One of the best feelings when you’re planning a trip is when you can find secret coupon codes to save you a killer amount of money. For the past decade I’ve been using a variety of hidden discount codes that have helped to reduce the cost of my travel significantly. There have been times when I’ve even managed to raise the eyebrow of the car rental attendants because of how cheap I managed to get the car rental down to.
Finding an awesome discount code is like discovering treasure!
I’ve written about car rental discount codes in the past but it is a topic that deserves a refresh as the codes tend to come and go. I also wanted to take this opportunity to clean things up and make it easier to read and apply these codes.
Indispensable Car Rental Discount Codes
The following is a list of car rental codes that I’ve personally vetted. Each one of them offer a certain amount of discount and I’ve put them into an organized table to allow you to quickly navigate between car rental company which code works the best for you.
In terms of the “Amount of Discount” the way I calculated this was by simply taking discount offered by the code over the price if no code was used. I did this based on the total cost of the rental including taxes and fees instead of the daily rate as this seemed more fair of a comparison. That said, I would take as a grain of salt because each company has different base rates so what you should really care about is the final price of the rental which is where the Case Study further down gives you a clearer picture of which code is “better”.
Current Hot Deal
Hertz: Get a Free Day When You Rent For Six with code: 203968. Ends 12/31/19
Enterprise UK: Pre-pay and save 10% online
Budget: Save up to 40% off base rates for your next road trip with Pay Now.
Avis: For a limited time save up to 30% on base rates during our Spring Sale. Return your car rental by 3/31/19 to take advantage of these special savings.
Europcar:
Early bird deal. Get up to 35% off rentals. To enjoy this special discount, book until the 24th of March.
Weekend rates start at $12.99/day with code: WKEN1 with Hertz.
In UK and Ireland, get 5% off car rentals. Good for car rentals before June 1, 2021.
Ireland is 15% off with Europcar
With Avis, try coupon code TUCA036, TUCA037 to get a free 5th night with AWD W222853 (Thanks Gene!)
Note that new codes are being added all the time so keep coming back and bookmark this page!
The BIG DISCLAIMER that I have to put out there is that by using corporate discount codes (codes that belong to a company and are only meant for employees), while you likely won’t get checked for an employee card, if you do get into an accident or require any sort of insurance claim, you will NOT get covered since you’ve effectively voided any coverage. Use at your own risk.
The Case Study
A sample example is usually the best way to exemplify which code does better than others. Through the table below, you’ll see how these companies price their rentals. Some offer deep discounts on these codes while others don’t offer much of a promotion on codes anymore or only make it seem like you’re getting a discount when you really aren’t.
Lastly, what you need to put into consideration is that this is only one example. This search was done 3 weeks out from the rental and this is an airport location in the US. Rates and discounts will vary depending on days of the week, how far out you’re booking, and where you’re renting from. For instance, I was able to find insane rates via Europcar in Ireland that even the lady working the desk was shocked to see.
Trip Details
- Location: Denver International Airport (DEN)
- Dates: Saturday February 24 – Tuesday February 27
- Duration: 3 days
- Car Type: Midsize/Intermediate
The Price Comparison Table
Looking to do your own price comparison for an upcoming trip? Make a copy of my spreadsheet to save you time.
Direct link to Google Sheet
My Observations
- Thrifty’s codes have become practically useless which is sad.
- You’ll notice that Thrifty and Dollar’s prices are the same – that makes sense because they’re pretty much the same company.
- A lot of these discount companies are going the way of discounts through pre-pay. Pre-pay only if you’re absolutely sure you’re going to rent with the company you choose and you’re not going to make any changes. You’re better off with paying later if you think there’s a chance of anything changing.
- Fox Rent A Company is insanely cheap but I’m skeptical. I personally haven’t used them before so proceed with caution.
How Else Can I Save On Car Rentals?
Didn’t find a code here for your needs?
There are always not-so-secret codes that the car rental companies post themselves. I usually share these on my travel deals page or you can go to the car rental company pages themselves to see what promos they are running.
Rent outside the airport
Airports are always going to be more expensive to rent than going into the city. That’s because airport has additional taxes and fees on top. Rental companies also increase the rates in exchange for the convenience of renting a vehicle right when you land. You might be better off taking a cab into the city and renting from a smaller location.
Watch out for sneaky fees and add ons
I’ve noticed that some car rental companies like to add insurance coverage and other add ons automatically when you make bookings online. When you confirm your booking and when you sign the papers at the counter, make sure you read all the inclusions and pay attention to anything they might’ve snuck in. Prepaid gas is something that is quite common.
Don’t pay for insurance you don’t need
Where rental companies make money is in the additional insurance such as loss damage waivers (LDW), collission damage waivers (CDW), or personal effects coverage. Thing is, if you’re already covered under your own car insurance, you have something like CAA/AAA membership, or you have an awesome credit card, you really don’t need to pay for extra insurance.
Don’t pre-pay for gas
I would say do it if you know you’re going to be really tight on time but otherwise it doesn’t make sense to do this.
How it works is that they’ll charge you for a full tank at a slightly inflated market rate on fuel. This means that even if you have half a tank left, they’ll charge you for full fill up. Don’t do it if you can avoid it and make sure you decline it.
General Car Rental Tips
Read the fine print for tax, fees, and information
Where car rental companies get you is in the fine print often times. I can’t even count the number of times when I’ve seen a killer deal on a rental only to find that there are a ton of added fees on top or you realize it isn’t unlimited miles.
I typically don’t worry as much for the big rental companies but if you’re booking from a smaller unknown/local rental company, make sure you read the details.
Don’t reserve a car under a card you’re going to cancel
This turned out to be an issue for me in South Africa with Europcar. I totally wasn’t thinking about this at the time but as part of the churning that I do, I ended up cancelling a card that I made a reservation with. During check-in they asked for my ID including the card. I of course, didn’t have the card on me anymore. Luckily, the manager on duty made an exception for me to allow me to keep my reservation but if things played out differently, I would have had to create a new reservation which undoubtedly would have been much more expensive.
Research all the rental companies
The big players don’t necessarily always win. Especially if you’re travelling outside North America, there are a lot of other companies that you might not’ve heard of.
For example, Jucy is huge in New Zealand but I never would have known if I didn’t do my research. Similarly, Iceland was the same in that all the big companies were ridiculously expensive and so we ended up booking with Blue Car Rental which was completely unknown to us but had excellent rates.
If you’re interested in Dollar in the UK, they have good rates as well.
Lastly, it may also make a difference to look at the local country’s car rental websites. For instance, Enterprise.com is usually where I naturally go to search but if you’re renting in Canada you should look at Enterprise.ca and if you’re travelling to the UK, you should use Enterprise.co.uk.
Don’t discount loyalty
You have to put value in loyalty programs and what will make your life easier. I’ve been with National for a long time and I belong to their Emerald Club program. While their prices may not always be the lowest, I find myself booking with them often because they’re the only car rental company where I can go out to the aisle and pick the car I want. This is HUGE.
The worst is when you go out onto the lot and realize they gave you a crappy car and you have to go back inside to ask for a change. It’s time wasted and most of the times you just don’t want to have to deal with that.
Additional Car Rental Deals That I’ve Found
Looking For More Travel Deals?
Make sure you head to the travel deal portal
Take me to the deals
Any codes for national car rental?
Yes there are codes in this article for National.
This is amazing, thanks for putting this together! I just saved a bunch with Avis using AWD A442100 and Coupon MUWA152, which knocks $25 off your rental price.
Do you have anything similar for airlines?
Thanks again!
Sweet I’m glad you were able to find a good deal!
For flights, I do flight deals with the weekly newsletter if you’re interested in signing up https://goingawesomeplaces.com/flight-deals-subscribe/
Do you have car rental codes for 2019?
Thanks
All the codes here are valid for 2019!
W222853 has given me biggest discounts. Not sure about under 25 there.
Yes that’s a good one!
This scares me a bit. I came here, as we all do, by Googling coupon codes. I found the article and quickly did a “Ctrl + F” and searched for “Enterprise”. Due to the short notice and a family emergency I am rapidly making the booking and felt I had no time to read the article (SORRY!). However, right before I was about to check out I thought “Hmm, I wonder if he mentions someone checking if I’m a Costco member” and returned to start reading. When I came upon the red print I was shocked.
So, to confirm, if I use this code to save $20-$30 dollars, I may end up in a situation (accident) where my Costco membership comes into question? So when my bluff is called, my insurance will be invalid and I will owe them thousands of dollars? This is a very scary thing to think about, and then to consider how many other people have potentially used these codes without reading, as I had almost done.
If you have any opportunity to clarify any additional details you may have about this before tomorrow afternoon, I would greatly appreciate it! As much as I want to save some money, the risk seems WAY higher than the reward to me, but I want to be sure I understand this.
-A Concerned Renter
Hey! Well the truth is that’s a bit of a risk you take by using corporate codes from companies you technically don’t work for. I think they’re worth using if there’s a substantial saving but if you’re balancing a small discount to potentially not being able to make a proper insurance claim, you might be better off not using the code. I hope that helps!
When you use corporate code that has insurance included (as part of their deal), and you try to file a claim through Avis, this is where your claim might get denied, because technically, it’s tied to the company, because you didn’t pay anything for it, the company technically did.
But if you use a corporate code (best one I use is: W222853), that doesn’t include insurance, and you decide to pay extra for your insurance through Avis, or decline, and use your credit card, that corporate code has nothing to do with the claim, because it’s related to an individual, who purchased the insurance.
if you decline their insurance and use your credit card insurance would that still invalidate your policy if found using corporate code you don’t belong to?
I’ve never tested this theory. I feel like this would depend on your credit card and whether they would 1) find out about it and 2) whether they consider using these codes as invalidating the CC insurance policy. Not sure if someone else could chime in?
That shouldn’t invalidate anything. When you use corporate code that has insurance included (as part of their deal), and you try to file a claim through Avis, this is where your claim might get denied, because technically, it’s tied to the company, because you didn’t pay anything for it, the company technically did.
But if you use a corporate code (best one I use is: W222853), that doesn’t include insurance, and you decide to pay extra for your insurance through Avis, or decline, and use your credit card, that corporate code has nothing to do with the claim, because it’s related to an individual, who purchased the insurance.
I’ve have a very good experience with using CV code 022Q9225 for hertz. It’s a code that has set rates, so be sure to look around and compare.
Awesome thanks for sharing the code Justin!
Do you have a list of corporate codes that maybe people who works there may not know they can use it? I work for a Honeywell corporation and I have had their corporate code for many years, but I can no longer find it for new employees. It gives very good corporate flat rates. I also use discount coupons along with the corporate code to get me extra 20-30 dollars off per rental. Also the with National I can set to get airline miles instead of free rental days. I find it stupid that you cannot use free rental days with a discount coupon. Makes the free day worthless since I can usually get a coupon worth the free day.
I don’t have those codes unfortunately but if someone else here has those, I’d be happy to put them up here to share.
Putting my car in the shop. Gonna need a rental today, thursday and plan to keep until next. Wed/thursday. I Live in Houston, Texas.
Have you tried the coupon codes here? The National and Avis ones are really good so give it a shot.
code 40000 gives me the biggest discount!! However, it also doesn’t let me prepay, so needless to say extremely worried about getting questioned about the IBM code – has anyone used it and been asked for more info at the window.. It’s the only code that doesn’t let you prepay.
You’re right – it doesn’t take prepay unfortunately. I personally don’t have experience using codes with Hertz so I wouldn’t be able to answer you confidently. One thing you could do is make this booking and have a back up booking ready in-case.
Any codes to book a car for 15 days? Looking around 200-300$ range in NJ/PA area
Have you tried using Avis with AWD: W222853 and code TUCA037?
Hello. I have 2 new coupon codes, that can be redemmed for free days on avis.com rental car site.
1st code: TUCA036
FREE 3rd day on weekend rental. Must be used with AWD code: W222853. Applies to intermediate (group C) through full size (group E). Weekend rental period begins Thursday and car must be returned by Monday 11:59 pm
Expires: 01/31/2019
2nd coupon: TUCA037
FREE 5th day on weekly rental. Must be used with AWD code: W222853. Applies to intermediate (group C) through full size (group E). Minimum 5 consecutive day rental with Saturday night keep.
Expires: 01/31/2019
Also using AWD code W222853 gives huge savings. Up to 40% in some locations
Sweet thanks for these!
The avis awd# y325274 I came across has the lowest rate i’ve seen. You can also use it with coupon MUPA007 for an additional $25 off.
Sweet I’m glad that one worked out for you and thanks for sharing these new codes 🙂
Expired 8/15/2018
Which one is expired 8/15?
OMG i just booked an AVIS rental car for a week out of Boston airport full size car for $313.00 all taxes, fees and unlimited mileage AND i didn’t have to PREPAY!! when i called to inquire about the prepay amount, expecting it to be a little cheaper, it was $720!! the agent told me to hang on to my existing ‘pay at the counter’ reservation! i’ve been researching for 1 1/2 days and this has been by far the best deal!. COUPON A442100!! THANK YOU!! : )
Thank you for sharing your story! The codes do make a big difference and happy to hear that you’ve been able to save a TON of money 🙂
I need a code by tomorrow can u help am coming from Washington Dulles one way to Cleveland airport
Hey for a one-way rental like that, I’d recommend using the Contract ID from National: 5000491. Try it out and let me know what you get!
Hope this forum isn’t dead! Do you know which company this code belongs too? In case I’m blindsided at the counter. Also, I’m under 25 and it seems this kills the Young Driver fee
Hey Caleb, which code are you asking about? There are a few that are good for under 25 that I think I’ve made note of.
I’ve used AWD code W222853 for big discounts, and if your keeping for at least 5 days, with Saturday, use coupon code TUCA037 for free day.
Thanks for sharing Gene! I’ve added it to the list!