In today’s world of competitive marketing and cutthroat competition, a customer can’t really predict whether the deal he/she is closing will benefit her or not, most of the time most, consumers, just go on with the deal just to avoid all the hassle of inquiring for more economic alternatives, or discounts.

As a consumer, you’ll need to think ahead when renting a car and you will benefit from the following tips, tricks and steps in getting the most out of your automobile rental. There are a lot of companies out there and you’ll want to do business with one that gives you the best deals in this complicated market.

1. Don’t rent a car over the counter and instead, use the internet. There are numerous discounts that only apply to internet reservations so take advantage of this opportunity.

2. Another option when it comes to renting a car cheaply is to put your own gas in the car on the way to returning the car. Gas available at the rental agency costs a fortune and if you just top off the tank before returning it, you will save a lot of money.

3. Make sure that you use only one single company to rent from at all times, so long as you are happy with the company. Most companies provide special deals or upgrades to those they see as frequent drivers through their company. It can add up to a lot if you rent a lot of cars and you will appreciate the special attention.

4. Many companies will exchange frequent flyer miles with automobile rental points so if you don’t have enough frequent flyer miles for a flight or if the points are nearly expiring, you should use them instead for a discount or upgrade through the auto rental place.

5. Make your automobile reservation as soon as possible because many of the car rental places give you a discount if you reserve far in advance of your needs.

6.To get your rental cheaper, pick up your car early in the morning, just as the shop is opening, so that there will be a shortage on the cheap car rentals, at this point, the renters may give you a free or a marked down upgrade.

7. Look for fly/stay/drive packages or similar packages through your travel agent or the internet as you will get a much cheaper car out of the deal. You’ll pay for the entire package at once and the actual price of the car will be much cheaper overall.

8.To get a cheap car rental at your own, price, find rent-at-your-own-price internet sites that look for the best possible deal with the budget that you’ve given them, but be careful with this, review the company’s history first before you get into it, or make sure that there are no other cheaper means before you close the deal, remember, once you make a reservation, you can’t cancel it.

9.If you’re going to use the car for more than five days try to find weekly rates from car rentals, with weekly rates, the sixth and seventh day are almost always discounted, so look for this when you’re out for a cheap car rental.

10.Instead of picking up your rental at the airport, save money by picking it up at the shop, this’ll reduce airport surcharges.

Jonathan is a regular traveller in his role as consultant for a travel deals website. He often is asked how to find the best value travel tickets as well.

categories: car,auto,rental,hotel,travel,flights,car hire,travel,vacation,holiday