The Art of Spending Less

Rental Cars EXPLAINED

2009-09-07T19:12:00.004-04:00

The universal rule when it comes to renting is that you must be twenty-five years old in order to rent. Some states require rental companies to allow 18 year old driver to be able to rent but rental companies compensate by charging exorbitant underage fees.

For years, college kids have been getting around this fee and age requirement and this is how. Most rental car companies realized that if they set up large accounts with corporations, then they can ensure all members of that company would rent from them, all but guaranteeing them a steady source of revenue. In order to convince these companies to use them, the rental car company offers discounts and no underage fees in order so that junior members of the company can rent cars.

This is where the loophole is. If you walk up to the counter and have a code that you are part of a certain company that has a corporate account with the rental car company, than you can lock in that low rate and be able to rent at 18. Realizing this, the rental car companies sometimes ask for corporate ID and sometimes even a corporate credit card. They also constantly shut down corporate accounts that they have reason to believe are being used for the wrong purposes.

In general, the rental car location will not ask you for ID and will just give you the car that you asked for, as long as the corporate code is in your reservation. It usually will not come up and they will hand you the keys without even checking how old you are. Since they are often just desk clerks, they also usually don’t care.

There are times where a manager will be on duty and might be aware that people take advantage of corporate accounts. These managers might ask you for ID and won’t budge an inch. If that is the case, then you will have failed and you will have to try at another company or at another location. Do not get discouraged as this can happen even after you’ve rented many times. It is just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At larger airports in larger cities they ask for corporate ID’s more frequently; be prepared to either play it smooth or have a backup plan handy at another rental location.

Keep in mind that sometimes, a corporate code can limit the maximum amount of coverage afforded to you by the rental car company. Don’t ask for details of the corporate account at the counter because then they involve higher ups (managers) and they may take away your perks depending on their mood.

Every rental car company call their corporate discount by a different name. Here are the two companies that are most “readily” accessible for the younger renter.

Avis: The easiest company to rent from in my experience has been Avis. Their corporate discount number is known as an “AWD” number (Avis Worldwide Discount). There are hundreds of different AWD numbers that are floating around. If you Google “avis awd”, you should be able to find many different options (some more legit than others), with many providing no surcharge for rentals at 18 years old. These can be combined with a coupon that can also be found freely on the internet. With many locations and a well kept up fleet, I prefer Avis and highly recommend.

Hertz: The corporate code for Hertz is called the CDP. CDP stands for “corporate discount plan” and is akin to Avis’s AWD. Hertz’s CDP codes can also be found via a simple search on Google.

The way to seal the deal is to join the frequent renter programs for either Hertz or Avis. Hertz calls this their #1 Gold awards program and Avis calls theirs the Avis Preferred program. These are not the bottom levels in their respective programs, however are still able to be joined without ever renting before via ongoing promotions. One of the perks that they offer is having your car waiting for you in the lot with the key in the ignition. This bypasses the need to speak to someone at the front desk and will minimize the chances of getting screwed over at the front desk.

For the renter who is between 21 and 25, there are several more options. Enterprise Rental Car has many corporate numbers which enable you to rent a car without a hassle under 25. They are very pleasant to deal with and have many non-airport locations so they are very convenient.

How to get a Credit Card with No Credit

2009-09-03T18:47:00.002-04:00

One of the most difficult things to do is to start credit without any previous credit history. It is hard for a bank to extend credit to a customer if they have no way of knowing how reliable you will be. Since checking and savings account don’t count, as they are not reported to the credit bureau, it is quite a frustrating experience trying to get approved for that first card.

That is not to say that banks do not want to give you a credit card. They love giving college students credit cards as they know that college students often have a tendency to spend more than they have, and end up paying interest and fines for years to come. Be that as it may, even though they have cards geared towards college students, they still want to see that you have credit so that they are not the first ones to extend you a credit line.

The dilemma is, if no one wants to extend you credit until you have credit – well I’m sure you see the problem.

There are two ways that I am familiar with that has proven time and time again to provide credit initially and has successfully helped people get there credit history started. This is not a short process as you will have a establish your credit, but after 2-3 years your credit could be almost as good as people who have had credit cards for twenty five years.

1) Companies with their own company credit cards are usually the most eager to extend credit even to people with minimal credit histories. It makes people shop by them more because they have credit their and every time someone goes through their wallet, you see the name of that companies store, and that also motivates you to go in there.

They will give you a low credit limit, but the lines of credit they extend do you does appear on your credit report, and therefore adds to your credit history. Good examples of cards that offer benefits and are easy to get approved for are the cards from Saks 5th Avenue and Banana Republic/Gap.

2) The second method is to apply for certain credit cards which have low approval requirements. They are geared towards people with bad or no credit and sometimes even guarantee approval albeit with a very low credit limit. These credit limits can be increased after only a few months paying your bill on times and not going over the limit sometimes automatically and sometimes on request. A good card that fits the bill is the Capital One Platinum Plus Visa Card. They approve almost everyone that applies with a credit limit based on what they deem appropriate, usually between three and fifteen hundred dollars. In my opinion this is the best and easiest way, but it does not work for everyone, and if doesn’t there is always method one.

Keep in mind that when you get these cards, spend money (even minimal amounts) to show that you are responsible. Also, credit card companies do not look to fondly on consumers who open too many “store-based” credit cards, as it looks like they can’t control themselves. Don’t let it get to your head that you finally got approved for something; don’t spend more than you get afford. If you do this right, then between 6-9 months later you should be able to qualify for other credit cards, especially if you are a student and apply for student credit cards.

Remember if you do not get approved, don’t apply again right away; wait 3-6 months. It’s a painful wait especially if you need the credit, but generally credit cards will see that you weren’t approved and that goes into their appraisal of whether they should approve you.

There are other options, like getting a secured credit card, which entails putting down money at a bank, and then getting a card from that bank which lets you spend up to the amount of money you put down. This is a viable option to build credit, however it is not as convenient or practical and should only be used if the other two options don’t work.

The Best Credit Cards

2009-09-02T20:25:00.004-04:00

Everyone on the internet wants to know what the best credit card is. Although cashback cards may be the smartest card to use on a daily basis, cards that reward you with miles are my personal favorite as they are the most fun. The standard program awards one mile per dollar spent. In addition, there are huge bonuses for signing up and sometimes bonuses for reaching a certain spending milestone. These miles can be redeemed for airline travel, hotels stays, or sometimes other rewards.

Generally miles have about a 1% cash value. That is 25,000 miles is about equal to $250. The truth is though, that when you need them, miles are priceless. In addition, if you spend your miles smartly then they are worth a lot more than 1%. For example, a friend of mine just bought a round trip first class ticket from New York to London for 125,000 miles. The ticket would have cost him over $4000. That means the miles he spent had a cash value worth more than 3%. Also, airlines constantly have sales and promotions on mileage exchange especially for credit card holders.

Of course, if you don’t fly then you are much better off with the cashback cards. The greatest thing about some of these cards is called churning. In essence what that means is that you can sign up for more than one card and get the sign up bonus more than once. This changes all the time with which credit cards allow this and which don’t and will be the subject of a future post.

When choosing which card to get, it is important to make an intelligent choice. For example, if you lived in Atlanta then getting the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit card wouldn’t make sense, as Southwest doesn’t fly to Atlanta. It wouldn’t matter if their perks were quite attractive as you really wouldn’t be able to use them conveniently.

There are many different credit cards that offer reward programs in conjunction with different credit cards and banks; however a few stand out in the crowd.

Citi Aadvantage Credit Cards – There are several different types of American Airlines credit cards affiliated with Citibank. The Citi Aadvantage Platinum Mastercard is there top of the line. It officially charges an annual fee of $85 but they usually have a promotion where it is waived for the first year. The bonuses range from 20000-30000 miles for signing up and you can apply for a new card every 30 days (or twice every 60 days). They also have a Citi Aadvantage Platinum Mastercard for Business which has the same bonuses but you can only be approved once every ninety days. You can, however, have both a business and a personal card. The miles are awarded on a 1:1 basis and are particularly valuable as American Airlines flies to many locations all over the world.

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card by American Express- Across the internet people proclaim this to be the best credit card on the market and I would have to agree. Miles accrued can be transferred to other programs at 1:1.25 ratio, which means that if you earn 20,000 SPG points, they can be transferred for 25,000 Aadvantage miles etc. This card also has both a business and a consumer version, and has an annual fee ($35) which is waived for the first year. The only downside of this card is that the large bonus for signing up can only be earned once.

The rest of the cards don’t come close to these on terms of rewards etc. Obviously, someone who lives in Buffalo, NY might still opt for a Southwest Airlines credit card because of Southewest’s monopolization of the Buffalo airport, however Starwood’s versatility is unbeatable and is much more suitable for travel as you can transfer the points everywhere!

Welcome

2009-09-01T20:25:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my blog. I know that probably sounds cliché but unfortunately that’s what blogs have become. My desire to start this blog came in the form of an electronic shaver. While looking to buy a shaver for my dad this father’s day, I realized that high end electric shavers, with less than ten models between the most popular companies, rarely go on sale. The top five electronic companies online as well as the typical physical locations all had the same prices. Your average consumer would have stopped there; however being determined I did a bit of research and was able to get a price from a local store that was cheaper than even the cheapest price on E-bay.

Everyone yearns to save money yet surprisingly not everyone puts forth the effort. There are two reasons for this; a) because they don’t believe that it’s worth the time and b) because they don’t know how. For the non-believers out there; know this – the people with the most money watch every penny they spend. No one who values money will spend more than necessary. With regards to those who need help – stay tuned, and you will be an educated shopper in no time.

The goal of this blog is to provide advice on general buying habits and money saving ideas, as well as to point out the occasional “unbelievable deal”. I have a lot experience in many different areas of consumer shopping and spending and would like to impress upon you the importance of something that has become quite vital in this volatile economy; consumer savings. Hopefully you will save time and money reading this blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

Whenever you call a rental car company to

2009-07-27T12:48:00.006-04:00

Whenever you call a rental car company to make a reservation, they are always sure to tell you to make the reservation right now, as prices are subject to change. This can work for you and against you. That is, if you walk up to the counter and your bill for a weekly rental is twenty-five dollars, since all rates vary greatly, the person behind the counter probably won’t even blink.

Since they are often just desk clerks, they also usually don’t care. In fact, they also have the ability to lower your total cost for the rental by billing you for a smaller car than the one you actually get. This can all be ensured with the twenty dollar trick.

In addition, almost every rental car has an assortment of corporate codes, coupon codes, and status levels that can be entered onto to your reservation to lower the cost. Each rental car company has different names for these codes and you often have to play around with various combinations of codes in order to get the cheapest rates.

While it is illegal to use a company’s corporate discount code for a company that you don’t work for, there are many codes that are available to be used by the general public. These include airlines, insurance companies, and some colleges. Make sure that you have permission to use the codes before you actually use them. Also, although many of these corporate codes offer you great perks like being able to rent at the age of 18 or 21 with no surcharges they also sometimes limit the maximum amount of coverage afforded to you by the rental car company. Don’t ask for details of the corporate account at the counter because then they involve higher ups (managers) and they may take away your discounts depending on their mood.

Most rental car companies can ask you for an ID to prove that you are employed by the company on the reservation. Often, though they don’t ask and will just confirm by asking you if you are indeed part of the corporate discount. At larger airports in larger cities they ask for corporate ID’s more frequently; be prepared to either play it smooth o have a backup plan handy at another rental location.

The two rental car companies that I am most familiar with are Avis and Hertz. I have rented from others but they haven’t proved as economically efficient or as easy to manipulate.

Avis: The easiest company to rent from in my experience has been Avis. Their corporate discount number is known as an “AWD” number (Avis Worldwide Discount). There are hundreds of different AWD numbers that are floating around. If you Google “avis awd”, you should be able to find many different options (some more legit than others), with perks ranging from better deals, to free insurance, to no surcharge for rentals at 18 years old. These can be combined with a coupon that can also be found freely on the internet. With many locations and a well kept up fleet, I prefer Avis and highly recommend.

Hertz: Although also a great deal of fun to play around with, Hertz is infinitely more complicated. Hertz has three different places to enter codes. They are CDP, Promo Code, and Rate Code. CDP stands for “corporate discount plan” and is akin to Avis’s AWD. Hertz’s CDP codes can also be found via a simple search on Google. Promo codes are often either found on Hertz’s website or are sent via email. Rate codes are also found on Hertz’s website. The trick is finding which rate codes stack with which promo codes. When this has been accomplished, and annoyingly the combinations change all the time, you can save a lot of money.

On top of all this, Hertz has a rewards program called #1 rewards. If you pay an annual fee of $60 then you can upgrade to Hertz #1 Gold which has great perks. The perks are really not so different than other rental car companies higher status levels, however Hertz is the easiest to attain. This is because there are many ways that one can get Hertz Gold for free. Many companies offer it as a promotion in conjunction with Hertz and Hertz often offers it themselves for free. Hertz Gold allows you to have all your information stored with Hertz and when you pick up your car all you need to show is your driver’s license. The kicker is that with Hertz gold your contract is printed out when you get there. In larger airports the car is waiting in the parking lot, and the keys are waiting in the ignition thus enabling you to rent cars and not have to speak to anyone ever. If your discounts are stacked questionably but work online, then you can rest assured that no one will blink twice because you don’t have talk to anyone!

About Me

2009-01-01T21:25:00.006-05:00

I am but a regular consumer who's primary goal is to share and spread the knowledge that I have discovered.

This website is intended to provide everyone with the know-how to save money while not really changing their spending habbits. Occasionally, an unbelievable deal will be posted if I deem it too heady to pass up.

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2009-01-01T00:02:00.000-05:00

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2009-01-01T00:01:00.003-05:00