Car Rental

Did you go directly through the rental agencies or did you try travel websites like Travelocity, Hotwire or Expedia? 2-3 grand seems a lot. But one way rentals are usually much more expensive than when you drop off at the same location. Could you maybe drive back to Seattle and drop off / fly out from there?

Try a site like orbitz to see the prices of lots of companies. I have used Dollar and Thrifty and found them often to be less expensive. Orbitz will show you a grid with different companies and car sizes to compare. You can also make a reservation and keep checking and sometimes prices go down and you don't have to pay when booking on any the car rental sites (you can check on Orbitz and then go directly to the company site). Another option is to use a site like priceline - the only catch there is that you have to pay ahead of time, but you often get a much better price. I also found when we rented this May that SUV prices were better than some cars and vans because of gas prices. You really need to shop around and figure out what you really need. Good luck.

We rent ALL the time with our business travel

Check a lot of companies. Make SURE you get unlimited mileage and a lot of places charge a drop off fee which is where the big fees are incurred.

Example.. Alamo usuallly has a big drop fee.

I go directly to the car sites and I also use Southwest.com because I buy a lot of tickets on that site. Southwest's site will pop all the companies up with pricing for you.

It is alwasy cheaper to drop it off where you picked it up. DON'T buy the extra insurance. If you have regular car insurance which you should be law, you are already covered and the extra is a waste of $$.

Many of them have long term deals as well. ASK for the best deal.

I just want to add that I had to recently rent a car while mine was in the shop. I had always been told to turn down the extra insurance. But someone hit the car while we were at dinner and didn't leave any info. So you may want to make sure can cover the deductible is something similar happens to you or else get the extra insurance.

I don't have much luck for you in getting a good deal, other than to check different companies. You could try going down a size. Whenever you do book, check that company's website every day before your trip for the same class car and same dates of your trip. The last time I had to rent a car for myself, not work, I checked their website the night before the trip and they had the rate $10 a day lower than I booked. I printed it, made sure it had the date on it, and they honored the lower price. Good luck!