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100,000 Miles in 45 Days Renting Cars [Sep 2008 Issue]

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Mrp Alert, a FlyerTalk member, has gained fame and a lot of miles after successfully obtaining his goal of earning 100,000 miles in 45 days renting cars. He rented 30 cars for a total of 74 rental days to earn 105,329 miles. His total cost was $1,146.50 which equates to 1.10 cents per mile, and the average rental day cost was $16.30.

His average length of rental was 2.55 days and the most cars he rented at one time was six. He had to create an Excel spreadsheet to keep up with it all. You can read the full FlyerTalk thread at www.insideflyer.com/link/?1122.

Along the way, he discovered, "Rental car employees give you strange looks when they see you renting from four different agencies in the same facility within one hour." We recently caught up with Mrp Alert and asked him to share some of his expertise.

InsideFlyer
Which car rental company is your favorite, and why?
Mrp Alert
I am a big fan of Hertz and Avis. They both have created easy to use reservation systems and effective reward tracking systems. Both have offered valuable mileage promotions. My favorites are the 9,999 miles Avis/Budget Delta promotion, the 5,000 miles Avis promotion and the Triple Miles on any Rental Hertz promotion when credited to Virgin Atlantic, Southwest, or AirTran. Treatment as a Preferred or Gold member in the respective programs is excellent with dedicated check-in lines and frequent complimentary upgrades.

IF
Your favorite frequent renter program, and why?
Mrp Alert
Hertz offers more dollars off coupons everyday and a more consistent rental experience as a #1 Club Gold member or elite. They have a very generous everyday offer of 1,700 British Midland miles on any rental. They also offer very aggressive mileage earning and free-day promotions. There are a multitude of dollar off coupons available, which can make earning British Midland miles very affordable. They offer full mileage credit for off-airport locations, while doing a fantastic job of competing with Enterprise in the local rental market. Staff in the Hertz Local Editions and airport locations are not commissioned for selling upgrades to Gold members and generally are professional and friendly.

IF
Give our readers five tips for getting the most out of your car rentals (more if you would like).
Mrp Alert

• Find cheap parking at your local airport. I am lucky to be able to walk a quarter mile from a free park and ride to the Las Vegas Airport Consolidated Rental Facility. Many buses run to the airport. If you must pay for parking, consider Thrifty Airport parking where available or other programs that offer rewards for parking.
  
• Avoid back-to-back rentals as some agencies may deny you credit. To avoid this trap, rent at 12:01am and return at 11:59pm the same day. Repeat and enjoy the rewards. There is nothing wrong with renting a car in city A, taking a mileage run to cities B, C and D and renting cars in each place before returning your original car in city A.
  
• Rent from Hertz Local Edition when the airport costs are excessive. Only consider Avis Local locations if you credit to Virgin Atlantic or Lufthansa.
  
• Learn what constitutes a weekend day. Some rental agencies will start your weekend as early as Thursday at noon and end Monday at 11:59pm. Others require a Saturday night keep.
  
• Rent the cheapest car class available and print the page with upgraded car costs.
  
• Don't be afraid to build a rapport with rental car employees. If you are a frequent renter, they want your repeat business more than a $1 extra per day for your upgrade. Additionally, they will start to give you your preferred vehicle type.
  
• Keep up on promotions. Gary Leff maintains a great blog at boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/ where I have found neat promotions. Rewards Canada now has a rental car specials page www.rewardscanada.ca/carbonus.html which had a few dollar off offers I was not aware of. Of course, I should mention I am working with Rick Ingersol to maintain the rental car section on his site www.frugaltravelguy.com/carrentals.html where I will focus on the latest offers from a mileage perspective rather than just a cost basis.
  
• Check Southwest.com for domestic rental car specials. I have found better rates on their Web site for Avis than booking direct. Additionally, they have a presence on FlyerTalk that proved immensely helpful with a recent promotion. United also has a bonus site set up with Hertz at www.hertzft.com which is offering a 1,000 mile booking bonus plus additional miles, making UA miles a better choice than they usually are.
  
• Avoid Budget until they get consistent on mileage rewards. Unlike the better half of Avis Budget group, many, many problems have arisen with Budget rentals at franchisee locations. You never know what you are going to get. Their outsourced customer service may be polite, but are hardly timely on email requests.
  
• If you have questions on a promotion, contact the frequent flyer program making the offer via email with your specific question. Don't rent if you are not sure as you can get burned.
  
• Credit your miles to the program offering the most miles at an acceptable PPM (payment per mile). Don't accept one mile per dollar spent or 50 miles per day when there are much more lucrative offers out there.
  
• Dollar Thrifty Group is underappreciated. Dollar rentals earn 1,000 Virgin Atlantic miles per rental while Thrifty earns 700 Qantas miles for all rentals outside Australia. They also offer the Wild Car program which guarantees a midsize car or larger at a rate less than the normal midsize.
  
• Free rental days can be useful too. Use them to pay for expensive weekday rentals in expensive places.
  
• Both Sixt and Europcar have some amazing offers outside the U.S. Don't forget to check their respective Web sites and closely affiliated airline partners.
  
• Avoid Hotwire and Priceline if there is any potential volatility in your travel plans. You wouldn't want to turn down a bump or lucrative re-route due to inflexible car reservations. They can prove useful for last-minute reservations where the traditional players' pricing is not reflective of current inventory.
  
• Compare different discount codes and coupon codes. Reprice your reservations a month out, two weeks before, 10 days, seven days, five days, three days, two days, the day before and the day of your rental. Unlike airfare, car reservations can be canceled and rebooked or repriced without any penalty.
  




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