Next time you’re searching for a rental car in a major city, try picking up the car in the downtown core instead of at the airport. The savings can be pretty substantial.

Car rental in Seattle, via www.Alamo.com:
Pick up the car downtown, drop off at Seatac airport: $303.41
Pick up the car at Seatac airport, drop off at Seatac airport: $437.80

Also, price-compare on a few of the travel search engines. 5 minutes of window shopping can save you quite a bit. I use kayak.com, travelocity.com, and expedia.com. Kayak is my favorite for flights: it’s got the simplest and most functional search UI and search results UI, and often the best selection of results. Travelocity is my favorite for rental cars: it seems to have the best selection, and the total price shown in the search results UI is accurate.

Happy trails.