Rental Car Discounts. HP/HPE Alumni

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Car rental discounts for HP and HPE retirees and alumni

From former employees of HP and HPE. (May 27, 2023) Question? Email: info@hpalumni.org

Menu of all discount topics: Retiree Discount Menu

Summary of extensive discussions on the HPAA Benefits Forum.

The car rental industry has been clamping down on corporate discount leakage -- for all companies.

If you use an old badge, business card, or code and something goes badly wrong:
1. Your former employer and their insurance company will not be able to help, since they were not a party to the transaction.
2. Any insurance coverage included with the corporate discount is invalid.
3. Car rental companies can void the entire contract -- including supplemental liability, accident insurance, and LDW. Details: Your old employee rental discount

Lots of other sources of car rental discounts...

Beneplace is an advertising company that promotes identical discounts to employees and retirees of thousands of companies -- including HP and HPE -- using web pages and emails with the employer's name and logo. Unrelated to the employer's corporate purchasing. You can reserve cars online from several major rental companies: https://offers.beneplace.com/rentalcars "The companies on Beneplace all have a charge for additional drivers, but you can't see what that charge will be when you make the reservation." How to use Beneplace: Beneplace Discounts

Costco. The most-mentioned car rental source.

"Virtually everyone now charges a cancellation fee other than Costco. Due to daily changes on prices, I re-booked the Costco rental 6 times, reducing the initial rental charge by over $400. If I had reserved through Beneplace, Kayak, or directly, the cancellation would have been about $50 each time."

"Costco's rental companies all include an additional driver for free."

"They can intercede in disputes. I had returned a Budget car on time but there was no one at the counter, so I followed the instructions and left the keys and info in an official envelope, marked with the time, in the return slot on the desk. Budget sent a bill for an additional $200 for turning the car in late. I tried to reason with Budget. AMEX refused to intercede, even though both were shown the evidence of flight times and lunch in another state. Costco came to the rescue and talked directly with someone at Budget who then reversed the charge."

Check all of your affiliations: AAA, AARP, your credit card company, university alumni association, professional organizations like ACM or IEEE, etc. "I have found the AAA and AARP car rental discount programs to be excellent."

AutoSlash "Shops the best price and includes Costco and many other discounts." "I often start looking at Costco for a rental. I “register” my reservation with AutoSlash and they track the rental for price drops across rental agencies and taking my memberships like Costco, AAA, into account. If I get notified of a price drop, I book a new reservation and cancel the original. I don’t see a downside and have saved a fair amount of money in many cases. You can also start with them."

Other travel shopping sites

Members recommend Expedia, Kayak, Priceline, Hotwire.

Reserve through the airline, such as Southwest.

Specific rental companies and locations

- Avis has direct discounts: https://www.avis.com/en/offers/us-offers/coupon-codes

- Hawaii: discounthawaiicarrental

- Las Vegas: Fox

- Germany -- Sixt Car Rental. "I also don’t buy any additional insurance because I have insurance coverage through my AMEX card. A few years ago, I had some minor damages on my rental car and Sixt charged me 2000 Euros for repairs but I got reimbursed by the AMEX insurance."

- AutoEurope "gave the best rate which included full insurance. Not too sure how much the credit cards will cover outside of the US incase of an accident so I like the peace of mind knowing that the rental is fully covered."

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