Cheapest Car Rental Companies With The Best Rates (2023)

*Advantage Rent A Car does not operate in California. Its average cost excludes Los Angeles airport rental prices.

Advantage Rent A Car

Sedan average weekly cost: $342.29

SUV average weekly cost: $434.89

Advantage was the cheapest rental car company in our cost comparison analysis. However, Advantage isn’t available everywhere. It’s only available at airports in Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and Tampa, along with the DoubleTree hotel at Orlando Seaworld.

With Advantage, you can reserve a car ahead of time without putting any money down. Your credit card will be charged when you pick up the vehicle. Advantage also makes changes and cancellations easy. As long as you let the company know ahead of time, you can change or cancel your reservation without any penalty.

Budget Car Rental

Sedan average weekly cost: $403.32

SUV average weekly cost: $451.66

Budget Rent A Car lives up to its name and offers some of the best car rental rates among companies we compared. Budget has over 4,000 car rental locations worldwide, so you can easily find the company at many travel destinations. 

When you book at Budget.com, you can choose to pay now or pay later. You’ll save a bit of money by paying up front. We found that opting for the upfront rates can save renters anywhere from $20 to $50 on a weeklong rental.

Budget offers a good range of vehicles to choose from including standard options as well as EVs, sports cars, and luxury SUVs depending on the location. As you scroll through your choices, Budget shows if a car offers Bluetooth connectivity or a backup camera. You can also select “see more features” to see the number of seats, luggage capacity, fuel economy, and more.

Fox Rent A Car

Sedan average weekly cost: $361.94

SUV average weekly cost: $511.32

If you’re looking for the cheapest rental car rates, you should consider Fox in your search. While its average rates to rent an SUV were slightly higher than some of the other providers on this list, its sedan rental costs were some of the cheapest we found.

It’s important to note that Fox offers fewer locations nationwide than some larger competitors in the rental car industry. Its U.S. locations span only 14 states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

Avis Car Rental

Sedan average weekly cost: $429.25

SUV average weekly cost: $476.35

With over 1,500 U.S. locations and 5,500 locations worldwide, Avis can be a smart choice for affordable car rentals no matter where you travel. The company offered some of the cheapest rates for each airport location we checked.

In our analysis, we found that Avis offers 31 different vehicle classes to choose from, including pickups, convertibles, sports cars, minivans, luxury cars, and electric vehicles. Its website includes several details about the types of features included with each vehicle class, as well.

Ace Rent A Car

Sedan average weekly cost: $441.29

SUV average weekly cost: $621.49

Ace is another relatively cheap rental car company according to our analysis. Ace has over 350 locations worldwide and U.S. locations in about half of the states, so you may or may not find one where you’re going.

Ace Rent A Car offers both pay-now and pay-later options, though the pay-now option wasn’t available for the date range we had selected. The company offers a members rewards program that awards points for each dollar you spend – you can get double points for prepaying (when it’s available). 

One thing we like about Ace Rent A Car is that it actually tells you what each fee is for. Each fee has a clear name like a vehicle license fee, airport access fee, or energy recovery fee. Many other companies list the technical name for each fee, which often obscures the meaning. 

We also appreciate Ace’s cancellation policy: you get a full refund if you cancel more than 24 hours before pickup and a 50 percent refund if you cancel within 24 hours. Should you cancel within the last hour or not show up, you won’t get a refund. This is more generous than many other rental cancellation policies.