Now that the Summer is here, the next thing you would need is to find an economical solution to address the cars you will be renting. Rather than reserve your cash for some other enjoyable means, a large chunk of it goes to the vehicle you will rent. However, thanks to Hotwire.com, some tips may change all that.

Here are some great leads to wiser car renting for the summer and it would be advisable to apply these as soon as you can:

If you see a good rate, reserve it right away. Prices are expected to continue rising through July and are expected to stay high all the way through August.

Rent on the weekends. When business travelers have gone home for the weekend, there is more inventory and lower prices for the consumer.

Rent away from the airport if possible. Off-airport and local rental centers can often be cheaper due to lower taxes and fees. Often, by sacrificing convenience, you can save money.

Make sure to fill up the tank before returning your car. Rental centers charge a much higher rate than you’d find at the pump for those who forget to fill up. If you don’t want the hassle, many rental car companies will also allow you to pre-purchase your tank of gas to avoid fees, but it’s still cheaper to fill it up on your own.

Book opaque. Although prices are expected to spike this year, by booking through opaque sites such as Hotwire, consumers can save big. Hotwire Hot Rates allow you to choose your car category and pick up and drop off times without knowing the exact car rental company in exchange for deep discounts – up to 40 percent and rates from $14.95 a day.

(Source) Press

Tags: business travelers, car category, car rental company, Cars, chunk, consumers, convenience, economical solution, exact car, hassle, lower taxes, money, rental car companies, Tank

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Each tip helps is what most people are looking for today. With traveling expected to peak this Summer, you can bet a lot of people are looking for leads and tips on how to be an economical vacationer through the use of their vehicles.

For that, the Alliance to Save Energy and its 13 diverse nonprofit, governmental, trade association, and for-profit partners in the Drive $marter Challenge fuel efficiency campaign aim to provide vacationers and everyday drivers with hundreds of dollars of money-saving gas tips, resources, and myth busters on an interactive website that responds to the call of frugal drivers.

Among the highlights for drivers include:

• Decrease your speed. Gas mileage usually decreases rapidly above 60 mph. Each five miles per hour over 60 mph is like paying an additional 20 cents or more per gallon for gas.
• Drive sensibly. Speeding, rapid acceleration (jackrabbit starts), and rapid braking can lower gas mileage by 33% at highway speeds.
• Use cruise control and overdrive gear. Cruise control cuts fuel consumption by maintaining a steady speed during highway driving. Overdrive gear, when appropriate, reduces engine speed, saves gas, and reduces engine wear.
• It’s a “drag.” Avoid carrying items on your vehicle’s roof. A loaded roof rack or carrier increases weight and aerodynamic drag, which can cut mileage by 5%. Place items inside the trunk when possible to improve fuel economy.
• Turn down the AC. Operating the air conditioner on “Max” can reduce mpg by 5-25% compared to not using it.
• Avoid idling, which gets 0 mpg. Cars with larger engines typically waste even more gas while idling than cars with smaller engines.
• Navigate with a GPS system. GPS systems can help you find your way and, increasingly, GPS programs can search for low-priced gas at nearby stations.
• Fill up before returning rental. Rental car companies charge higher gas prices if you don’t fill up the tank before returning the vehicle. Keep your gas receipts in case the company requires them to remove a gas surcharge.

Follow these simple tips and you may be surprised at the savings you will get. If you want to get an idea of how much money you are wasting on fuel, here is a website calculator that may be of some help as well.

(Source) Press

Tags: aerodynamic drag, alliance to save energy, cruise control, engine speed, fuel consumption, fuel economy, fuel efficiency, gas mileage, gas receipts, gps programs, gps system, highway speeds, jackrabbit, myth busters, nearby stations, rapid acceleration, rental car companies, roof rack, steady speed, vacationer

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It is apparent that to stay in business, you have to go with the flow. For car rentals, staying put with your current line of vehicles will get you nowhere and the real deal is listening to the demands of people today. And this is turning towards offering hybrid cars for rent as the demand for them continues to rise.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car says it’s doubling its rental hybrid vehicles by adding about 5,000 hybrids to its nationwide fleet.

And despite higher up front rental costs, customers are asking for them because it makes returning the cars with a full tank a little easier.

“We’ve noticed that over the past few months our customers are asking for a fuel efficient, environmentally friendly vehicles,” Bob Albrecht said with Enterprise.

Most other rental car companies do offer hybrid vehicles. But the enterprise family claims to have most fuel efficient cars.

(Source) Arkansas Matters

Tags: bob albrecht, car rentals, enterprise rent a car, fuel efficient cars, full tank, hybrid cars, hybrid vehicles, hybrids, real deal, rental car companies

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The relationship is synonymous to the law of demand and supply: no rentals means no new car purchases. That is the scenario at the moment as rentals are not spared from the economic plunge. With people opting to forego renting a car, car rentals seem to be finding little reason to purchase new cars.

With that, car manufacturer sales are hurting as well. A fine portion of their sales come from car rentals who invest in these cars for business. Car rental companies have seen demand for their services fall since the financial crisis erupted in September 2008, prompting businesses and consumers to cut back on travel spending.

With cars sitting idle in their lots, rental companies are much more inclined to scale back their fleets than to buy new vehicles.

(Source) AP

Tags: auto sales, car manufacturer, car purchases, car rentals, financial crisis, new cars, new vehicles, plunge, rental car companies, renting a car

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