Thanks, Matt - you do seem to cover it all.

I've rented at least 20 cars in the last year and the best advice I can offer is to be kind, patient and genuine with the car rental agent (in person specifically). Acknowledge their efforts and time and be grateful. I've been upgraded on every, single rental in the last year, sometimes just a grade up sometimes from a compact to a midsized suv and even a couple premium and luxury upgrades. It pays to be a decent human being, especially now.

I worked in various fields of the automotive industry and including car rental. Everything he said is spot on. The only thing I will say is getting the insurance is worth it. I’ve had customers literally total the rental and with the coverage they bought didn’t have to pay a dime and didn’t go on their record.

I would suggest an updated video on this. Covid has done a number on car rental prices.

I’ve always used enterprise. Their customer service is top notch. When I rented from them last month, I was upgraded from a sedan to an Audi Q7 just for being polite and patient while he was dealing with less than pleasant customers.

I work in sales for Hertz inside of an airport. Everything you said is true, BUT if you would’ve told us you weren’t comfortable with the price, we have full control over how much we want to charge you a day since we make commission. We are taught to even cut prices in half if the customer is unhappy.

Re: rental car insurance. I personally recommend it. Saved me tons of grief. My son rented a mini van, chose the rental company optional insurance at my insistence, then photographed every square inch of the car for our own protection. Had the van 4 days while staying at a hotel waiting for escrow to close and move in our home. One night there was a rowdy party and a lot of parking lot activity. When we turned in the van, they noticed a huge dent in the roof above the driver’s side door. My son had not photographed the roof! Don’t know if it was pre-existing or a result of the partyiers. Would have been thousands to repair. We walked away hassle free. PS. I’ve read where some rental car companies KNOW OF pre-existing damage, conveniently do not record it on your initial inspection, then ding you when the car is turned in. There have been instances where companies have done this scam several times using the same car. Therefore, I consider their optional insurance on a par with a solid password on your computer: mandatory. Don’t “cheap out”!

There might be something to this Autoslash. I had a car reserved for $370 for 4 days through Enterprise and, through Autoslash, received a quote for a different branch just a few miles down the road for $270. I'm impressed! Thanks Matt!

Just wanted to say that I saved about $134 today just by following your car rental advice! Thank you so much, really, thank you for putting in the work on behalf of all of us who don’t know these things 💖💖

*** Best Thing about Airport Rental locations, they are typically open 24hrs 365. Beats waiting for the rental place to open again or making it b4/after closing time

Hi Matt, I stumbled on to your channel on moments before renting a car on line. I watched this video and took your advise and booked with auto slash. My price dropped from $32 per day to $15.25 per day. Thank you for that! Also took insurance through auto slash. 7 days insurance for $63. Thanks again for the free advise.

Out of all the advice given (and all were good), the best was GET A PRINTED RECEIPT. Once you are given a printed receipt it is a lot harder (not impossible but close to) for the car rental company to charge you for cleaning, repairs, damage, etc. Also this serves as proof that the car was return and the employee who received it did not see the need for any additional charges.

Holy moly!!! I am so glad that I found you!! I have a 5-day trip to Hawaii coming up in June, and the car rental prices are ridiculous!! All of the companies are charging $700+ for a 5-day car rental!!! I was about to give up and not bother renting a car when I found you! I used the website that you recommended, and boom! The price dropped from $700+ to $300!!! I almost can't believe it!!! I am so thankful and grateful!!! I will be using that website for all of my future car rentals!!

You need to be extremely careful with taking the 3rd party insurance through another company versus the car rental dealership themselves. While it may be cheaper, there are a hell of a lot of restrictions regarding what they will or will not cover. Always remember that you get what you pay for.

HIGHLY recommend you take pictures of the vehicle or video inside/out when you pick up and drop off. Our rental was wet when we picked it up and something that looked like a water drop was actually a chip in the windshield. They tried to charge us $750 to fix it. And always get a receipt when you turn car in. My husband declined the insurance and when he asked for the receipt, they took forever to give it to him and insurance was conveniently added despite declining it.

From someone that has worked in numerous car rental companies, Child Seats are not part of our commisions and the prices go from 10€ per day or 2-6€ per day for a Booster. But they are never, absolutely never part of our commisions, mostly because it's an obligatory product that you must have for your child and it's not really a sale.

Just saw your video. Excellent tips. As a former car rental employee the insurance tip is important, while working for Enterprise a nice elderly lady rented a car and declined the insurance ten minutes after leaving she was in an accident. She was fine just scared but since she refused insurance she had to pay $500 before she could get another car. Keep up the great work.

Thanks Matt. We told ourselves that when we ever needed to rent a car...again, we would try your "secrets". WOW...it worked like a charm!

I just appreciate that you actually understand how damage waiver works. Although I should let you know if you are home city employee at least for my rental car company you do not get commission for any add-ons. Although it may be different for other companies or airport locations.

Matt, what a timely video. Had reserved a car in Florida for a weeks vacation direct via Alamo. Almost $970 (with insurance for the week). Used AutoSlash. Booked the same size SUV (with insurance) for $501. JUST AWESOME. Many thanks.

I don't own a car and am dependent on renting a car. I usually travel every month to spend time with my elderly mother. It is unbelievable how much prices of rental cars has skyrocketed since the beginning of the year. I will hate to curtail my travels but might have to.

I wished I would of seen these tips before! My mother in law was dying, so we had to use a car rental. I will never use Hertz again! They literally doubled my rental, when we tried to appeal for their compassion, due to an error. There slogan was, the contract is signed and there is nothing we can do. Horrible experience during a very difficult time.

I take photos of the gas tank and of every scratch or dent during the initial walk around. Just in case any proof of original condition is needed when returning the vehicle.

Just watched this video and tried auto slash. I'd usually default to the Enterprise near my brother's house. Auto slash gave me rates for a Hertz dealer that is actually 10 minutes closer. Saved me $130 for a three day rental over Labor Day weekend. Amazing! Guess I wasn't doing enough due diligence before. Wouldn't have seen this without your video. Liked and subscribed!

Thank you so much, I hope that you will do an updated version based on what’s going on today. I love your content

I worked at hertz.... Lots of people that book with a debit card on a third party site tend to show up and get screwed over because if they can’t pass a credit check they can’t rent a car or have an unexpected deposit. The best insurance to get (Atleast with Hertz) is the LDW(loss damage waiver) it covers the car so you don’t have to file on your insurance AND if it’s damaged you don’t have to pay the daily rental charges for it every day it’s in the shop (your insurance won’t cover that). Debit cards at the airport they will run a credit check, and hold a deposit on top of your rental amount (you must also have your flight itinerary) Sign up for the hertz gold profile, it’s free and you get perks!

Love these tips. Just have to reinforce not to prepay for tank of gas as even if you return on empty, the value of the gallon or so that is actually still in the tank would well cover any higher price you'd pay at a gas station near the drop off.

We always book through Costco and have found their price beats everybody else's hands down

Thank you. Have a blessed day!

Have you seen weirdness when rental time periods push from 4 to 5 days? I had an issue in hawaii where it became CRAZY more expensive to rent for 5 days vs 4 days because it moved to the weekly instead of daily rate. This applied to every agency! The odd thing is you would think that a weekly rate should be cheaper, not more expensive. In fact, it was even cheaper for me to book 3 days + 2 days as independent trips rather than 5 days!

Thank you! I was just getting ready to look for a vacation car rental, now I feel a little more empowered! :-)

Disclaimer. I am a former car rental manager. On several websites I have given my assistance to people in finding the best deal. I have even consulted with the owner of Autoslash when he was first starting. And I have the emails to prove it. Overall, your six tips were 100% spot on. I do have a 7th for you. Yes, you will always save money by prepaying for a rental. And yes, rental agents do make much of their money from add-ons. But there are some add-ons that have value, and there are some ways that rental agents make money that you didn't mention. Let me go through my number seven for you. Car rental agents make money from walk-ups as well. I left the car rental industry in 2007. And since then I have never paid a car rental at the lowest advertised rate utilizing any of the websites. I have beaten it, often significantly. This also works to get a better class of car than you paid for as well. I have this process: I book the lowest refundable rate I can find. I make sure that it's 100% refundable and that I will not have any issues if I no-show. Then when I land, with a printed copy of my rate, I will walk to all the rental companies located on the airport. I will walk up to the agent and say "can you beat this?" 95% of the time I will get an agent that will find me a cheaper rate because that walk up traffic is a commission walking out the door. Now this will not work if you have a reservation and you try to walk up to the same company that you hold a reservation for. So you need to make sure you have one safety reservation is what I call it at a rate that you can live with. Let's say that company is Avis. When you arrive at the airport you check Hertz, national, Alamo, advantage, Fox, budget or any other rental car company to see if they can beat that rate. If they don't, you stick with your safety reservation. If they do, and almost every single time they do at least give you added value for the same price, you can opt to stay or take the better rate. The 5% of the time that I do not get a better rate or get the same rate, it's because they are sold out in the entire airport, which is all too common right now. However in Las Vegas in early May, I was able to secure a rate $15 per day less than my reservation with this same process. There is one circumstance where using the website of the rental company is useful. If the company that you work for or the association that you are a member of has a discount, you need to at least investigate what that discount will get you. For example, if you need to pay for a second driver, many discounts will make that second driver free, include collision damage waiver insurance, include a free tank of gas, or provide other benefits on top of a discount. Your mileage may quite literally vary, but if you pay $15 a day more using a company rate then auto slash can give you, but it includes full insurance, additional drivers, it allows you a free tank of gas, you might very well come out significantly ahead. For example, it's been many years but there was a marketing company that had a negotiated rate with the company that I worked for. LDW first $5,000 was covered by the company rate, additional drivers were free, the rate also allowed the use of a debit card without additional fees, also allowed underage drivers without an additional fee. To top it all off, the rate also allowed them to return the gas at any level with no charge. But they were paying a flat $50 per day unlimited mileage. In some cities, New York for example, $50 per day at that time was fantastic. But in the off season in Hawaii, cars could be had as cheap as $15 per day. But an additional driver, underage driver, insurance would add $75 per day, you can see where the company and anyone using that code who was authorized could significantly save money.

I'm working on customer service for an airline and find this very useful, thank you ;)

Here’s one. I’ve been told by multiple car companies that the rates go down after 12 noon or 1pm on thursday. And i’ve tried this out and it works. Lots of times i rent for a week even if i only need it for 4-5 days. It can save you money as well

Great stuff to know👍🏾 Thanks Matt. Awesome👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

God bless you man! My Mom hit a deer in a foggy day (she is ok) and I have to rent a car so I can drop off my car at a collision place. With this whole Covid my job is laying me off for 2 weeks man and I was worried about the prices all these companies where charging me for 1 week. Thank you again, you are a blessing when I needed someone the most.

Great information as I have been using rentals more frequently. Thanks!

Thx Matt 🤗🤗❤️🥰💖just bookmarked it-won’t be ready to travel until after pandemic 🧐😭😭😭

Yes, booking through a 3rd party site will usually be cheaper, but not always. Also, if something happens and they run out of cars, reservations through 3rd parties are much more likely to get turned away than someone who booked through the company itself. And when it comes to insurance, some states haves laws that make so the rental agency doesn’t have to deal with 3rd party insurance. Meaning you will get charged for any damages and then have to get the 3rd party insurance to reimburse you.

you are like one from Family Guy... not disparaging, i love watching your channel.

There is a big caveat on insurance. Many people, myself included, drive personal vehicles that are 10, 15, 20 years old, and carry no collision or comprehensive insurance on them because it makes no sense to based on value of vehicle. I have liability only. So you will definitely want to take the CDW if you're in that situation. Always take full video of vehicle condition when picking up and when dropping off, interior included. Don't forget the roof. And pay attention to the weather. If you see severe storms approaching and you are in tornado alley, find someplace with a covered roof to park under until it passes. Hail is very common in many areas during intense storms. Seeing badly hail damaged cars in parking lots is quite routine in Oklahoma and other states.

When taking the third party “insurance” through a booking site (or most of the time when using a credit card coverage) this is secondary insurance. So they will only pay the claim if your primary insurance (your personal policy or coverage taken from the rental agency at the counter) Denys the claim. So in most cases you still would have to file a claim on your personal policy if something were to happen. I only find these to be useful if you don’t have personal insurance, or you do not have collision on your policy. Not to mention they often have very strict terms and conditions that are hidden, which can often get them out of paying all together. Also most do not cover loss of use, (revenue lost from the vehicle being out of service for repair) .. not to mention you will have to pay for the damages upfront and then contact the third party for reimbursement.

Can’t read all the comments but here’s a tip for you. When looking over the rental with an agent and before you drive off check under the floor mats for dirt and check the seats for pet hair. They will almost always give you a 10% dirty car discount.

You da man, Thanks for saving me money!

One company that has the best prices is Costco. Yes, you need to be a member but if you rent cars a couple of times a year it pays for itself and then you get the other price benefits as well. If you don't have one near you it can be all done online and most of the things they sell include shipping.

Matt, Any advice / information on obtaining the best deal / financing when purchasing a NEW car during this time we are dealing with the coronavirus?

Very helpful - thank you!

I booked a midsize for a week out of LAX directly w National for $453, Costco Alamo 614 and Autoslash 469. It pays to compare.

Post Covid, it’s almost easier to buy a used car for a week, then resell it... 2-3K for one week in Denver in July/August

Been there. Done that. Avoid the hassles and go to the rental place(es). AAA or military or whatever has their discounts.

You may have already mentioned this but I always take a picture of the dash board showing the full fuel tank and time and mileage on return. A few pictures of the clean interior, just in case too.

In the time it took to watch (listen) to this vid, your autoslash tip, saved me $60 bucks for a 1 day car rental I have booked for a trip in 10 days. Huge help to me. Makes me very happy. Very grateful Big hug!

I've literally saved thousands renting through Hertz because I do a lot of 1 way rentals and unlike enterprise where I used to rent, Hertz doesn't charge a drop off fee!! Wish I could have known 6 years earlier

I was surprised not to hear about weekend rates, I often find Friday to Monday deals at $11/day

Love this. I am shopping for car rentals for my Florida vacation in May so this is GOLD! Thank you Matt. Love you back!

THANK YOU!!!!! Before trying Autoslash, a 3 day rental was $388. Autoslash immediately came back with a rate of $366. In the last 3 weeks I've gotten 5 alerts for a price drop. As of yesterday, we're down to $218. So far we're saving $170! That's crazy. We still have 2 months before our trip. I'm wondering if it will go down even more. Definitely worth it to keep cancelling the previous reservation to get great savings. Thanks again and love your channel!

It may also useful to keep a receipt of your final fueling stop before returning the car. Once a company charged me a lot of money for refueling a car they claimed had only a quarter of a tank left - which I could prove to be mathematically Impossible because I had done the three-quarter fill-up minutes before giving the car back.

Almost every time I've rented a car, they ask me if I want the insurance (I always get it for the reasons Matt said). I act like I'm ho-ing and hum-ing over the decision and one of two things happens 99% of the time; 1) they offer to upgrade me if I agree to take the insurance or 2) I ask if they would be willing to upgrade me if I take the insurance and they say "yes". Once I was able to get a brand new Camaro for a week when I originally booked a mid sized sedan (Ford Focus). The insurance was $50 and to upgrade to the "sport" class would have cost me over $100. Probably wouldn't work at the airport, but usually works everywhere else.

I've used AutoSlash and they are AWESOME!!!! I've saved at least $60 per rental when I did rent for 3 or more days. That is now my go to when I am renting a car now....Thank you for the tip. Oh yeah you are right about using your own insurance I had a rock that cracked the windshield of the rental car and it was a nightmare dealing with the car rental place....They finally did come to an agreement with my Insurance company to do 50/50 so it would not count against me.....Thank you again for all of this info.

Enterprise nailed me this past weekend when I used an association code that I wasn’t entitled to. They wanted an ID card or an email. They removed it, and it doubled the price. They used to not check, but now they are checking.

Perfect time on this video. Planning a weekend trip and was dreading the rental car madness! Thanks!!

Thanks for the tips Matt.

Great tips Matt. I made a mistake just last week. But with your advise not no more.... Thank you and stay safe.

Speaking as an ex enterprise employee(Houston).... 1. False 2. True 3. True-ish. Airports normally have lower rates due to increased taxes. But you have a better selection. 4. 🤷🏾‍♂️ 5. Always take the CDW/LDW. Can't control break ins and other damages. 6. ERAC hardly had coupons. You're better off sliding a tip to the agent for an upgrade. 🤷🏾‍♂️ Also, cleaning fees only really applied to if you smoked in the car. We never expected the customer to clean the car lol

Everyone’s situation is different, but we always take the gas fill option because the prices are almost the same where we go and we are usually stressed for time, so that is one less thing to do. Also the company we use (Enterprise) is really good about giving us little perks, so sometimes we don’t even have a charge at all depending on what the gas was when they gave it. They are very flexible and super nice. It doesn’t help when flying to strange cities, but if you rent a lot from a local office like we do, getting to know the staff can definitely save you money! One time, they even came and dropped off a new car to us when the car we had died on us in a parking lot an hour after we had left. So I strongly advise getting to know people if you can. Shopping around can save money, but so can being a “regular” with hidden discounts, upgrades and all sorts of things just for getting to know the staff.

I ended up renting a car when I was in Austin, TX, rented through National, and I ended up opting for the prepay for gas since the rate was cheaper vs getting gas anywhere else; this was my first time opting for this option since it was cheaper.... I thought that meant I'd get billed for however many gallons they needed to pump not me prepaying for an entire tank of gas at whatever gas rate. I could be wrong but luckily my gas tank was almost empty anyway. Definitely something I'll look into more since I could have interpreted the gas prepay wrong

Hertz incentivize rentals when you pick up a car off-airport and drop it off at an airport. 4 day rent is cheaper than 5 day rent but 7 day rent is almost always the same rate as 5 day rentals before tax. Always check weekly rates if daily rates are expensive. If you are renting last minute, check other car categories because some maybe cheaper even compared to compacts.

Some travel credit cards have car rental cdw (collision damage waiver) if you pay for the car rental with the card. Much cheaper if you already have a card with this benefit.

The third party coverage has limits to their coverage usually at 35k. This is fine for a cheap car but if your renting an suv or nicer car it may not have enough coverage if something major happens

This is the first video of yours that I have seen. Great information! I am about to book a trip too so this will come in handy! Thanks!!

Matt, your tips worked. We just booked a car for less than 1/2 of prior quotes! Keep up the great work. Thanks

After a week long trip to Florida I'd say the travel industry as a whole is a bunch of flim flam artists.

While some of what you said is correct, there are a few errors I must point out. As someone who worked at hertz for over 2 years, it is always best to book directly through the rental companies. Booking through a 3rd party may save you money but if something happens and you are running ahead of schedule or you have to cancel the rental, you will either have to wait until your pickup time or, if you pre-pay, you won't get your money back. I had seen it happen a million times to many people. Regarding the 3rd party coverage, most 3rd party coverage is secondary coverage meaning that they will cover what your primary insurance will not meaning that you will still pay deductible and could raise your rates. Otherwise, you were correct in most things, but AAA will actually waive the fee for a carseat at Hertz.

The best bet is to book direct stack a Costco coupon and pickup with key in the car. I used to rent 20-30 times a year but now only on vacation. Hate to talk to car rental staff as they upsell you late night so just like to pay upfront and walk to the car

Regarding prepay fuel, the tatic I notice car rental companies are using now is to give you a car that does not have a full tank so you end up giving them free gas making sure you have just enough gas in the tank. Lately though, the prepay option is a lot cheaper per gallon than what the gas stations are selling gas for. If you’re careful, it can be a good deal.

Thanks s million Matt, I just saved over a hundred bucks with that app you were preaching about 🤑🤑

I love your shirt and tie today 😊

Thank you Matt! You're a genius! Thank you for doing these videos.

i kept this video in my back pocket when it was first uploaded. thanks a lot man. Cheap guys, finish first

Wow saved myself almost a thousand dollars using auto slash!!! Traveling to Hawaii during this covid situation. Now we are able to afford a boat tour and a zipping adventure for two people! Thank you!!

I so needed this now! Thank you. 💖

Speaking from someone who is born and raised in south fl i am happy that West Palm beach at night situtation worked out for the best lol

So helpful! Totally on the money over a year later.Thank you!

This is one video I'll have to memorize!!

I’m an Enterprise loyalist. Mainly because I travel credit card free and I know their policies.

Great deal Matt and now I need to try this out.

Well, being loyal sometimes pay off. Been renting from Alamo for twelve years now, directly through their site..and hasn't had any problems yet. And, man, it sure is nice to just get off a shuttle bus (or what have you) and walk directly to your car without being bothered//

Thank you sooo much💕❣️💥🎉🎊

My first time here. I am a single parent and can really use deals. Thank You!

Bro even during COVID…this has saved me $200 compared to booking through a legit rental site. Thank you so much 😭😭😭😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨✋🏽

My problem with #2 is that booking through an outside agency would not grant you any discounts or perks such as a "free" upgrade or loyalty points. Futhermore, if you need to cancel or request a refund, the rental agency will dissolve themselves from any responsibility and now youre stuck dealing with emails and phone calls instead of an actual face to face to solve the financial problem. Sometimes saving the few extra $$ isnt worth it

Just did the autoslash. It was almost double the cost. Just an FYI 😊. Other then that good info.

I found out about Autoflash from your video. I tried it out. I had a car reservation with Priceline for 12/11 - 12/13 in San Diego. Using Autoslash, for $10 less I went from a Toyota Yaris to a Jeep Compass for the exact same days. Thanks.

“I’ve seen car rental companies make all sorts of mistakes” They are some of the most crooked frauds in the business, no fee is a mistake. Great video

I hesitate to book a car rental through a third party website because I've had issues in the past where, if there's a problem, the car rental company says there's nothing they can do because you booked through another agency and you have to deal with them. A nightmare when you're standing at the counter trying to get your car.

Looks like AutoSlash just refers to Priceline now.

In terms of auto insurance, the vast majority of credit card companies offer blanket coverage if you use their cards. I generally use either Avis or Hertz. Reason being is when I do rent a vehicle I generally prefer a fun sports car and I do not think you can get that type of car through a 3rd party. Even if you could I have noticed that when I work direct with those places they are incredibly accommodating in allowing me to switch in and out of cars in some occasions multiple times. That is one HUGE advantage of doing an airport rental. Offsite you kind of are stuck with whatever car they brought down from the airport. I know the examples I have used might sound silly but flexibility in which car I end up with is important to me so it is worth paying more.

Great vid, Matt!!!

I work at a car rental place on the airport and I always spill the beans on pretty much every thing you spoke of lol

Capital One, Discover, Amex, Chase, etc, will cover your collision and theft or vandalism free of charge saving you 20-25 dollars a day. Some Citi cards have dropped their insurance coverage.