I haven t seen this blogged or written about in much detail elsewhere. And it may very well be SING

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[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a referral travel packages to italy for the links to the cards in this post, except for the Citi Thank You Premier where our link for 25,000 points isn't as good as the public offer for 30,000 points.   Thanks for using our links!]
I haven t seen this blogged or written about in much detail elsewhere.  And it may very well be SINGLE most useful tip which I share this year!  I m somewhat embarrassed travel packages to italy that it took me this long to find out one of the most useful benefits of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi Thank You points.
travel packages to italy The secret weapon to slashing hundreds of dollars in car rentals is to book car rentals with cash (or you can redeem points) through the Chase Ultimate Rewards , Citi Thank You or Capital One travel portals.
These rates were MUCH lower than any of the other rates which I found.  In this post, I will explain how to use the Chase Ultimate Rewards and the Citi Thank You portal since they appear travel packages to italy to be run by the same company and have identical terms conditions and appearance.
You can redeem Citi Thank You points for 1 cent per point or Chase Ultimate Rewards points for 1 cent per point or 1.25 cents per point depending on which Chase Ultimate Rewards card you have.  Or you can pay cash.
The only difference is in the rental car cancellation policy.  Chase Ultimate Rewards has NO cancellation fee for rentals cancelled before 2 days of pick-up, but Citi Thank You portal charges $15 for changes before 2 days of pick-up.  Both sites have a fee of 1-day s rental charges if you cancel within 2 days, and no refund for no-shows.
You can access the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, can transfer travel packages to italy Ultimate Rewards points to select airlines or hotels, and can redeem Chase Ultimate rewards points for 1.25 cents towards travel travel packages to italy with the:
You get access to the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, can redeem Chase Ultimate rewards points for 1 cent (as opposed to 1.25 cents) towards travel, but can t transfer Ultimate Rewards points to select airlines travel packages to italy or hotels with the:
Note that Chase Ultimate Rewards does NOT charge travel packages to italy a change fee for cancelling a rental car outside of 2 days from pick-up, and you pay 1 day s rental if you cancel within 2 days.  However, no-shows get no refund.  I also preferred travel packages to italy calling Chase Ultimate Rewards to cancel the rental than calling the Citi Thank You folks.
However, Emily and I both have only Citi Thank You Premier cards, so I was unable to see if other Citi Thank You accounts had access to the same great rental car rates.  I suspect all Citi Thank You accounts have access to the discounted rental car rates.
Here are more ways to earn Citi Thank You points.   Citi Thank You points can be transferred from 1 Thank You point account to another, but they are quirky, so read this post to learn more about losing travel packages to italy Citi Thank You points after cancelling travel packages to italy a Citi Thank You point credit card.
Note that you will pay a $15 change fee for ANY changes/cancellation to a rental car within 2 days (unlike Chase where you pay nothing for changes).  You also pay 1 day s rental charge if you cancel within 2 days.  And no-shows get no refund.
I preferred calling Chase Ultimate Rewards to cancel the rental than calling the Citi Thank You folks, because the Citi Thank You folks kept transferring my call whereas the Chase rep cheerfully cancelled my rental!
A)   ~6 Days in Tampa - The cheapest rate from the 1st post in the series was $286 for a very restricted reservation from Hotwire.  But the rate from the Chase Ultimate travel packages to italy Rewards  Citi Thank You portals is $156 or a savings travel packages to italy of $130!
B)   1 Week Day in New York - The cheapest rate for a car from the 1st post in the series was $117 through Costco Travel.  But the rate from the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel packages to italy Citi Thank You portal is $46 or a savings of $71!
C)    ~1 Week in Maui - The cheapest rate from  1st post in the series was $362 for a very restricted reservation travel packages to italy from Hotwire.  But the rate from the Chase Ultimate Rewards  Citi Thank You portal is $207 or a savings of $155!
However, you can cancel a reservation for FREE (only with Chase Ultimate Rewards Points) up to to 2 days before pick-up by calling travel packages to italy 1-866-951-6592.  However, you will pay $15 for each change if you use Citi Thank You points.
If you cancel the reservation within 2 days of the pick-up date, for both Citi Thank You Points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you have to pay a fine equal to one day s rental cost (which is usually pretty reasonable.)
2.  Pay With Cash, Points, or Both.    One of the best features of the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal is that you can pay for your rental with a charge to your credit card, points, or a combination of cash and points.
In some cases, travel packages to italy you won t get the option to pay for the rental using cash (see image below), but you can always choose to pay with 1 point and charge the balance to your credit card (which is like saving your points and paying with cash!)
travel packages to italy 3.  Earning Miles/Points.    I haven t made enough reservations to see if I can add an airline or car rental frequent traveler number and earn miles/points for the reservation.  I suspect that I won t be able to earn miles/points for the reservation.
However, you can sometimes earns airline miles for short reservations, like say this offer for 1,500 US Air miles for a 2 day or longer rental (targeted to US Air Preferred members, but works for most).  In some cases, particularly for short rentals, it make sense to forgo the lower cash price from the Chase Ultimate Rewards/Citi travel packages to italy Thank You portal and earn miles for the rental.  But do the math for yourself!
4.   Bypassing Airport Rental Car Counters. travel packages to italy    I m also not sure if you can add your rental car number to the reservation so that you can skip checking in at the rental car counter and go straight travel packages to italy to the car.  I tried calling Avis to add my number to a reservation, but was told I couldn t do it because the rate would increase if they associated my Avis number with the reservation.
5.   Personal Observations.   The Chase Ultimate travel packages to italy Rewards Citi Thank You portal has beaten other sites 80% to 90% of the time, but this is MY experience.  The portals travel packages to italy are usually the cheapest site for longer rentals (1 week+) or for rentals during the weekday, but may not always be the best for weekend rentals (where Costco Travel other sites may have the edge ).
In my experience, the Chase Ultimate Rewards Citi Thank You portal often have the lowest price on car rentals.  And you can redeem cash , points , or a combination of cash and points for a car rental!
The cancellation and change policy on these car rentals are also MUCH better than the rigid Hotwire policy.  The Chase Ultimate Rewards travel packages to italy portal doesn t charge for cancellations up to 2-days from pick-up, while the Citi Thank You Portal charges $15 for each change.  Both sites have a fee of 1-day s rental travel packages to italy charges if you cancel within 2 days, and no refund for no-shows.
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Thanks for the great report! travel packages to italy But I was going to rent a car on the Chase portal when I see Cancellations or modifications received at any time may be subject to the applicable Supplier fee. Such fee will appear on your monthly card statement as Trip Charges. travel packages to italy Car cancellations received within two (2) days of pick-up date will be subject to a Supplier cancellation fee equal to the charge for a one-day rental, if applicable. This sounds scary some unspecified Supplier fee will be charged. Has the policy changed since the time you wrote the report?
Great post! I had previously booked with a coupon code and an employee contract travel packages to italy code, and I was still able to save $40 on my six day rental at LAX in May and upgrade to a nicer vehicle by going through the Chase UR portal. Thanks!
I have one more question regarding the insurance. I booked 3-day rental at SFO via Chase UR, which is the lowest price I could find (more than 100 dollars less than second lowest fare elsewhere, thanks again for your posts here). However, the Chase UR portal only accept Visa or Master card. It means that I cannot put the car rental charges to my AMEX card, which has the valuable car rental premium insurance ($24.99 for up to 30 days).
As I have been keeping travel packages to italy putting my car rental charges to my AMEX for almost 3 years , I could just decline any insurance that the car rental company offered, which is usually at a higher price. Now I really have no idea regarding the insurance cost. Do you know how to get this information before I pick up the car? I want to put the rental cost and insurance cost together to compare among all sites.
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