Top Ten Deals Now On Oodles

Oodles is one of our top two recommended car rental comparison sites for the Big Boys of Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty. In our Oodles review, we highlighted the site’s unique ability to plug in discount codes (or coupons) from Avis, Budget and/or Hertz when doing a search but had lamented the fact you need to seek out these discount codes in the first place.

Now, they’ve added a new section in their homepage featuring ‘today’s top ten deals’. Clicking on a coupon code will automatically enter it as part of your search criteria. You can enter one code each for Avis, Budget and Hertz to be searched in tandem. We like this as another step in the right direction to simplify, simplify, simplify. Now if only they’ll let us plug in discount codes from Europcar and Thrifty too!

Click to view Oodles website

VroomVroomVroom buys Bargain Wheels: Good news?

VroomVroomVroom and Bargain Wheels, two of the choice car hire sites we uncovered in our research, are now one.

The potential synergy is clear with each comparing different sets of car hire companies: VroomVroomVroom grabs you the live prices from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty, whilst Bargain Wheels delivers prices from the smaller independent car hire companies throughout Australia. VroomVroomVroom is at the top of their game in our opinion. At this point Bargain Wheels does not display results in a user-friendly fashion but they can deliver savings in particular locations (it is one of our recommended sites for Brisbane, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide).

The combined result could potentially be what every car rental seeker dreams of. So let’s hope this corporate buyout translates into advantages for us customers with VroomVroomVroom improving on Bargain Wheels’ usability and developing a search engine that will incorporate both their capabilities into one. We’ll be keeping an eye out on the two for you.

Oodles: A Snapshot

Oodles is a successful newcomer to car hire comparison scene offering up some differentiating features.

Our Verdict: If you are a frequent renter with Car Rental, Qantas Frequent Flyer or Velocity Rewards memberships, or you have Discount Codes from Avis, Hertz or Thrifty, there’s no more convenient place to compare and book your car hire.

Founded: 2007
Based: Melbourne
Companies searched: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Thrifty
Prices: Will not be higher than if you went to each of the rental companies’ sites. No extra mark ups, booking or agent fees. ‘Best Rate Guarantee’ will match a lower price on an equivalent car found within 8 hours of booking and add a further 10% discount
Of interest: Allows you to enter car rental membership, frequent flyer details or discount codes so you can automatically collect points or be shown discounted prices in the search results. Where the express pickup service is available, regular travellers can jump the queue

Their unique tabbed search results is well presented and highlights the cheapest available but if you want to see details of other results, you’ll have to click around. You can almost always find the cheapest price for each size category on Oodles, but our other recommended comparison site VroomVroomVroom tends to offer up more search results (e.g. green / hybrid cars).

Selecting a car will reveal all the necessary information from pickup and drop-off details and cost breakdown. Prices are final (but of course, excluding any further add-ons you may request). The booking form requires basic information but no credit card details are required and your reservation will be held for you at no obligation.

VroomVroomVroom: A Snapshot

VroomVroomVroom is a car hire comparison site based in Australia that compares live prices from Australia’s major car hire companies of Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty.

Our Verdict: Simplest and most user-friendly, it is our favourite place for quickly finding the lowest prices and placing a booking without having to go to each of the different sites if you intend to rent a car from any of these reputable global brands.

Founded: 2002
Based: Queensland
Companies searched: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Thrifty
Prices: Unless you have an offer code or membership discounts, Vroom will find you the exact prices as if you went to each of their sites. No extra mark ups, booking or agent fees. Their Price Promise guarantees to match a lower price on an equivalent car within 3 days of booking with a further $10 discount
Of interest: Partnering with CarbonNeutral, Vroom offsets the carbon emissions of each car hire at no extra cost to you as a renter

With their real-time car hire price comparison presented as a list, it makes it easy for you as a renter to immediately find the cheapest option for the car size you require. Leaving your mouse to hover over each item automatically displays an image of the hire car so you can picture the car you will getting.

Once you’ve selected your car, you’ll be shown pickup and drop-off details, a description of your vehicle and a breakdown of the costs. The final price listed is inclusive of all taxes and fees for the basic car hire so there will be no surprises upon pickup. Naturally, you have to pay more for further add-ons such as child seats or excess reduction, prices of which are also displayed.

The booking form is basic and simple to fill in. No payment or deposit is required, allowing you to secure a rental car far in advance at no risk or obligation.

Best Comparison Site for the Major Car Hire Companies

After thoroughly reviewing over 20+ popular car hire comparison sites as ranked on Google and Yahoo, we’ve uncovered the Top 2 Sites for comparing the live prices of Australia’s major car hire companies – Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, and Thrifty.

The smaller independent companies can be cheaper (especially for airport car rentals) but either way, you should get the best price offered by Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, and Thrifty to use as a benchmark.

After finding the lowest prices here, remember to check all the car hire coupons we’ve compiled to see if you can bag yourself further bonuses and discounts. Then after booking, be sure to apply our tips for saving $100s on car hire insurance by bypassing the car hire companies.

Read more on Oodles

• Presentable site design
• Rewards (Qantas, Velocity) and Preferred Program (Avis, Budget, Hertz, Thrifty) membership input
• Discount Codes input
• Able to book child seats
• Vehicle details (e.g. luggage space, engine) shown with search results
• Modify or cancel booking online
• ‘Best Rate Guarantee’ matches lower price + further 10% discount within 8 hours of booking

• Tabbed comparison table looks good but not intuitive for first-time user and requires clicking around
• No ‘Green’ Hybrid cars or Station Wagons
• Provider’s terms and conditions not provided

Read more on VroomVroomVroom

• Clean, easy-to-use site
• Easy price comparison at a glance
• Most complete listing
• Modify or cancel your booking online
• Prices given for GPS, baby seats, excess reduction
• Summary terms and conditions displayed
• Price matching promise + $10 further discount within 3 days of booking

• No Rewards or Preferred Program membership input
• No Discount Codes input
• Call needed to reserve child seats

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