Green guilt-ridden no more!

Or not so much…thanks to Alamo. I booked a midsized hybrid for almost $210, less than the $300+ rates I’ve been seeing the whole day. I gotta be thankful for discount codes, although I searched the internet for hours!

I originally booked a car with Hertz from its Green Collection – a midsized Toyota Corolla for $199, also booked using a discount code. The Corolla was part of their Green Collection. I settled for the Toyota Corolla because the Hertz site said the Green Collection cars had EPA Highway Fuel Efficiency rating of 28 Miles or more per gallon. I thought that wasn’t bad. But when I thought about it long and hard, it seemed 28+ mpg is hardly much of a difference. And why was I settling? I can easily book a Toyota Corolla (or similar car) elsewhere, even if it’s not labeled “green”, and it would probably be cheaper. The Hertz in Las Vegas only have Toyota Prius Hybrid ($58.99/day), Toyota Camry ($58.99/day), Toyota Corolla ($45.99/day), and Ford Fusion (sold out).

Good thing I went online again tonight. I found a hybrid for $43.90/day. And booked it pronto.

Now, I’ve got a complaint on this car rental search. Only Orbitz gave me a rate on hybrids. The other sites I usually go to were unusually silent on hybrid or green car rentals. I had to look up discount codes per car rental company, go to each car rental company’s website, and snoop around for a hybrid. Not a lot of results, but when Prius came up, the rates were about $300+. Enterprise supposedly has a big fleet of hybrids, but their website drove me up the wall! It took forever to load. I was alternating between Hertz, National and Alamo, testing all the discount codes I found until I got the cheapest price.

No wonder most people I know just settle for the cheapest car rental. Why, oh why, do they make it so difficult?

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