Know why you should or shouldn’t prepay for the car rentals
Finding a perfect car rental company that fits your needs and paying online might create confusion for you about whether this is a trustworthy site or not. But after the pandemic, the scenario is changed alot for the car rental industry, resulting in higher prices.
Now the doubt comes whether you should prepay for car rentals or not? This has a mixed response. If you think that in the future, you may get better deals then for now always go with the “Pay Later” option. No matter what, we always wish to get the cheapest price possible with average services, but do we know the ways to get it?
For paying, you will always get two options:
- Book reservation, provide contact information and pay later while picking up your car.
- Book a reservation and prepay the complete amount for your rental car. This might be a non-cancellable option.
The second choice is always doubtful for trust issues or waiting for better deals later. Do you prepay or postpay your car rentals? What you can do to avoid this confusion is that keep an eye on the price drop after your reservation. But this is only possible when you select a “pay later” option as prepaid will restrict you for the same.
Why do rental companies prefer prepaid bookings?
Is this possible to prepay and not show up at the time of pick-up? Low chances.
Is this possible to go with the “pay later” option and not show up at the time of pick-up? High chances.
Now you must be clear of the context. The No-show rate in the car rental industry has been rising and is currently 30%. This means that ⅓ of the total persons booking for the car, do not show up at the time of pick-ups. Thus, to compensate for this, car rental companies sometimes take overbookings. But this does not always go well. What if any confirmed reservation show-up only to see that their rental car is not available.
Thus to avoid such a scenario, rental companies started prepaid philosophy. This ensures accountability for show-ups due to the money involved. Because if you don’t show up, you might end up paying a penalty or wasting the full prepaid amount.
If you still don’t prefer prepaid car rental, then consider adding a credit card during reservation. This will not prepay but on the day of pick-up. It solves the problem of both the customers and no show-up issues of rental companies.
Now you understand this matter of prepaying for the car rentals.
Why do you fall for prepaying to car rental comapnies?
While making an online reservation, you always have two choices: “pay later” and “pay now”. But if you prefer “pay now”, car rental companies offer a 5-10% discount on the actual payment. This is to ensure that by prepaying for car rentals, you will show up during pick-up. Thus, consider this discount as a reward from the company for showing up.
- Before you convince yourself that you should always prepay for the car rentals, for the sake of a 10% discount, keep these things in mind:
- If you wish to cancel your reservation later, you will be charged a cancellation fee.
- Every rental company has a different cancellation policy where the fee depends on the cancellation within what number of days.
- Not showing up will charge you the complete prepaid amount.
Also while availing of this discount, check other discount coupons or codes on the company website for which you might be eligible. This can be greater than the standard 10% discount offered by the company. Also, this standard discount is on the published rate and sometimes disappears when you click on the “pay now” option. So check wisely before you pay.
Make online rental bookings through opaque websites
You can make reservations online for the desirable car through opaque websites like Hotwire and Priceline. These sites offer extra discounts for not revealing the name of companies with whom your reservation is booked until you pay full upfront.
But this matters less. What matters the most is once you paid the upfront, it is irreversible. You can never cancel the booking regardless of change of plans, or dislike against the company booked.
The policies on such sites are much more strict than on general rental sites. But they don’t cheat you. They directly display a message which says, refund or cancellation will not be applicable in any circumstances.
Verdict on whether you should or shouldn’t prepay for car rentals
Analyze all the factors and then only proceed with the decision of prepaying. Most of the time, rental companies prefer prepaid bookings as there is a guarantee of money in the bank whether the booking is done directly or through opaque sites. Remember the latter offers a higher tempting discount but with a lot of restrictions.
The customers choose prepaid booking only when the discount is tempting enough and you are sure for the trip as planned. Prepaying is recommended if the discount is potentially high but not for the low discounts. Don’t give a second thought to prepay for the car rentals during last moment booking.
Remember, that the rates change several times a day. If a discount on the deal seems tempting today, it may become higher tomorrow. But once you have prepaid, you can no longer grab it. So, think twice before booking.
I hope all your doubts are solved in this article. If there are some still left, do not shy to contact us.
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