Car rental from MKE (Milwaukee, Appleton: rental car, rentals, hotels)

[G Grasshopper]

My sister and I are coming to Wisconsin to visit our 95 year old aunt, and we are flying into the Milwaukee airport. We are actually going to Stevens Point, where we grew up, but we are wanting to drive up so that we can see the countryside. We need a car rental for 6 days out of MKE airport, but the prices are amazingly high. I know you can get lower rates away from the airport, but I think those companies don't have shuttles. Perhaps they are not allowed to shuttle people from the airport because that would undercut the rental company desks there. I am wondering if you experienced Milwaukee folks could give any hints about how to manage this problem.

[43north87west]

What days? I'm seeing $33/day for mid sized SUVs in July for 6 day rentals. Full size $38.

Sometimes adjusting the arrival/departure times by a couple hours either way makes a huge deal. Occasionally it's better to have 24 hour rentals exactly, and other times moving the drop off time 2-3 hours can lower the price a lot.

I ran 2 other 6 day periods later this month, one weekend rental and one weekday Sat. dropoff, and got back $22-26 for smaller cars. It's not likely you're going to do much better than that. The fees are substantial on rentals though, so for a 6 day $26/day rental you're looking at 230-something.

There is an Enterprise rental agency downtown. Depending on when you get in, you could take the train or a bus downtown and walk to the rental agency (a few blocks). IMO, this is simply not worth it as the rental pricess at the off airport places are almost identical to the airport agencies. I know there are other off-airport rental agencies, but they've never been any cheaper for me.

I have rented tons of cars at MKE and the airport is almost always the cheapest.

[adr3naline]

MKE rates are usually on par with national rates. So I'm not sure why you're seeing such high fees.

It may be worth a ~$25 Uber ride downtown, where there are additional options.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by 43north87west

What days? I'm seeing $33/day for mid sized SUVs in July for 6 day rentals. Full size $38.

Sometimes adjusting the arrival/departure times by a couple hours either way makes a huge deal. Occasionally it's better to have 24 hour rentals exactly, and other times moving the drop off time 2-3 hours can lower the price a lot.

I ran 2 other 6 day periods later this month, one weekend rental and one weekday Sat. dropoff, and got back $22-26 for smaller cars. It's not likely you're going to do much better than that. The fees are substantial on rentals though, so for a 6 day $26/day rental you're looking at 230-something.

There is an Enterprise rental agency downtown. Depending on when you get in, you could take the train or a bus downtown and walk to the rental agency (a few blocks). IMO, this is simply not worth it as the rental pricess at the off airport places are almost identical to the airport agencies. I know there are other off-airport rental agencies, but they've never been any cheaper for me.

I have rented tons of cars at MKE and the airport is almost always the cheapest.

July 21-27 - Saturday to Thursday. I just looked up Enterprise from the airport: cheapest car available is $352 total at Enterprise. Thrifty is $409, Hertz $450, Mayfare is $497. Even Priceline is $350. I had a reservation from Milwaukee but out of Brown Deer, which was a mistake on my part, at it was $189 total. That was with Mayfare. So the difference between renting at Brown Deer and the airport was about $300!

[timberline742]

That's an absurdly high priced time, there must be a significant event going on. I've never paid that much.

[brrabbit]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

My sister and I are coming to Wisconsin to visit our 95 year old aunt, and we are flying into the Milwaukee airport. We are actually going to Stevens Point, where we grew up, but we are wanting to drive up so that we can see the countryside. We need a car rental for 6 days out of MKE airport, but the prices are amazingly high. I know you can get lower rates away from the airport, but I think those companies don't have shuttles. Perhaps they are not allowed to shuttle people from the airport because that would undercut the rental company desks there. I am wondering if you experienced Milwaukee folks could give any hints about how to manage this problem.

There are shuttles in the airport to pretty much all airport rentals and parking lots. There are busses to take you from the airport to wherever place in Milwaukee County you want to be. And there's Uber if that's not enough.

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

July 21-27 - Saturday to Thursday. I just looked up Enterprise from the airport: cheapest car available is $352 total at Enterprise. Thrifty is $409, Hertz $450, Mayfare is $497. Even Priceline is $350. I had a reservation from Milwaukee but out of Brown Deer, which was a mistake on my part, at it was $189 total. That was with Mayfare. So the difference between renting at Brown Deer and the airport was about $300!

EAA AirVenture is going on that week, and that is the reason for the high priced rental cars. The EAA event is one of the top 5 aviation events in the world, and it draws international visitors.

https://www.eaa.org/en/airventure

There are a couple other things going on, but the EAA event is a major one and prices on rentals and hotels are going to reflect it. Hotels as far as Appleton and Sheboygan are sold out. Airport rental cars on either side of that week are dirt cheap. So the question is, how many hoops are you willing to jump through to save $15/day?

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by brrabbit

There are shuttles in the airport to pretty much all airport rentals and parking lots. .

Well, all the rental cars I've ever gotten at MKE are from counters right across the street. That's one of the great things about the MKE airport. No need to take shuttles, or trams, or anything to the rental cars.

[Coldwake]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

July 21-27 - Saturday to Thursday. I just looked up Enterprise from the airport: cheapest car available is $352 total at Enterprise. Thrifty is $409, Hertz $450, Mayfare is $497. Even Priceline is $350. I had a reservation from Milwaukee but out of Brown Deer, which was a mistake on my part, at it was $189 total. That was with Mayfare. So the difference between renting at Brown Deer and the airport was about $300!

Well... if you plan on taking the bus from the airport to Brown Deer, you're going to see a whole lot of the best and worst of Milwaukee. If you're ok with that, more power to you. Otherwise I'd highly suggest uber/cab/airport shuttle if Mayfair Rent-a-car doesn't have a shuttle service.

[brrabbit]

Originally Posted by Coldwake

Well... if you plan on taking the bus from the airport to Brown Deer, you're going to see a whole lot of the best and worst of Milwaukee. If you're ok with that, more power to you. Otherwise I'd highly suggest uber/cab/airport shuttle if Mayfair Rent-a-car doesn't have a shuttle service.

I've commuted by bus many times, not a big deal really. Nothing to be afraid of.