California

Getting Around

Car rental is cheap if you don't buy the insurance. Most credit cards cover insurance, and if you have your own personal car insurance, there's usually no need to buy it from the rental agency. Check with your agent or your policy to find out about your coverage. If you belong to AAA, your membership might offer the insurance coverage. AAA cards also might give discounts on rentals, but look around for coupons that may give an even bigger discount.

Rental agencies often require the car to be returned with a full tank of gas. The agency may suggest that you not worry about this up front but instead just return the car to them with whatever amount of gas you have left and pay in advance for them to fill the tank again after the fact. Depending on your plans to return the car, you may want to decline their suggestion and tell them you'll fill the tank on your own, since they typically charge top dollar for the refill and you're likely to find cheaper gas on your own to fill the tank just before returning the car.

If you plan to pick up the car in the evening, why not reserve the smallest/cheapest car possible and then hope for an upgrade? It often happens that economy cars are gone by evening, and all the agency has left to give you are larger cars.

You may want to rent a car in one location and drop it off in another. Beware of the drop-off fees when you do this; sometimes they're significant.