I typically drive up to CO when I go so I don't have to rent a vehicle, but I'm taking a quick trip up there in the middle of July for a friend's wedding so I'm flying. I'll be there less than 36 hours all told, but I was gonna grab a rental car and go hit Mt. Evans the day I leave. $260 bucks for the tiniest car they have at the airport for 1.5 days is pretty nuts.

Supply, demand, and uninformed consumers. The airport is the worst place to rent a car. Never go direct either. Try Costco, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc at an off-airport agency.

Denver always has the highest rates. I use Silvercar there, at least you get a nice car for the $$$.

Also try dealerships. I did nit know this until recently, but some rent cars out.

Can you take a train or Uber somewhere and rent from an off-airport location? I know for our trip to Boston this summer, I found it was much cheaper to rent from Avis at a location near our hotel and return it to the airport at the end of the trip instead of renting from the airport location. That saves us the cost of parking the car at the hotel the 1st night (hotels near the freedom trail seem to uniformly charge $50/night for parking) and the cost of the 1st day's rental. Since we are coming in Friday night, we will just take an uber or a taxi to the hotel and then rent the car the next day.

I took the train from airport to downtown Denver last summer & rented at a local Hertz location down there.

I had luck with Hotwire out of Denver. San Diego in June is less than normal. Depends on market.

Get away from the airport and your price will be more favorable.

This was an option I was was given for my trip from Bozeman to Jackson Hole next week.

I have paid over $400 for a full size truck at the Midland airport, I typically don't have them more than 12 hours.

I'm currently in Ireland, my 4 door decent car is $8/day.

I rented a car in Tulsa for about 2 days a couple of years ago. Turned it back in and the clerk said we will email you a receipt, our system isn't working right now. Never got a recent...and my credit card was never charged for the rental.

You don't get the fear factor when driving in Tulsa that you get on the backroads in Ireland. The adrenaline rush is worth the $8.

The "fear factor" on my Tulsa trips was always going back through TSA and watching them swab my backpack after spending a couple of days at the Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester.

wangus12 said:

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but I'm taking a quick trip up there in the middle of July for a friend's wedding so I'm flying.

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Your friend's and about 10k other Colorado July weddings. That's a lot of people needing rental cars. It ain't rocket science, and they don't rent for half days.

As mentioned, take the rail and rent from non-airport locations, or do a mountain shuttle.

Did a quick search and found $111-$126 (economy-full size) for 2 day rental from Denver Downtown Avis through Costco.

Damn, they proud of that Malibu aint they.

Audi A4 is $341, July 12 - 14. That's the all in price. They pass tolls though, car seats are free, and they car you $10, plus the cost of fuel when you are done. Silvercar is the best deal in Denver.

txags92 said:

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Can you take a train or Uber somewhere and rent from an off-airport location? I know for our trip to Boston this summer, I found it was much cheaper to rent from Avis at a location near our hotel and return it to the airport at the end of the trip instead of renting from the airport location. That saves us the cost of parking the car at the hotel the 1st night (hotels near the freedom trail seem to uniformly charge $50/night for parking) and the cost of the 1st day's rental. Since we are coming in Friday night, we will just take an uber or a taxi to the hotel and then rent the car the next day.

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I don't know your complete plans, but there is hardly any reason to rent a car in Boston.

malenurse said:

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txags92 said:

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Can you take a train or Uber somewhere and rent from an off-airport location? I know for our trip to Boston this summer, I found it was much cheaper to rent from Avis at a location near our hotel and return it to the airport at the end of the trip instead of renting from the airport location. That saves us the cost of parking the car at the hotel the 1st night (hotels near the freedom trail seem to uniformly charge $50/night for parking) and the cost of the 1st day's rental. Since we are coming in Friday night, we will just take an uber or a taxi to the hotel and then rent the car the next day.

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I don't know your complete plans, but there is hardly any reason to rent a car in Boston.

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We are flying in Friday night, spending a half day there, then driving to Bar Harbor in Maine for the rest of the week.

txags92 said:

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malenurse said:

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txags92 said:

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Can you take a train or Uber somewhere and rent from an off-airport location? I know for our trip to Boston this summer, I found it was much cheaper to rent from Avis at a location near our hotel and return it to the airport at the end of the trip instead of renting from the airport location. That saves us the cost of parking the car at the hotel the 1st night (hotels near the freedom trail seem to uniformly charge $50/night for parking) and the cost of the 1st day's rental. Since we are coming in Friday night, we will just take an uber or a taxi to the hotel and then rent the car the next day.

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I don't know your complete plans, but there is hardly any reason to rent a car in Boston.

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We are flying in Friday night, spending a half day there, then driving to Bar Harbor in Maine for the rest of the week.

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That's a good reason.

Hotwire routinely has the lowest rates. I always use them. Since they're opaque, you don't know which company you're getting. But that doesn't really matter. I'll take the savings any day.

If you're doing wedding in the city and take the train, you can also look at zip car and things like that which can be reasonable for a day

Marauder Blue 6 said:

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Supply, demand, and uninformed consumers. The airport is the worst place to rent a car. Never go direct either. Try Costco, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc at an off-airport agency.

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Not always true but more times than not.

'Day of' hotwire rates are incredibly cheap. You've just got to have the stomach to purposefully not pay for that in advance.