As part of my family's trip to Montana via Seattle, (aka Bellingham, Washington,) finding a car rental was the next step after I picked the airline--Skybus (see post), I was particularly interested in making a car rental reservation ASAP since one Gadling reader commented that when he flew into Bellingham he noticed there weren't many car rental options. Since Sky Bus has a link to Avis on its website, I Iooked there first and wondered if I could do better. I also checked prices through Travelocity --Enterprise car rental, the cheapest was $10 more than the Avis rate.

I was determined to find a better deal. Then I remembered that AAA had travel discounts. Sure enough, by using the trip code on the AAA website, I found a Hertz rental about $30 cheaper than the Sky Bus deal. I reserved a full-size car since there are four of us and we have a bit of luggage to contend with. The last two times we rented cars, however, we upgraded for no extra charge at the check-in desk. We'll see. If not, we'll save on gas. Who knows, maybe our AAA standing will help out in a way I don't even know yet. Next step, find a hotel for the night before we fly home. Our rental is for two weeks and includes two weekends, by the way.

Filed under: Business, North America, United States