Renting a car along blue line? (rental car, coupons, rentals)

[Jackal24]

I am coming into ORD and need to rent a car for a few days. I know the cars at ORD are really expensive. Are there any rental agencies along the blue line that are easy to get to that might be cheaper than paying all the airport taxes, etc?

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Jackal24

I am coming into ORD and need to rent a car for a few days. I know the cars at ORD are really expensive. Are there any rental agencies along the blue line that are easy to get to that might be cheaper than paying all the airport taxes, etc?

The airport rates are sometimes cheaper than the city rates, even including the extra taxes. It's rare that there's such a big difference that it's worth the hassle of going to a location elsewhere if you're arriving by air anyway. I used to actually go to O'Hare to rent cars sometimes because it was cheaper than the neighborhood places.

That said, there are several car places in the building adjacent to the Clark/Lake station downtown, so if you're staying downtown anyway, that might be an acceptable option. If course if you're staying downtown anyway, you're going to be paying $30-$40/night for parking that rental car, which would pretty much wipe out any tax savings.

If you tell us where you'll be staying, and why you need a car, we might have better suggestions.

[Jackal24]

Originally Posted by emathias

The airport rates are sometimes cheaper than the city rates, even including the extra taxes. It's rare that there's such a big difference that it's worth the hassle of going to a location elsewhere if you're arriving by air anyway.

Not so in this case. The cheapest I could find at the airport was $66/day plus taxes, downtown was $30/day. I ended up finding a car from Budget on west huron. Looking at google maps it appears that it is only 1-2 blocks away from a blue line stop.

BTW, I am renting a car to go to a town in Wisconsin for a few days. It was easier to fly into ORD instead of Milwaukee. So parking fees don't apply.

[reppin_the_847]

I'd suggest utilizing Hotwire to see if there are better rates available at ORD itself. If you are Wisconsin-bound, another idea could be to take the Blue Line downtown, then hop on a northbound Amtrak Hiawatha train (might be about $20 tho), and get out at the MKE Airport stop and rent a car up there if it's cheaper there. Honestly that is more trouble than it's probably worth. Going back to suggestion #1, check Hotwire.

Originally Posted by Jackal24

I am coming into ORD and need to rent a car for a few days. I know the cars at ORD are really expensive. Are there any rental agencies along the blue line that are easy to get to that might be cheaper than paying all the airport taxes, etc?

[Jackal24]

Hotwire is showing $63/day at ORD as the cheapest. I think I'll take the blue line to the chicago stop and walk to budget from there.

Thanks for the help.

[soulful]

I use this site all the time. It automatically applies the lowest available coupon/discount code to your rental. Just fill in the dates/city on the right side of the homepage using the "smartbook" feature. No need to worry about reading the coupon/discount offers on the site. It has worked well for me:

Car Rental Savers, car rental coupons and car rental discounts!

[Attrill]

There's an Enterprise office on Milwaukee Ave. just South of the Western Blue Line stop. I have no isea if it's cheaper than O'Hare, but it would be worth checking if O'Hare prices really are high.

[Thepreacherswife]

Also check the "off brand" car rentals at ORD, like Ace.

[paytonc]

Originally Posted by reppin_the_847

Amtrak Hiawatha train (might be about $20 tho), and get out at the MKE Airport... check Hotwire.

Easier if not cheaper: Wisconsin Coach runs an hourly bus from O'Hare's bus/shuttle center to MKE. I think it's $27, so a bit more than Amtrak but without having to go downtown (or wait for a shuttle at MKE).

Hotwire/Kayak/other aggregators also check the off-brand rentals and, if you so specify, the off-airport ones as well. The off-airport ones tend to be closed on weekends, oddly.

[jdiddy]

Interesting. Anytime I needed a rental car, it was cheaper at O'Hare.