Conference ssdevo::colorado

    
    Some national car-rental places that will probably be at the airport.
    I think "Budget" got bought out.
    
    Avis		(800)831-2847
    Enterprise		(800)720-7222 or (800)rent-a-car
    Hertz		(800)654-3131
    Alamo		(800)327-9633
    
    Alamo tends to have no-mileage-limit rates.
    fred();

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>    Avis		(800)831-2847

	You should be able to book a car with AVIS using Digital rates.
	Ask your secretary (or local travel office) for the account
	number.

Jim

    ixnay on the DEC rates.
    
    CDW is not included on personal rentals anymore and you can almost
    always beat the DEC rate calling with a Sams Club or other
    discount number, hell even flat-out without a discount you can
    usually beat the DEC rate. 
    
    

    
    a quick check on www.travelocity.com for Jun 1 - Jun 21 (about 3 weeks)
    for a full size 4 door shows a low of $169/wk to a high of $219/wk
    unlimited mileage.
    
    These prices ran the course of all the major car rental companies
    listed in previous replies.
    
    --Bert

    
    A year ago I had to rent a car while my truck was being repaired. 
    Enterprise (at that time) had the best rates for extended periods. 
    
    You might want to call them directly. 

    Thanks for the replies folks. Trying to keep the cost down is not easy.
    I've rung up some of the companies and I'm quoted around $447 for the
    cheapest car for 20 days.
    
    When I add insurance (around $14.99 - $16.99 per day) plus the state
    tax of 11.3% it's getting up to $850!
    
    Can anyone tell me if the state tax is due on the insurance as well as
    the rental cost?
    
    Some companies give me around a 5% digital discount. All I need to do
    is show my badge apparantly.
    
    Now to investigate public transport to see if I can avoid hiring a car
    for the full three weeks; but that's another note.
    
    	Chris

I don't know about over there but... Here the credit card company's provide
the insurance for gold card members.  Look into that the insurance is a 
RIPOFF!!!

    Also my insurance company covers any rental automatically. May be just
    in the states.

    You can also save money by going with one of the companies that rents
    older vehicles, like ugly duckling or rent-a-wreck.
    
    Steve
    

    Still trying to get a good deal on car rental...
    
    Dollar gave me a price for a Ford Espire (sp?). However the lady I
    spoke to was very concerned that a small car wouldn't perform well in
    the Mountains and wanted me to hire a mid-range car. She said it would
    be slow up hills and could be dangerous with other cars trying to
    overtake.
    
    Now, does anyone know if a small car like that is likely to have
    problems on hills at altitude. I'm personally not worried if it is slow
    up hills. I would be concerned if it was unable to get up hills or the
    engine was likely to overheat. Is this just a sales pitch?
    
    
    	Chris

    
         The Ford Aspire would indeed have some difficulty, even on normal
    roads if you have more than one passenger. That's probably why the
    model is being phased-out by Ford this year. It has an amazingly weak
    engine in order to have great gas mileage. Currently, that is not a
    popular feature in the US of A.
    
                                       Greg

    But, most cars that are sold in the area are setup for the altitude and
    do perform well.  
    
    Ford should have named it Expire.
    
    If you are renting for personal usage, get what you can afford, then
    tell them you want manual transmission.  Even a tiny engine can perform
    reasonably well if you control the shifting, just do not blow the
    engine.
    
    If you get a car that you are not happy with, use a technique that I
    "heard" about, insert a straight pin through a sparkplug wire to let it
    touch a metal part somewhere.  Then drive it around a while, the thing
    will run like crap.  Later before turning the car in, "It runs really
    badly", remove the straight pin, and the arcing should continue.
    
    Not recommending this, I just heard it could work, then when you return
    the car, they may upsize your rental.
    
    Dave

Sure smaller cars are not as nice as larger cars but they couldn't rent them
if they were ALL that bad!  It really is just a con job to get you to upgrade.
You never know.  When you get here with your reservation they might not even
have any left so you would get a free upgrade.  It happens a LOT.  Also
there are a lot of free upgrades available for rentals but I don't know
how you would find one from over there.  They are often published in magazines.

    Two years ago I rented a Ford Escort and it made it fine over a
    10,000 foot pass.  Granted, it wasn't the most luxurious ride, but
    we got to out destination without problems.
    
    Last year, I had reservations for a compact car. When I got to the 
    desk, the rental agent didn't have any compacts available. So, she
    upgraded me to a minivan at no extra charge.  That was a real treat,
    especially on the way to Aspen, with the great views.
    
    Kathy
    
    
    

    

    I would suspect that the Aspire would have _at least_ as much power
    as any of the smaller European cars.  Americans are just plain
    intolerant of under-powered cars.  I second the opinion that the
    agent was just trying to sell you an upgrade.  If the cars don't
    have the power, then why rent them in this area of the country at
    all.  Maybe the agent _knows_ that they don't have any to rent
    in this area and will have to give you an upgrade if you ask for
    one.  
    
    I drove a Chevette (1.6 L) for years and didn't have a great lot of 
    problem in the mountains.  Even my old VW hippy-van only has problems 
    on the really steep places, but it's been to the top of Pikes Peak, so 
    it gets the job done.

    fred();

    
         The Aspire has a 1.3 liter dead squirrel for an engine. If anyone
    doubts the weakness of this vehicle, do a test drive like I did.
    
                                      Greg

    Thanks for the reponses. Maybe views of cars are different here in the
    UK. I own a 1400cc engine car that slows down going up steep hills but
    makes it fine. I've taken it to the Eurpoean Pyrennes mountains
    around the mountain roads and not been worried about it at all.
    
    What I'm planninng to do is drive from Boulder to Estes Park, then to
    Allenspark and to the Wild Basin trail head, also maybe to some other
    trail heads. Also drive to Vail and back to Boulder. Am not planning on
    going over the high altitude road across the RMNP.
    
    There will be two of us in the car, we average only about 126 pounds
    each, plus there will be camping/climbing gear etc.
    
    I'm really not worried if the car slows down over hills, just if it
    breaks down or can't make it up. The cost of this car and a mid-range
    car is quite a lot; not only the rental but the insurance goes up too.
    
    Asking for a stick-shift is a good idea. This is what I drive over here
    anyway.
    
    	Chris

Almost all the car rental agencies use new cars so the risk of a breakdown is
VERY minimal and they handle that when it happens anyway.  Insurance is REAL
expensive here so most everyone declines it and gets the credit card company
to cover it (Most Gold cards cover it as well as American Express and Diners
Club).

    IF you are not planning on going up over some of the higher passes, you
    will be fine. 
    
    I had a 2.0 l Chevrolet Cavalier that came from N.H. and I did not have
    any adjustments done to it, I took it up to Cripple Creek, and that
    goes up to over 10,000 ft.  I do not believe that the car you have in
    mind will be any problem.
    
    Dave