Hertz

The Value of a Free Car Seat with Vehicle Rental

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Car Seat Happy Baby

If there is one thing I have learned when reserving rental vehicles, it is the value of car seats. The cost to rent not one but two car seats along with a vehicle can skyrocket the cost, often to double or more than the price of the actual vehicle. Back in December I had written about our initial car rental game plan when it came to Hawaii this summer.

First up was our plans to use Super Shuttle. When trying to make a reservation in Los Angeles, I was informed the vehicles do not provide car seats. Super Shuttle’s response was they were highly recommended but not required within Burbank County. While I might attempt to wing the ride to and from the airport without car seats, Mrs. InACents would give me an ear full the entire time questioning how safe it was, so we opted to not go with Super Shuttle. I also agree that saving a couple of bucks is not worth the risk.

Instead, we looked into renting yet another vehicle for our trip. This will make the fourth vehicle rental over the 2.5 week period, which equates to lots of expense. Since we will be traveling with my in-laws for half of the trip, we are renting a mini-van for the week on Oahu and the week on the Big Island. Add to that a vehicle for the last couple days we are in Oahu, and now a vehicle in Los Angeles, and the price starts to add up.

We have never rented with Hertz before, but when we discovered the AAA discount code 1805452 included one free car seat, we were sold if the prices worked out cheaper than the competitors. Over the course of several weeks, we were saving hundreds of dollars using the Hertz AAA code including one car seat rental when compared to other companies with two car seats.

However, I have always had great success getting super low rates with National. There is a laundry list of discount codes out there as well as coupons that can be stacked, but what I discovered was a secret hidden inside the Car and Driver discount code XVC1092. What is not publicized anywhere is that the rate code includes at least two (2) free car seats.

At first I was skeptical when I reserved two mini-vans and the price did not change after adding on two child/toddler seats ($9.99/Day; $60.00/Max Amt). So I sent National an email requesting verification that my rate I was quoted actually included two car seats, and I was not going to be surprised with extra charges. The response I received back was “due to the discount code / contract ID on these reservations, the child seats cost is included in your rate.” Ok, seems legit to me and I had written documentation to take with me to the rental.

However, before I officially made all of my reservations with National, I wanted to actually physically talk with National and verify car seats were included in the rate code. So I called up National and again verified to a live person that the Car and Driver rate code included two (2) free car seats. Note, I asked nothing about who qualified to use the rate code, only if the rate code included car seat rentals.

There is still some debate about where the Car and Drive rate code came from and who qualifies for its use. However, hundreds if not thousands of people have used the National Car and Driver discount code with success, so I have absolutely no concerns about using it. I may have even used it in years past, but do not recall. With successful use of the Car and Driver rate code, this can be a huge benefit to families who require car seats with their rental.

As always, only use rates codes which you are eligible.

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Amtrak Spring Line Promotion; Double or Triple Bonus Points

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Yesterday was the official start to the Amtrak Spring line promotion, and there may be some opportunities for you and your family to fill up your Guest Rewards balance. The promotion officially runs March 4 – May 12, 2012, which happens to also correspond with National Train Day. The promotion looks to award bonus points for travel during the above period, but also works with transactions through various partners.

Amtrak Spring Line Promotion 2012

Guests will earn the following bonus Guest Reward points:

– Double points for travel through May 12
– Triple points for travel during May 6-12
– 500 bonus points for 5 trips within the promotion period

Partner opportunities include:

– Double points with Audience Rewards (through May 12); Teleflora (through May 12); HHonors (April 1 – June 30); Budget (through May 31); 1-800-Flowers (through May 31); and Wyndham Rewards (March 29 – July 8 )

– Triple points with Hertz (through June 30); Enterprise (through May 31); and LaQuinta (through May 31)

So the question is, will you maximize this promotion to increase your returns on spring/early summer travel?

Unfortunately, right off the start, I notice in the terms there is a $35 minimum spend on segments to count towards the 5 trip/500 point bonus.

Qualifying trips for the Take 5 bonus points are one-way direct segments, with a minimum spend of $35.

While it makes sense for Amtrak, it will discourage us from taking part in the promotion for the purposes of earning rewards. The reason being is that we can easily hop on a 30 minute ride between Cleveland and Elyria, OH for $6.75/person. The only downside…the ride is during the middle of the night. Normally one would earn 2 Guest Rewards points per dollar; however, with this promotion it would be 4 points per dollar with the potential for 6 points per dollar during the final week of the promotion. So worst case scenario, would there not be a $35 minimum spend, would be (($6.75 * 2 points) * 5 trips) + 500 points = 567 points for a total cost of $33.75 (or $0.06/point).

To reaffirm how this promotion will not work for the purpose of doing a Rail Run for the sole purpose of earning points, right now everyone can buy points directly from Amtrak with a 30% bonus. So the minimum of 500 points + 150 bonus is $13.75, and is cheaper than the alternative of riding the train during the middle of the night. As they say on Shark Tank, I’m Out!

How AAA & Hertz Free #1 Club Gold is Saving Us Money

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Disneyland hotel- Check
Hawaii mainland flights- Check
Oahu hotel- Check
Big Island hotel- Check (in-laws booked)

One of the major outstanding items for our summer vacation yet to be booked is all the vehicles, and we will need a lot of them. We have a multi-day stop over in LAX/Disneyland. Then we will be on Oahu about a week and the Big Island another week, and then return to Oahu for a couple of days before heading home. That means we need at least 4 vehicles.

We do not rent a lot of vehicles because we do not travel for work, and when we travel, we often drive our own vehicles or use taxis or public transportation. However, Hawaii will be one of those times where a vehicle is essential for us, especially since we are traveling with two kids, and now our in-laws will be with us for a portion of the trip. Unless I can figure out a way to get submarine-Finn McMissle to get us over to the islands.

We have decided that while in LAX, we might use Super Shuttle as opposed to renting a vehicle. I have a hard time justifying spending $200-250 on a vehicle that is just going to sit at the hotel. We will be spending our time at the Disneyland and California Adventure parks after all, not exploring the area. I learned on our trip to Disneyland in 2010 that we did not use the vehicle and it added an unnecessary expense for this trip. Our only real concern is that the Super Shuttle service provides enough time for LA traffic. Total cost for a Super Shuttle will be about $70 round trip for the four of us including tip.

While on the Hawaiian Islands though, we will absolutely want to have vehicles to explore. Usually my goal is always to score the lowest rate possible from one of the main car rental companies getting us into a vehicle that suits our needs.

In my opinion, the worst part of vehicle rentals when traveling with kids is the added expense of car seats. Having two (2) car seats adds $20 per day to the expense, and it is a cash cow for the rental companies. Yes we can bring them with us to save some money. However, we already will have plenty of luggage and things to carry with us. I do not want to added pressure of having to keep track of 2 heavy car seats in addition to all the luggage and two excited young boys and a wife eager to show off her new pedicure.

More importantly though, I do not want to have to worry that 1) our car seats arrive to our destinations, or 2) that they arrive in one piece and undamaged. The last thing I want to have to do when getting off the plane is worry about filing a claim and then having to rush out and purchase a new car seat. It all is an added headache I would like to try and avoid, and thus why we are kind of at the mercy of paying the fees to the rental car companies.

Well fast forward to this past week, and I learned an excellent little piece of advice from an article that The Frugal Travel Guy posted from AutoSlash.com. I was well aware of the benefits of our AAA membership to receive discounts on travel accommodations. I also have used AutoSlash before to test out prices on vehicles. However, what I did not know was that members of AAA receive a free car seat when using Hertz, which can be entered directly into AutoSlash’s website. Considering we need a vehicle in Hawaii for about 15 days, that little piece of information can save us $150 in car seat rentals, as well as becoming loyal Hertz patrons.

I will admit, we have never used Hertz before. Not because they are not a great service, but because I was always able to find cheaper rates for what ever other trip we needed a vehicle on somewhere else. With the AAA discount and free car seat option though, I will be weighing the options to see if the price comparison justifies booking exclusively with Hertz for our Hawaii vacation.

So off I went on a journey to start researching and reserving vehicles using Hertz. Until I remembered an article from Million Mile Secrets several months ago offering free Hertz #1 Club Gold membership. I even wrote my own evaluation of the Hertz promotion stating you need to remember to cancel the “free” membership at the end of a year so you do not get charged.

So the cool thing is that even though the original promotion has expired, you can still sign up for a free Hertz Gold membership (a $60 value) through March 31, 2012. Since I had not signed up prior, and knew we would likely be using Hertz, I went ahead and signed up for a new membership account. I already marked my calendar though for a year from now to remember not to get charged for the recurring Hertz Gold membership fee.

Now that I have a Hertz Gold account, I realized we also now score another added bonus from the program…”pay less on the rental of infant and/or child seats.” The only problem is I have not been able to locate solid information of what the discount is for child seats through Hertz Gold.

While I continue to search for the best deal, I went ahead and reserved a mini-van for our Oahu portion of the trip using AutoSlash. It is not cheap at $495.05 for a week, not even including an additional child seat yet. What I am really hoping to do is see how AutoSlash compares to my own searches over the course of the next several months since they will rebook if a cheaper rate becomes available. Like car rental companies, no credit card is needed to make the reservation, and I can cancel at any time should I find my own cheaper rate. It will be a nice barometric to compare against.

Approximately 24 hours after submitting my reservation on AutoSlash, I received an email that the reservation has already been rebooked at a lower rate, $471.33, saving us $23.72. It is a small start, but I continue to be optimistic to see how much AutoSlash can save us.