Business or Leisure Car Rental?
Which is less expensive? Getting a rental car for personal or business use?
I just called a rental car company to find out their rates and they asked me if it would be for personal or business use. What's the basis for them having different rates? Which is less costly?
Many companies contract a corporate account with car rental companies based on a certain rate per day for various sizes of vehicles. Many business accounts often offer free additional drivers, inclusive loss damage waiver and monthly billing (to the company) or direct bill accounts (so the renter does not have to show at the counter).
Business rates can be less or more expensive depending on the situation. A general rule of thumb, is if you have a business account, your rates will tend to be cheaper with it for a rental of less than 5 days, through the week. You will tend to get a cheaper rental on weekends or for a rental of 5 days or more, without a business account. You're usually better of then just using a car rental discount code that you might have from a membership program (like frequent flyer programs) or a professional association membership (like the National Education Association). It's often a good idea to check both a business and leisure rate when pricing rental cars.
The reason that you were probably asked if the rental was for business or personal, is that if you had said business, the agent would have asked you if you had a corporate account with them, and if not, if you would be interested in signing up for a corporate account.
Hope this helps!
For more info see: Business Car Rentals
Category Article car rental rates
