of caution, if you are going to partake in this promotion, I strongly encourage you to have a backup plan. That means having at least one other reservation already reserved, possibly even at another agency.

Picture this. You just got off the plane for a nice weekend trip with your wife in a warm tropical destination. You hop aboard a taxi over to the rental car lot (tell them to wait for you before leaving), and Avis says sorry, we can not offer that mistake rate. But we can offer you this nice Ford Focus for $300/day. What?

When you are standing at the rental desk, they can charge you whatever they want, and do not think they will conveniently give you the best rate.

To save yourself the embarrassment, politely say thank you to the agent, get back in the taxi and drive over to XYZ rental with your backup rate. Crisis averted.

A vacation is the wrong time for surprises. You are there to relax, and usually when something seems to good to be true, it is.

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: Million Mile Secrets