I'm looking at rental cars for my trip in Feb and the pricing is sky high for an AWD vehicle.  

I came across a website called TURO   

From what I see, it appears to built on an airbnb.com type platform where you rent a car directly from its owner.

Has anyone here familar with this?  It seems legit but better safe than sorry.

Sorry, don't know anything about Turo. 

I'd suggest checking car prices a couple of times a week, and then use the Southwest webiste to get additional discounts off of the standard rates. Other airlines probably do the same thing.  Prices vary A LOT depending on when you book. I just came back from Colorado and paid $16/day for a midsize car. Over the last few months, the price for that car for my dates varied from $15/day to $66/day.When you see a deal, book it but keep looking, it might get better.

Pro tip... When looking for car rentals NEVER even bother looking at any of the local/stripmall car rental spots. If there is an airport anywhere around look exclusively at the rental options directly on site. Their pricing is going to be a fraction of other rental places and they are going to have 10x more selection.

Bob - with you being a "local", I assume you'd recommend an AWD vehicle, correct?  

DT3 - agree 100%

bob wrote:

 

I'd suggest checking car prices a couple of times a week, and then use the Southwest webiste to get additional discounts off of the standard rates. Other airlines probably do the same thing.  

 

I just looked at Southwest's website, and it has no car rental deals that extend past 1/31. You'll need to wait a while  for them to load February. However I did see an SUV $89/day rate from Budget ande a $90/day rate from Alamo for your dates, whick isn't totally outrageous. I have seen SUV rates of over $150/day.

Looking at and of January dates for the same length stay, Alamo's  SUV rate with the SWA discount goes down to $76/day (also started at $90/day before SWA discount). So I'd wait til SWA loads Febryuary discounts and then get serious about looking and booking.

Blue Don 1982 wrote:

Bob - with you being a "local", I assume you'd recommend an AWD vehicle, correct?  

DT3 - agree 100%

It's probably the safest bet. If you know what you are doing, front wheel drive is normally all you need. But there are times that front wheel drive will keep you stuck. You pays your money, and you takes your chances...

I drive a 4WD SUV.

I don't understand how the car rental biz makes thing work, crazy.  Anyway, what a lot of ski travelers do is hunt for the best deal on an SUV and for a regular car.  Make reservations for both and keep checking to see if rates get even better as date approaches and switch to best deals.  Then when you arrive at Denver (or wherever) airport pick the one you need and forget about the other.  I've been to CO many times and had 4wd for only one visit, it was my big one last winter when I spent 6 weeks there and had my own subaru.  Otherwise, you can usually make it with 2wd, and in a pinch you could buy $50 chains and make your 2wd better than a 4wd.  Maybe your group could get by with minivans?  They can sometimes be a lot cheaper than SUVs.  Also, you guys have the safety net of the free buses in Summit County if it snows once you get there. They run through anything including a 3 foot storm once when I was there with my son.

Be sure to check which rental vehicles are covered by your personal auto insurance and/or credit card company.  Frequently a speciality vehicle like a big van or SUV are not covered.  Rental vehicle insurance can be ultra expensive!

The Colonel

I've found Expedia to have good options to compare and good rates.  I try to stay away from SUVs and look for smaller AWD subbies and similar.

Btw - friend of mine just called me from Copper...snowing hard all day.  Was going to Frisco but roads are shut down.

JimK wrote:

hunt for the best deal on an SUV and for a regular car.  Make reservations for both and keep checking to see if rates get even better as date approaches and switch to best deals. 

Great idea!  And I'll use TURO as a last minute backup plan as they have stricter cancellation policies.  Priceline is going to be sick of me firing off weekly low ball offers.

Thanks for all the help everyone.  Now damnit, it needs to SNOW!

I've had great luck using Priceline for car rentals.  You can specify the type of car you want and if you do it far enough in advance, you can start the bidding fairly low and work your way up as the date gets closer.  Good luck!

I tried to use Turo (or it's former creation:  Relayrides) for a quick vacation trip to Austin this summer.  We were going to be there for three days.  I tried to reserve and I never heard back from the car owner.  I tried another car and got no response either.  We ended up paying way too much for a crappy economy size car.  It was a death trap on wheels!

If Turo wants to be the VRBO/AirBnB of car rentals, they really need to have their vendors go through a strict application process which should include making sure they respond to reservation requests!

I've had good luck over the years with hotwire/carrentals.com and Priceline 'name your own price'.  I recently booked for a trip to slc on 2/2 - 2/11. I first booked with car rentals.com for a mid size suv, no prepayment, fully cancellable for $552 total cost.  Then began to 'test' name your own price on Priceline going with a low bid every day or two.  After several trys, avis accepted my bid (I think it was for 28/day) with the total cost including taxes and fees at $379 for 9 days for a mid size suv.  That does not include any additional Insurance as my personal insurance and credit card provide needed coverage.

Beware though, when you name your own price, it is immediately billed and non refundable.