Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Nice Wheels

I scored myself a free upgrade at Dollar today. Look out ladies, I'll be cruising the Chicago area in a Chrysler mini-van.

Apparently, there were no other cars available. Makes me wonder, is it still considered an upgrade if you didn't want it?

--Ben

2 comments:

  1. Hmm, good question about the unwanted upgrades. I'll tell you one thing, though... When you actually WANT to rent a minivan, the price difference is VERY SIGNIFICANT. As a father of 3, I've rented minivans on several occasions, so I know this from experience.

    Just out of curiosity, though, I decided to check out current rates from Dollar Rent-a-Car for Intermediate (the smallest car my family could semi-comfortably deal with) versus Minivan, in Chicago (since that's where you said you are) and in Orlando (a place where we've looked into minivan rental before).

    Here's what I found:
    Chicago:
    1 day: car=$54, van=$128
    1 week: car=$306, van=$470

    Orlando:
    1 day: car=$46, van=$179
    1 week: car=$277, van=$800

    As you can see, they've got quite a racket set up for ripping off the millions of families going for week-long stays at Walt Disney World/Universal Studios/etc!

    This is why we ended up paying like $100-150 each way for a shuttle between the airport and our hotel (on the Disney resort), and just relied on the elaborate system of free buses/ferries/monorails/etc. to get around while we were there, when we went last fall (pics: day1, day2, day3, day4, day5).

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  2. Anonymous8:27 AM

    There is great difference for rent vans and SUV`s. But you have more space with a van. In simple need only car, but if you need some specification or have a lot of baggage van will be ideal.

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