768 – Save money and not get ripped off: Tom talks Rental Car Hacks

Episode 768 – Rental Car Hacks
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode 768 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today, we're going to talk about rental car hacks. I've rented cars probably over a thousand times and I learned a little bit about saving tons of money and keeping from getting ripped off. Plus, in the next episode, 769, I'll give you tips on how to get free or a dollar a day rentals of cars and RVs. You know, if your schedule is flexible and how to get paid for just driving around. That's in episode 769 and hope you didn't miss Episode 767. That was Avi Wolfson and he turned a tough childhood into a business. And plus, he's an axe throwing champion. So he gave us tips on that. Now, if you want to listen to back episodes, check out Screwthecommute.com, slash, then the episode number. Avi was 767. And if you like our training episodes, there's probably about 400 of them. Check out screwthecommute.com/training, of course. Follow me on TikTok at tiktok.com/@digitalmultimillionaire and grab a copy of our automation book at screwthecommute.com/automatefree.

[00:01:41] Alright, let's get to the main event whether you know for business or pleasure or maybe because your car is in the shop, there will be times when you need to rent a car. This episode is going to give you the tools to get the best prices and keep from getting ripped off from unscrupulous rental companies. Even the non or the scrupulous rental companies will get you for extra money if you're not careful. One of the general rules in booking cars is to book as far as you can in advance. And I understand you can't do this when you break down unexpectedly, but you'll usually get the best rates by booking far in advance. But here's a trick or a hack that can possibly save you a lot of money. It's very possible that because of supply and demand issues, that your exact rental is cheaper as you get closer to the date of the rental. It's hard when you're busy to keep checking the rates. I mean, who does that once they make the booking, right?

[00:02:50] One of the services Of a website called Autoslash.com. We'll track if price if the price goes down for your exact rental and alert you so you can cancel the previous booking and rebook at the lower price. Now, speaking of cancellation policies, make sure you know what your cancellation policy is with a particular company and it can even be different with the same company. If you book through a third party like Expedia or one of the other aggregators, aggregators are those sites that claim to check multiple sites to get you the best deal. Expedia is one and I'm sure you've heard of Hotwire, Kayak and Priceline. It's nice to have aggregators comparing lots of rates for you, but who compares the aggregators to see how well they're doing? Well, there's a site called Auto rentals.com.

[00:03:51] And it steps in to do that for you. There's lots of data on this site, so be prepared to carefully look through all the rates listed to find the best deal for you. Aggregators are also generically referred to as third parties. Another good general rule, especially if you travel out of the country or in areas where they're small and they've got unknown car rental places, not the big brands. This way you have somewhere to turn if the small or unscrupulous company tries to cheat you. Dealing directly with the company doesn't give you much leverage because you're probably nobody to them. They're used to getting complaints and hell with you. Dealing through the big third party means you can complain to the third party. And the small bad rental company doesn't want to piss off the big aggregator that sends them business. So it's a wise thing for you to deal through the aggregator rather than direct. All right. Now, let's talk about getting the cheapest rates. Now there are several hacks to get the best possible rates and save the most money. I already told you about booking far in advance and watching for lower rates as you get closer to the rental. Now, here's one I used all the time when I was flying around the world speaking. I would look for. I didn't do it so much outside of the US. Put it that way because, you know, I don't want to take taxis. That would take me 1000 miles on a 22 mile trip.

[00:05:29] But I did it all the time when I was in the United States. I'd look for a car rental place that was not at the airport that I was flying into. Even with paying for taxi or Uber ride to and from the off site location, I frequently saved hundreds of dollars on the rental. See, being stuck at the airport can cost you. Also, whenever possible, make sure you pick up and drop off at the exact same location and at the exact same time. Or it could cost a fortune extra. For instance, if you book a 10 a.m. pickup and a 10 a.m. drop off, everything's cool. But let's say you book a 10 a.m. pickup and a noon drop off. Your rate could skyrocket. So double check that by playing with the times and rates on the website before you book the rental. All right, here's another cool hack. Check the rates for the exact days you need the car. Then check the rates one, two, three, four days or more. After when you actually need the car. In other words, longer than you actually need the car. You may find the rates are way cheaper. Now, how could that be? Well, many times you'll get a cheaper per day rate when you book longer. And I suppose they think they will get more of the high profit insurance payments. I'll talk to you about insurance in a little while. Anyway, you book for a longer period and then turn the car in early.

[00:07:14] Now make sure there is no penalty for doing this. You have to read the fine print. You'll hear that from me throughout this episode. This hack again could save hundreds of dollars and some of the companies will even prorate the entire rental and give you a partial refund, which saves even more money when you turn the car in early. Another hack is to book your airfare first. Many times your confirmation email from the airlines will have very substantial discount coupons to apply to your car rental. Here's another hack for you, Costco members. I don't know if I have Sam's Club, but I haven't tried it through Sam's Club. But in the travel section of the Costco website, the car rental rates can be substantially cheaper than the rack rates booked at the car rental site. So at Costco can help you out. Now, here's a couple websites that are not as well known that can get you big discounts. Skyscanner.com economy bookings.com. They all have kind of cool features that'll help you out to kite. That's k-y-t. And then here's another one that's I'm not sure this is save you any money, but turo, Turo it's kind of known as like an Airbnb of car rentals and you're actually renting from people and a lot of times they'll get really fancy or cars delivered right to where your your hotel or wherever you are. You are. Turo, turo. And then, you know, when I was making so darn much money and didn't just care how much I spent on rental cars.

[00:09:02] I just got a Hertz gold account and I didn't have to stand in any lines. They just drive me to the parking lot and say, Pick what car you want. My name's on a sign from the shuttle bus. So? So, yeah, if you're really rolling in the cash, maybe you don't care about this. But if you really want to save money, these tips will help. Also, if you're Hertz gold member, they'll email you discount coupons. So check that out. Okay, Now let's talk about insurance and then I'll get into some typical car rental scams. But just before I get into insurance, let's talk about how the companies, the rental companies make their bigger money. Insurance is certainly one of their big revenue streams. But what they try to sell you when you are at the counter is the big money, highly profitable stuff. They try to do add ons like Wi-Fi or GPS, or if you add an additional driver, they charge you for all that stuff. It cost them nothing. So here's the deal. You should know exactly what you're supposed to pay when you pick up the car or you have already paid it. Don't let the salesperson upsell you or tell you you must pay other fees. If they do get on the phone right in front of them and call your aggregator, many times they'll back off. Or let's say, quote, benevolently wave the fake fee they're trying to hit you with.

[00:10:30] Okay, insurance. Many people just take the rental car company insurance and blow lots of money for what I would call false peace of mind. If that's you, no problem If you're okay with overpaying, here's the one that typically messes people up and gives them a really false peace of mind. Those are the people who say, well, my credit card gives me rental car insurance, so I don't really need the rental car companies insurance. Well, maybe you don't. But here's the problem, and it boils down to one word. That's the word secondary. Many credit card companies tell you they will cover you and the rental car in case of an accident. What they fail to tell you is that most credit cards provide secondary insurance. In other words, they will kick in after your own car or homeowner's insurance takes the brunt of the financial hit, which means the credit card insurance is pretty much worthless. In this case, your car insurance will get dinged for the accident and it will go on your record with them, most likely increasing your car insurance rates. You want a credit card that says they are the primary insurance if you rent a car? I think you still might have a deductible, but regular car insurance will not be involved. You must read the fine print on your credit card coverage. You want primary, not secondary. There also could be a difference if you're if you are renting for business or personal reasons.

[00:12:17] So don't take anything I say as gospel. Read the fine print. Okay, Now let's talk about rental car scams and routine things you must do to protect yourself. And much of this also applies to recreational vehicles like RVs, jet skis, mopeds, bicycle rentals and stuff like that when you're on vacation. And this is a must. You must always take timestamped photos and videos of the vehicle you are renting and email them to the booking agent. And frequently there will be damage reports that don't include all the damage that's actually on the vehicle. When I've spotted damage that's not on their report, I've actually had the rental agent tell me, Oh, don't worry about it. Well, I am worried about it because rental car companies charge sometimes up to $500 per scratch on the body and the wheels. If they get away with telling you, don't worry about it before you leave, and then they charge you for it when you get back, guess what? You should have worried about it before you left and provided photo and video evidence. Just think for the dumbos that fall for this over and over again. They are getting the rental car companies are getting paid over and over again for the same scratch. Now I'm all about taking responsibility for damages. I did, but I'm not about to pay for someone else's. So get your evidence before you leave. Email it so you have a record that before you left, and this time you sent these pictures to prove that that damage was already there.

[00:14:04] Also, take a picture of your dashboard with the mileage and fuel gauge visible. Another picture you want to take is the receipt for when you filled up the tank just before turning in the vehicle. Now, I say vehicle because you could be renting a truck or van or some specialty vehicle instead of a plain old car. And one more picture is of the interior of the vehicle that you have cleaned out all the garbage. You don't want them trying to charge you for some cleaning fee. Then carefully review your final bill to make sure they don't charge you for fuel or throw on any extra charges. All right. So these are some more typical rental scams. Of course, overpriced insurance. They tell you your insurance won't cover you. All right. So they just lie to you. The prepaid gas deal where they charge an exorbitant amount for prepaid gas so you don't have to fill it up and then they charge you a fortune for the gas. Again, damages that were already there. Fake taxes that they try to throw on at the last second. And then the other was a just sign here scam where they want you to just sign this blank contract and then you're long gone and they can fill in whatever they want in it. All right. So don't sign any blank contracts. And then make sure you check the reviews of the companies you're going to be dealing with, especially if you're out of the country, because, you know, it's a different ballgame out there in the many countries around the world.

[00:15:44] You don't speak the language possibly, and they'll claim this, that and the other. So it's again, also good to work through an aggregator. So anyway, this is another entrepreneurial thing. You I don't care if you're online or not. Someday you're going to have to rent a car and I want you to get the cheapest prices so you can keep the bulk of the money in your pocket and still have a good experience when you rent a car. So those are just one of the experiences you can have from dealing with me in my mentor program to help you with an online and digital business. But, you know, I've been in business since before the Internet started, a long time before the Internet started. So I have both offline and online experience to help you with, plus professional speaking stuff. So check it out at greatInternetMarketingtraining.com and hey, don't get ripped off when you rent a car. You're warned and listen to this and pass it on to your friends. All right. We'll catch you all on the next episode. I'm going to show you how you can just get paid for driving your car around, doing your regular daily routine. And also how you can get like $1 a day. Rv rentals. We just crazy stuff. I'll show you that in the next episode. 769.

[00:16:59] See you there.