Avis: Reconfirm Reservation to Lower Rate

If you're like me and like to plan ahead, you probably book your rentals at least a few if not several days in advance, maybe even weeks.

Try this little "trick" out... once in a while, go back and "Modify" your existing reservation. Just confirm your previous selections until you get to a screen that shows your original and modified reservations side-by-side. If you like the new price keep it, otherwise just opt to keep your original rate and all is well.

For recent trip to Denver, I reserved my car three weeks ago, and last week I checked the price. Here is the result:

As you can see, my new rate on a one-day rental was over $11 lower. I had another reservation for an upcoming trip to New York where I saved over $150 on a weekly rental with just a few clicks!

Book your reservation with Avis now!

I'm a frequent Avis renter so this method has worked for me most of the time (it may work with other companies as well, but I don't personally know yet). The reason I suspect this happens is that, like airlines, car rental companies have dynamic pricing on their cars based on supply-and-demand, and they'll start lowering rates as time gets close if they have a glut of unreserved cars. The difference is that you're not required to prepay for your rental, so if you find a lower rate, you lose nothing by modifying your reservation to receive the lower price (unlike airlines, where they'll likely charge you a hefty change fee).

So the takeaway here: check your Avis bookings every so often! Let me know if it worked for you.

(And also, if you rent before June 30 and also fly AA, be sure to get your bonus miles!)

Disclaimer: Booking your Avis reservation through links on this blog will apply a discount code that may or may not be advantageous to you. The discount code is tied to the author of this blog, and will credit the author with a referral, but you are not required to use it.

Rent with Avis, Get Up to 5,000 AA miles until 08/31/14

One of the better bonuses I've seen as of late, and it's not even published on AA's website yet: Through August 31, you can earn 1,500-3,000 bonus miles on American Airlines for renting at an AVIS airport location, by using "MUAA004" as the coupon code on your rental. The earning levels are below:

• Earn 1,500 AAdvantage bonus miles on rentals of 1-2 days.
• Earn 3,000 AAdvantage bonus miles on rentals of 3-4 days.
• Earn 5,000 AAdvantage bonus miles on rentals of 5 or more days.

Click here to reserve with AVIS now
(Code MUAA004 already applied for your convenience!)

3,000 miles for a 3-day rental is a great payout (and I'm bummed that I just rented this weekend for a mere 1,500 bonus miles), especially when you can take advantage of great weekend rates, where you generally pick up as early as Thursday and return as late as Monday (with a Saturday involved).

For the maximum per dollar ROI, you can get a one-day weekend rental at under $20 after taxes/fees, netting you 1,500 bonus miles at the cost of $0.013/mile (many miles collectors aim for anything under two cents/mile).

So why can't you just do a series of one-day contracts (i.e., returning a car and renting another one at the same time) and earn more miles? While it doesn't state so explicitly in the terms and conditions, from personal experience, AVIS has had a history of considering those types of rentals to be a single rental for the purposes of promos. But your mileage may vary, and if you this route, you'll likely have to contact them a few times to get results. And of course, you have the inconvenience of returning to the airport and going through the process each time.

While the terms for this "Make a Statement" promo suggest that you use a certain AWD number assigned to AA, you can combine most coupon codes with most AWD numbers, if you had a favorite one to use. If you don't have an AWD and found this info helpful, please feel free to click here or use AWD U4517031 (which also nets you up to a 35% discount).

Full details of the promo can be found here. And if you don't have an AAdvantage number already, make sure you sign up for one!