Im using rent a wreck in Hawaii, it is 1/2 the price of zip.
Ha! I used that once in Texas, AGES ago. It really was - a wreck! (But it went from point a to point b)
We had a Palm Springs family vacation condo for several years. The city bus will take you to all the sights you want to see. It is only 2 dollars from point A to Point B. It will just take a little longer to get places with the stops they have to make. Someone mentioned the Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs. The bus will take you to the bottom of the entrance road. You would either call an Uber to drive you the few miles up to the entrance or you can hike two miles to the lowest parking structure and a tram takes you to the top where you pay and enter. If you rent a car you will pay more than 100.00 a day when they add tax and other things. It will just sit in the parking lot as you will spend the entire day there. Parking will also cost you. Uber is expensive. I was there and had to take my car in the shop for two days. I had an appointment in Palm Desert and found out Uber would have cost me $60.00 to get from Palm Springs to Palm Desert plus a 20% tip. About a 20 to 25 minute ride. That would be almost $150. round trip. I took the bus for $4.00 round trip. It took longer but it also went to ares I never saw before. A fun thing to do is go to the Palm Springs Village Fest every Thursday night. Outdoors with live music, art and craft vendors. Not your weekend crafters but some high end very talented people who are there to chat with you. Also food trucks. In the middle of the main drag with cute art shops and boutiques open. The bus will take you right to it. I think the bus runs till 11pm and starts at 6am. If you are going during the summer a lot of restaurants close for the summer. It usually is over 100 Fahrenheit during the summer and sometimes gets into the teens. The Palm Springs museum has a free day once a week. They have some really interesting exhibits that change often. The bus drops you off one block away. I saw it all the time on the main drag. The gift shop in there is a must see. There is even a special bus that takes you from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree. Call the Visitor Center in Palm Springs for info. The visitor center is across the street where the bus lets you off for the Tram. So many great hiking also in Palm Springs and Palm Desert. Just be very careful in the summer. People visiting have died hiking underestimating the dangers of hiking in such heat. Take the hikes very early just when the sun starts to rise and not too long. You can get a guide in some of the hike areas. Have fun! In both Palm Springs and Palm Desert they have a venue with good outside music bands offered free to the public.
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Buy a cheap runaround out on the West Coast.
If you are a US citizen very easy solution.
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If you have AAA or are a member of AARP ( you donât need to be a retiree or 65yo), discounts apply !
Yup. Depending on your credit card rewards, some also offer discounts. Plus, depending on the company you work at, some have perks plans and negotiated discounted rates for rental cars and other travel, and some allow employees to use those discounted rates even for personal travel. That can be worth checking out.
We just completed 5 months of pet sitting in California, so I thought Iâd share what worked (and what we considered) in case it helps others.
1. Ask the homeowners about an older car
This was our first approach and it worked surprisingly well even if a car was not listed in the amenities. If you explain youâll only be driving lightly (groceries, pet care, a little sightseeing), many homeowners are open to lending you their second, usually older car.
One sit lasted 3 months, and the homeowner (a lawyer) even added us to his insurance as âcaregivers.â The additional cost was only $150 â and when we offered to cover it, he wouldnât accept! That saved us thousands compared to renting.
2. Turo for flexibility
For one month, we used Turo. It was affordable, convenient, and the car was reliable. The nerve-racking part was that it already had a lot of dents and scratches, so we had to be meticulous about documenting them with photos at pickup. As long as youâre careful, Turo can be a great option.
3. Public transportation
In some areas, we used Californiaâs public transit. Honestly, it was better than expected clean, reliable in many regions, and a nice break from driving. It wonât get you everywhere, but for certain sits it was a perfectly workable solution.
4. Buying a used car (Carvana) https://www.carvana.com/
We also seriously considered buying a used car through Carvana. You can select a vehicle online, have it delivered, and then sell it back at the end of your sit. Models like Honda and Toyota tend to hold their value very well, so depending on timing, the cost could end up being minimal compared to long-term rentals.
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I usually book rentals through Costco, they have discounted rates for several agencies. The rates vary considerably from city to city so for a longer rental, I will often cast a wide net. Rentals around Los Angeles are generally less expensive than rentals in the bay area. Also timing makes a difference, I recently booked a rental for $1200 but checked back every few days and re-booked for $662. I will continue to check the rates until my travel date in case there are further reductions.
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For traditional car rentals inside the US, these are my personal tricks & strategies (some also mentioned in other posts; canât comment on Turo/Truro? as Iâve not yet tried it, although it looked interesting):
(Fair warning: may be tl:dr for some)
- Sign up for a loyalty account with each of the major & secondary car rental companies. Itâs free, & itâs how youâll qualify for their discounted rates. (Many of these deals only work for less than a monthâs rental, however, so you may need to book, return & re-up on a 2nd reservation partway through.) Also note that most deals require you to return to the same location, unless itâs specified as a one-way special like the repositioning rentals mentioned by others. Another tip on special rates: the phone apps often donât list or let you book the available deals; sometimes these are only viewable & bookable on the full website (looking at you, Hertz.)
- Invest in AAA membership. It provides 10-20% discounts (& sometimes really excellent ones like 35%) to Hertz, as well as the ability to add a second driver for free â and drivers under 25 with a AAA card donât pay the âyoung driverâ penalty. Extra discounts on hotels & other useful travel sites as well, plus free roadside assistance that can be faster than calling the rental car company at times.
- Check your CC benefits for any rental car insurance they may provide. For instance: once itâs set up on your account via a phone call with them, AmEx Platinum gives extensive damage coverage for a flat $25 fee per rental if you pay with the card. (Certain countries excepted, like Ireland - but works in the US & most of the UK.)
- Reserve as early as possible to make sure you have a car â but I never pay in advance in case my plans change. Instead, make sure the reservation is cancelable. Check back each week, as often the prices will drop significantly week-by-week as the dates get closer if they still have a decent amount of inventory. Plus, sometimes new specials get posted. (See a better price? Book the new reservation, THEN cancel the old one.) Be sure to check different car sizes tooâŚsometimes a mini- or mid-SUV becomes cheaper because they have more of them than mid-size cars available that week.
- Wherever possible, check for rental locations in the city or nearby towns instead of on/off airport or train stations. Rates are almost always lower, & you skip the extra taxes & fees imposed for on-airport locations. That Uber/Lyft to the alternate location could save you hundreds or more for a long rental around holidays.
- Some rental car companies offer special pricing for longer-term rentals (I believe Enterprise is one, also possibly Sixt?) â but often you need to call their local office to ask about itâŚitâs not always built into the online booking site or app rates.
- Tolls: be SURE to ask about toll coverage costs in advance, in areas that use them heavily. Most rental companies at airports charge usurious daily rates for use of a toll transponder, PLUS the fees for the actual tolls you encounter â while an Enterprise in the city/town simply charged me for the actual tolls I went throughâŚno service charges or transponder rental required. In some states (Florida for one), I bought my own SunPass transponder for maybe $15 at a local pharmacy/bodega before hitting the rental office, & created an online account with $20 in it, set to auto-top-up by $10 if it ran low. When I got my rental, I added its license plate # to my account & affixed the transponder to the windshieldâŚall set. Now I carry it with me whenever I travel to Florida, & just update the rentalâs license plate number on my Sunpass account page.
- On occasion, it can be cheaper for the car if you bundle it with your flight and/or hotelâŚbut tbh, my best deals come from the other strategies I listed above. (AND I can deal directly with the rental company if something changes or goes wrong.) But itâs worth checking to see.
Good luck; hopefully some of that will be helpful 
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