Nearly everyone and every industry in today’s climate has been effected one way or another by the credit crunch. The car hire industry is the same as any other.

There have been a lot of changes in the past eighteen months in the car rental sector. Hire firms joining forces or buying over their competitors which means the inevitable location closures, fleet cuts and sometimes branch hours reduced. This house keeping is all about trying to weather the storm and stay afloat and trim line until the recession is over.

Although the amount of cars and vehicles may have been reduced on the car rental fleet. The demand for renting vehicles is still as high. The car hire prices have risen recently but despite this increase the rental companies still appear to be running out of cars to rent at peak and now off peak periods.

If you are budget conscious and wish to still obtain a reasonable price for your car rental after arriving into an airport. Don’t despair you can still manage to achieve this by planning ahead.

1. Book early and avoid disappointment. There has never been a truer saying especially today. Once the airport desks start to run out of cars. They increase their rental prices. If you have booked your flights and accommodation early why not book your car hire in advance too. This will save you time and money. All stress free because you know you have your car rental booked all you need to do now is collect your car from the airport desk.

2. Shop around for car hire on the net. More and more people today have access to the internet in their homes or local libraries. You can search online for the best current deals to suit your travel needs. Try out the car rental agencies they often offer discounted prices if you book in advance.

3. Do you need a large car or can you reduce your luggage capacity and rent a smaller car? This may reduce your car rental price. As the smaller cars run on less fuel.

4. Try keeping your times together. By this I mean collect your car hire at noon and return your car rental at noon. This will save you another days rental as most car hire firms grace period is around thirty minutes from your collection time. Remember the rental day runs on a strict twenty four hour period.

5. Sometimes the rental companies offer a five day special rate if you book the car for seven days.

6. Look out for the weekend specials which are sometimes promoted by advance booking.

7. If you are a member of one the motoring organisations. You may receive a discount by using a certain promotional code or just by saying you are a member and inserting your member number.

I hope the above ideas help you in achieving a relaxed and on rental budget.