Booking a rent-a-car through VPN (different location)

Okay I did my “research” 🙂

Short answer: yes there is a difference in prices

Long answer:

I switched VPN servers (getting different IP everytime), used Microsoft Edge in private mode and cleared all cookies and cached data at every new search/ip change.

The search was for 10 days rental, Key West airport, Ford Mustang Convertible

Rentalcars.com

USA – 593$

Denmark – 516$ (no vpn)

Germany – 516

Bulgaria/Brazil/UK – 516$

Expedia.com

Australia – 616$

DK – 597$ (no vpn, general website, not location based)

DK – 465$ (no vpn, local website, expedia.dk)

US – 597$

UK – 523$

Enterprise.com (not a search engine)

USA – 596$

DK – 612$

BG – 612$

So after all it seems that without VPN and using the website’s local version (expedia.com mentioned above) is actually the cheapest option for me.
It could be coincidence and it could be difference in their terms and conditions but at first glance it is the same deal I am getting from the same rental company.

Thanks to all that had something to say.

I have been doing this many times, for flights, rental cars, and hotels, and never had any issues with it. Often you can save a lot, but it is not always cheaper; and you have to be aware of country specific regulations (and potentialy speak other languages – sometimes prices change when you switch the language).
[Example: flights within Peru are extremely cheap for Peruvians (often -80% or more). If you try to book those with an IP from another country, you get warned that you need to a peruvian citizenship to use those tickets; if you come with a Peruvian IP, you get no such warning (and then the ticket won’t allow to fly).]

The idea being discussed that ‘your bank will decline it’ makes no sense, as your bank doesn’t care or even know how you were logged in to the website or if you are in person in the office – they see only that company X is trying to charge your credit card.
That might or might not raise a flag, depending on your bank, the amount, and your previous payment behavior, but it is completely unrelated to which IP address you used.

Yes, it may be very well worth to give it a try. Location based price differences are quite common in the travel industry and it is very much possible to save money by pretending to be somewhere else.

Seeing that you are from Denmark, a specific example would be the Color Line ferry from Hirtshals to Larvik tonight at 22:15. If you try to book two persons and a car on the Danish Color Line web site, they will offer you a ticket for DKK 815. If you try to book the same ticket from the Norwegian web site, you are offered the same ticket with the same conditions for DKK 640. On the Swedish site, the price is DKK 590 and on the German site they want DKK 730. To take advantage of these different prices, you don’t even need a VPN service, but you can simply go to www.colorline.se instead of www.colorline.dk to get the cheapest ticket.

I don’t see how any of the disadvantages listed by Burhan are likely to apply. Even if you are from or live in Denmark, it is not particularly unlikely that you actually are in Brazil or China when trying to rent a car in the US. Order forms are usually designed to cope with international customers, if your bank is declining credit card usage just because it seems as you are travelling, you should consider to change your bank and if you are offered payment options not applicable to you, then simply choose another applicable option.

There are a lot of issues with doing this, and getting a cheaper rate may not be the end result.

In short, don’t do it because it won’t help with the rates. Here are just some reasons why this is not recommended:

• You will see requirements for rental that do not apply to you. For example, you may see insurance or documentation requirements that are not applicable to you, which may end up costing you more.

• Your bank may refuse the charge.

• The website may offer you payment options that are not applicable to you.

• The forms you fill in may not be compatible with your information. For example, you may not be able to enter a billing address because there is no place to change the country; or you may not be able to enter a phone number because its expecting a US number.

The best way to get a deal on rental cars is:

• Rent from a location other than the airport. Airport locations usually have a surcharge.

• Look at your credit card for loyalty points or upgrades for rentals.

• Try to pay upfront for the rental – many companies offer deep discounts for this.

• Look at the airline, they may offer a rental reference code or preferred rates for your booking.

• Use alternative means of renting (like Turo).