One of the benefits of renting from Enterprise Rent-A-Car is that they have more neighborhood rental offices (I looked it up and there are over 5,000) than all of the other major brands. If your travels won’t be taking you near an airport, then they are often the first brand I think of if I need a car. Enterprise also tends to have some more liberal policies on drivers under age 25, which is why I relied on them a lot while I was still in college. I especially like that they offer to pick you up, which makes it very convenient precisely at those times when you need a car. At an airport, duh, you just walk to the rental counter. But that doesn’t work in most other situations.
Enterprise is showing up the competition with a new super-low $9.99 daily rate on weekends, Friday through Monday, for economy and compact cars, including 100 miles per day. And it’s not just some short, limited-time thing. This special runs until May 22 of next year! This is great if you need a car to take a weekend road trip to see some fall foliage, go skiing in January, or just need a way to get around for the day to complete some errands. Although some shared-car rental services have been growing, they are often limited to large urban areas. Even in Seattle, the closest Zipcar location to me requires a bus to get there, and I’m still stuck renting by the hour, which costs more.
Now, I said one of the great things about Enterprise is that they have a lot of off-airport locations. Unfortunately this special rate does not include those that are at airports. But for those of you who just need some convenient transportation on the weekends, I think this is a deal worth consideration.
Don’t forget, if you’re renting a car you might want to consider paying with a credit card that has primary insurance coverage on rental cars. The United MileagePlus Explorer and United MileagePlus Club credit cards both offer this feature, which is uncommon among most cards (usually secondary coverage is provided). If you already have elite status with United, the Club card is probably a better bet.
