Why Costco Travel is My Go-To for Car Rentals (& How I Scored an Extra $150 Off My SUV Rental!)
Use a Costco Travel car rental discount or vacation package the next time you take a holiday! These travel deals can save you money on vacations!
Our experiences with Costco Travel Car Rental deals have been unmatched!
If you’re a Costco member, you’ve likely heard of Costco Travel. This service is free for all warehouse members and offers savings on various vacation packages, hotels, cruises, rental cars, and more. Personally, I’ve used this multiple times and have had amazing experiences with it!
Costco’s travel packages can include just about everything you’d need to take care of yourself, from hotels to car rentals and beyond. Before I get into my personal experience with the travel packages I’ve had (which always include the Costco car rentals), it’s important to note that even car rentals booked without a travel package are a massive benefit to Costco Travel.
We use Costco car rental for discount travel and you can too…
To score Costco car rental deals, all you have to do is be a member! With Costco Car Rentals, you can save well over 11% on rental cars, and the U.S. locations will waive any mandatory fees other car rental agencies tend to charge (as an idea, most agencies charge an extra ~$12 per day for additional drivers).
There are four car rental agencies to choose from:
I received a $150 Costco car rental discount by checking prices daily…
Whenever I book, I always set a calendar alert to check the car rental prices frequently, if not daily! More often than you’d think, the prices drop and Costco allows you to cancel the previous reservation for free and rebook at a lower price.
This is the easiest way to get a Costco car rental discount and it actually just happened to me!
I booked an SUV for a 7-day trip for just around $495. I set a daily reminder to check the price for the same reservation. Over the course of a few months, the price dropped to just $345 for the exact same SUV through Budget for Costco.
Following this tip is definitely worth your time! It took less than a minute each day to check the price and I ended up saving $150.
Costco Travel’s return policy also covers flight and hotel reservations which makes booking even more flexible!
Hip Tip: Not a Costco member? Here are other ways how to get the cheapest car rental!
Does a Costco Travel car rental include insurance?
If you do need coverage, you may add on insurance through the car rental company. You’ll need to contact the car company directly for any additional information. The price of insurance will be the same whether purchased in advance or added at pickup.
Your personal car insurance or your AAA membership may be enough to cover you driving your rental car so speak to your insurance agent or AAA representative before purchasing additional insurance.
The Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi also offers rental insurance and other credit card companies may too. Contact your credit card company to see if they provide coverage.
Costco has two non-business memberships. Here are the perks of each…
Before you book a trip or look for Costco car rental deals, it’s important to note the differences between Costco’s TWO non-business memberships so you know what the annual costs are per membership and what travel benefits are included.
The two non-business memberships you can get are:
- Gold Star Membership: $60/year
- Gold Star Executive Membership: $120/year
Both plans give you access to Costco Travel and car rental deals, but one perk that I LOVE is the fact that Executive Costco Members get a 2% reward for purchases made directly from Costco Travel! It is earned and applied after travel is completed.
While Costco Travel may seem like an obvious choice for Costco members when booking a vacay, it may not be the best option for every getaway.
However, in the past few years I’ve used Costco Travel to go to Hawaii and Arizona and I saved BIG. Check the Costco Travel website for car rental discounts, plane deals, and hotel offers that you can use too!
Don’t miss out on other Costco Travel deals like vacation packages and hotel offers…
Costco Travel has allowed me to have dream vacations! 🤩
In addition to Costco Travel car rental discounts, I’ve taken advantage of some vacation deals too. I’ve already used Costco Travel a few times and I am obsessed! I don’t know if I’ll ever book without them again. A few years ago, my hubby and I traveled to Maui, Hawaii, and we got an AMAZING deal to stay at the Ritz Carlton (I know, what?! 😱)!
Now normally, we would NEVER splurge on a hotel like this, but would you believe me if I told you it was the exact same price we would have paid if we stayed in a standard Maui hotel?! Well, it was! The craziest part is that this Costco Travel came with so many extra amenities we would’ve had to book separately, all included in one price.
We had such a great time at an affordable price, that we used Costco once again in 2024 to book another trip to Hawaii. This time we stayed on the Big Island at the Fairmont Orchid.
When you book a trip like this, you have to think about everything: transportation, meals, parking, etc. The Costco package, however, came with a full-size rental car, daily $100 resort credit, daily breakfast for two, waived mandatory daily resort fee, AND complimentary daily valet parking. Talk about AWESOME!
Don’t think you have to go to a faraway, tropical destination to take advantage of Costco Travel and its savings; we used it in March 2021 for a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, and once again, it was incredible!
Similar to our experience in Maui, the package we booked for Arizona included a full-size car rental, a daily breakfast for two, and the waived mandatory daily resort fee, which added up to huge savings for our family.
I truly cannot say enough good things about my experiences! It feels like I hit the vacation lottery every time I use Costco Travel. I also love that if you book in advance, you only need to pay a small deposit to secure your reservation; it’s really convenient that you do not pay in full if you book early enough, and you can even schedule payments if you prefer, as long as it’s paid in full by the 45-day mark.
Searching for your next vacation spot? Try these Costco Travel deals…
Hilton Waikoloa Village: Price varies
- $200 resort credit
- Full-size rental car
- $30 reduced daily resort fee included
Las Vegas: The Cosmopolitan Package: Price varies
- $75 food and beverage credit
- Invited guest check-in
- Complimentary daily parking
Still not convinced? Here’s why some Hip2Savers are raving about Costco car rental deals & travel discounts:
“I booked a trip through Costco Travel to Kauai and saved over 1K for exactly the same flight, hotel, and rental car, plus received cashback. It was our first experience with them but definitely not our last.” – Wendy
“I book our rental car through Costco too and it’s always better than even my company’s corporate deals. I also check almost daily and rebook when it’s a better price and I always save a lot by doing this. When I book hotels I re-check them almost daily too.” – Shannon
“We have done Disney World twice over the past couple of years and booked through Costco. I honestly thought it made it so much less stressful because I knew everything (hotel, flight, rental car) was all taken care of. We even added an extra day at the beach for one trip, again through Costco. I tell everyone I know about it! We will definitely book through Costco again!” – Katie
There you have it! Have you scored a vacation package or Costco Travel car rental deal before? Let us know!
Here’s hoping that sharing my own personal experiences with Costco Travel will encourage you to save big on your next vacation. 🙌
See our team’s favorite affordable & popular family vacation destinations!
We used Costco travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it was awesome! Way cheaper than hotel website, plus we got perks like transportation from the airport to hotel and drinks at the hotel bar. Highly recommended.
How cool! Thanks for letting us know what a great experience you have had!
We booked Disneyland through Costco and got some perks like free lanyards and pins and the gift cards. I was super pleased with our experience.
That’s so awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing with us, Naomi!
I’ve booked several trips with Costco over the year.. Mexico, Hawaii and Disney. Never been disappointed. The best perk that I have found is you don’t have to pay the off the entire trip when you book it. You just have to put down a deposit and if you want you can make payments up until 45 days before your departure.
Example.. my husband and I are going to Mexico in October I booked to trip in February. After my initial deposit in February the trip had to be paid off by the end of September. That gave me almost 7 months to make small payments before the balance was due. It was stress free because by making small payments it didn’t affect my money situation at all and I didn’t have to make a big change on my credit card. We have a trip to look forward to and since it’s all paid off when we get home we start talking about our next trip.
That’s great to hear, Yvonne! I agree, making payments would reduce the stress for sure. Thanks a ton for taking the time to comment! We sure appreciate the feedback!
I booked through Costco for Hawaii because it was getting stressful making all the decisions involved in a vacation. It was a successful trip. Great hotel + perks.
Glad you had a great experience Kim! 🙂
We have done Disney World twice over the past couple of years and booked through Costco. I honestly thought it made it so less stressful because I knew everything (hotel, flight, rental car) were all taken care of. We even added an extra day at the beach for one trip, again through Costco. I tell everyone I know about it! We will definitely book through Costco again!
How fun! Glad you had a great experience with Costco Travel, Katie! 😀
We used Costco for Cancun and when web traveled to their places we use them for our hotel. We love Corcoran travel. In one occasion when going to Cancun j booked the tickets. Then 3 weeks later checked how much they were selling for and they were $700 cheaper. I called Costco travel (They have a 100% money back to a certain day, then 75%,50%, etc.) we were still in the 100% we were lucky. They just canceled our trip and helped us rebook at the lower price. Saved $700!
WOW that is awesome!!!
Wow! That’s amazing! SO glad you could grab the savings, AL!
My family went to Disneyland one year (booked thru the Disney site,) then Disney world the next, booked thru Costco. The only difference was that we could not order meal plans. Everything else was great! We also got a free photo book coupon from Costco so we could remember the trip. That was fun.
So glad you had a great trip, Vanessa! And a free photo book is always a nice freebie! 😉
I wonder if capital one rewards will cover purchases made at Costco for travel? My hubby and I got the credit cards and got the rewards which came close to $2000 off of travel. Yeah we were thrilled. We did not use Costco. But I have heard a lot of good chatter about it. With all these credit card rewards programs, it’s wash and repeat for me.
I book rental cars all the time through Costco. One other trick is to keep checking back. It’s not uncommon for the price to drop. So you can cancel the previous reservation and rebook with the lower price. I saved $40 last month doing this.
I book our rental car through Costco too and it’s always better than even my company’s corporate deals. I also check almost daily and rebook when it’s a better price. I always save a lot by doing this. When I book hotels I re-check them almost daily too.
I agree Julie!! I made our Hawaii trip car rental reservations through Costco and went back to check a couple of times and two times the price had dropped from what we had, so I cancelled and rebooked our car reservation at a cheaper price, love Costco Travel!!
If you book your cruise through anyone other than an agent, you can transfer your booking to Costco, within 60 days, and receive your initial perks (on board credit, specialty dining offers, friends and family sail free, etc…) and stack with whatever Costco is offering. They always give a Costco cash card and sometimes more. I love getting free money to spend in store for taking a vacay!
I wonder if Sam’s does this to? We don’t have a Costco.
LOVE Costco rental cars! Second driver free but check back periodically – we saved $400+ by rebooking a premium SUV 12 day rental this past summer and got to pick it up closer to our house. Drove to Yellowstone & back and saved 4500+ miles on our family car. Rental counter employees also have told me they love Costco members because we’re easier to rent to. Who knows why but it’s gotten me free XM in the rental before just for being polite and a Costco member 🤷♀️
Thanks so much for all that info, Megan! It’s nice not putting miles on your own car!
We did the same….booked a mini van for a drive across the country and back. The free second driver is great. Great deal, got a brand new mini van and saved 6000 miles on our own vehicle. Now we plan to use the rentals more often. The kids loved the extra space. IT’s a win/win.
I love Costco for international travel. They seem to vet the hotels & all the drivers from airport transportation/hotel front desk staff speak English.
We take an international trip every year and always use Costco if they offer the destination. (Mainly Europe, Caribbean and some African safari etc)
I love costco travel…we have booked disney through them 4 times, and my daughter went to 17 European countries. i know that costco will make anything and everything right…my first vacation with them i had no clue what i was doing, and was traveling with just two of my daughters, the employee booking the trip said oh honey you need to be right across the street from disney because i don’t want you and those girls wandering around alone lol normally that would annoy me but she was so grandmotherly and ended up giving us a great room for huge savings, and then she put in the booking that it was our birthday, it wasn’t…so when we got to the hotel they said happy birthday and upgraded us to a suite
Excellent experience! We took a 5 night trip to Hard Rock resort in Riviera Maya in February. Included everything and we received the $800 in Costco dollars upon our return as promised. Amazing experience and saved us a ton of money this way versus booking through travel agent.
We went to Universal Orlando in April and booked through Costco. I compared the regualar price of an on-property hotel plus park passes to Costco and I’d say we saved over $600, plus the package included a $275 Costco gift card. I ,<3 Costco!
I booked a trip through Costco Travel to Kauai and saved over 1K for exactly the same flight, hotel and rental car, plus received Cash back. It was our first experience with them but definitely not our last.
I used Costco for a rental car in Orlando. Our flight was cancelled & I was able to cancel the car reservation & make a new one with new date for no charge & the Costco rate was way cheaper than the rental websites!
Woo hoo! Thanks for letting us know, Margie B!
For Disney – I find my “go-to” Disney Vacation Club owner and rent her points! Our family of 6 has TWO Rooms at Animal Kingdom Jambo DVC, 6 5-Day Park Hopper Tickets, Disney Dining, for under $5000! This same setup would have cost us over $13,000 through Disney!
I’m confused. You know someone with a timeshare there or you go to a specific website to do that? Thanks
David’s Rental is a well established DVC broker. I’m a DVC owner and we always rent our points out through them. You will save a ton of money or pay the same but have a much nicer room going this route as DVC is like getting a Deluxe Resort. If you were going to stay off property or at a value though then it probably wouldn’t really be worth it for you. I have stayed at a moderate resort before though and I definitely recommend renting a DVC room instead of you were planning on staying at that level or higher.
I’m also a DVC member and use facebook groups to rent out my unused points. I set my price per point and people contact me with their requests. I provide a contract with all details spelled out. I make more than going through David’s to rent my points. Just need to be careful and do your research when dealing with owners/renters. HTH
Just got a Costco membership again a few weeks ago, I had no idea they booked vacations! Sounds like everyone had great experiences too. Will definitely check this out!
Has anyone used it as a family of 5? I always want to go through Costco but I can’t find anything unless I do two rooms or 4 people.
Costco car rentals are great, but two caveats: (1) they don’t cover many countries outside the US and (2) they don’t include Hertz and National, which are my preferred agencies when the price is at all close because they let you skip the desk entirely, pick a car, and just go.
We just used Costco Travel and rented a car thru Alamo. Same deal, no need to go to counter, just go to the lot and pick any car.
Thanks for this! It must be true as I keep hearing the same feedback. I keep wanting to try it, but never seem to find deals in locations I go. Maybe I just don’t know the best way to use them for travel. Is the best way to call for deals or are there only travel deals listed on the website? Sometimes I just want a hotel and haven’t seen anything for just a hotel so far.
Anyone with any experience booking riverboat cruises with them in the United States? We’ve done many cruises but want to see the USA. Cruising has us spoiled, because you usually only have to unpack once, unless you include land tours.
If you are going to Jamaica or Mexico ang staying at a Moon Palace Resort, message me and I will give you at least 20% discount compared to Expedia and perks like Resort Credits, Spa, free tours, airport transfer, No timeshare presentation required. 😊
Does anyone know if you can use Disney Gift Cards to pay for the trip if they book through Costco?
I’ve booked my last 3 vacations ( Dominican Republic, Mexico and Jamaica) using Costco Travel and I love it. We just came back from Jamaica (Moon Palace resort) last week. In addition to flights, hotel and shuttle service to/from the resort I’ve always received tour credits and a Costco cash card. If you book using their Citibank visa you get even more reward credits.
We had booked a Disney trip through Costco last year. When we had to cancel due to Covid, they made it SUPER easy and we were refunded everything but the air fare. Also, if you get their credit card, you get an additional 2% back on travel, which can make a big difference!
Quick question folks…..if I’ve booked a trip…..I just check the rates at the specific hotel, airline and car rental and if it goes down I call Costco for a refund? Or do I call Costco to check the price?
It seems that you’d book your car rental etc. and keep checking back for a lower price. If you find a lower price you can then cancel the previous reservation and rebook at a lower price. Hope this is helpful!
I think this would be only about car rental reservations only but I could be wrong.
No need to keep checking your car rentals and rebooking. A website – autoslash.com will do that for you. You enter your booking details and they email you if it goes down. It’s free and has saved us hundreds of dollars.
Great trips and options pre-pandemic. Used it once and love it. But it’s extremely difficult to get in touch with them lately if you need to make any changes to your reservations or encounter any problems while on vacation. Those vendors will ask you to call Costco Travel directly since you booked through them and since the pandemic like in many other businesses unfortunately, customer service appears to be non-existent or you’re on hold for hours. Not a good scenario if you’re overseas & hotel is trying to charge you for things that are supposed to be covered under your vacation package. Just something to consider.
Love Costco travel. Always the best car rental prices. Booked a Hawaii trip with them and had to cancel the day before due to covid. They got a full refund of the “non-refundable” deposit for me.
This is a nice post. I love it.
Thanks for the sweet feedback, Jane! ❤️
I use Costco rental car and do the same thing. In December on our way to the airport I checked the car prices again and our car rental in Kauai had dropped AGAIN so I booked the new one, canceled the old one the day we were flying in. Its definitely a win-win in my books!
Awesome that you were able to book a new car rental at the lower price and cancel your previous reservation! Thanks for sharing your experience, Denise! 💕
Book through Costco and use http://Autoslash.com “Track a Rental” to her emails when a lower price is found. Saves a LOT of time and hassle, and you know you’ve got the best deal.
Thanks so much for sharing this helpful tip. Margaux! 💗
We always use Costco travel for rental cars! Most experiences have been wonderful and we have saved a ton of money this way. We did have a bad experience recently with AVIS/ALAMO — they charged us double what the cost was supposed to be with hidden fees, when we couldn’t get anywhere with them I reached back out to the Costco Travel site and they were able to help get the price we agreed to. Costco was amazing helping us with issues, nice to have them be able to help with the any problems too!
Thanks for sharing about your recent experience, Barb! That does sound frustrating! Glad to hear that Costco Travel was so helpful in this situation! ❣️