Costco Can Unexpectedly Save Travelers A Ton Of Money On This Popular Mode Of Transportation

There's a reason more than 130 million people worldwide are Costco shoppers. They could be partial to the bargain-basement $4.99 rotisserie chicken, the $1.49 haul for 3 pounds of bananas, the bulk-friendly prices on favorites like organic eggs and coffee, or Costco's travel tote bag, a budget-friendly essential that is a game-changer. And, that's a minuscule example from the warehouse's 4,000 offerings. If they were to go online and browse the Costco Travel platform, more deals await. For some, the site is the go-to for booking affordable family-friendly trips to Disney World. Others are swearing by its rental car rates, including TikTok user Alex Petrakieva.

In a video with nearly 863,000 views, Petrakieva confessed her buyer's remorse for not checking Costco first for her travel plans. She lamented in a video about spending $677.72 at Alamo on a car rental for a week in Colorado. By comparison, she showed a screenshot of a similar (and hypothetical) car rental at Costco for a different week, and the price came out to $290.98.

Lesson learned, she encouraged her followers to use Costco. Her followers also sing Costco's praises and shared their own stories of savings. Over on r/Costco, Redditors also extol the virtues of using the site for car rentals, such as no surprise fees, no prepayments, and flexible booking with easy cancellations. Other perks allow for the inclusion of one free secondary driver with Alamo, Avis, Enterprise, and Budget bookings and the chance to rebook with "zero hassles" if prices drop. And, drivers under 25 can still receive the Costco member discount, but may incur an "Underage Driver Fee."

Any chance to save money on trips is a game-changer with prices on the rise. Rental car prices in 2024 were up 35 percent since the pandemic, according to NerdWallet, which ranked Miami and Las Vegas with the lowest rental car prices and Seattle-Tacoma and Chicago with the highest ones. 

One caveat that comes up on the r/Costco posts is to avoid Budget. Some users complain of tacked-on fees when adding their frequent flyer number, rate changes when updating reservation information, and excessive rental counter lines. There's also a Facebook group dedicated to those bemoaning their Budget rental experience.  And, while Costco offers extensive car rentals, it's limited to the United States and seven countries, including England, France, and Germany.  

If you don't have a Costco membership, it pays to know that there are vast price differences between the popular eight national car rental companies, including Hertz, Enterprise, and Budget. NerdWallet found that National takes top honors as the most expensive car rental company, while Thrifty is the cheapest. Other ways to save include hitting up Priceline or Kayak or leveraging other memberships, such as AAA. For those willing to go the nontraditional route, you can try Turo, considered the world's largest car-sharing marketplace, where actual car owners rent out their cars. The platform can offer cheaper prices and more convenience with more car rental locations, but the biggest downside is that hosts can cancel a reservation anytime, and Turo doesn't guarantee a replacement at the same cost. Yes, you will be refunded, but you will be on the hook for a new and possibly more expensive last-minute booking.