Anyone know how to rent a car cheaply for a month or two in the Los Angeles area?

My friend got in a car accident, not his fault, and got a check from the insurance company for another car.
His woman-friend is buying a new car in a month or two and she has offered to sell her old car to my friend for a really killer price.

My friend needs a car now, but wants to wait to buy this particular car at a great price.
Public trasportation is not an option as he needs to drive around for his job.

Best car rental rate found so far is $660 a month unlimited mileage.
Yuck!

Any ideas?

the last time i needed to rent a car for months at a time in los angeles was more than ten years ago, and of course prices were a lot less then than what you quoted.

i would try going online first, as i've found the best short-term rental rates are online.

if that doesn't yield satisfaction, try the local rent-a-wreck or similar deep discount renter and work out a deal with them. your friend should be able to talk himself into a volume discount for the long time period he will have the car.

if memory serves, they used to have monthly lease rates that were much more reasonable than the daily and weekly ones. also if he has a AAA membership, this could pay for the dues. AAA discounts are pretty standard for car rentals.

Kenny,

National car rental caters to the local renters with many non-airport locations. They have arrangements with many dealers as well as body shops and repair facilities. I'd check with them. They may understand the need for a longer term rental and hence offer better deals. Or not?

...or Enterprise.

And there's always those "ugly duckling" rentals which rent older, rougher cars than the big boys but at lower rates.

You know, I may have been thinking Enterprise when I said National. Now I'm not sure. Check them both I guess.

What you need is a $500 car. They are out there, and most of them (but not all) will make two months without a lot of trouble. You can junk it when you are through with it and get about $250 when you do.

I have had a bunch of them over the years, mostly either Big-O Detroit iron or super high mileage Japanese cars. A positive attitude, a can of STP and a used tire or two generally got me by.

They all had issues of course, but all were driveable. The '75 LTD wagon had no rear window -a fine car for the summer. The '62 Olds had a four speed automatic that was missing third gear. Took some finesse to drive it, but once I got used to it it was fine. The air even worked in that one. The ('78?) Toyota had three hundred and some thousand miles on it, but with thick enough oil in it, it even passed the smog test. My '63 Impala was a completely restored car - new engine and trans, new interior - a beautiful car until the dump truck hit it. No trunk space in that one, had to rig up some tail lights to get it home.

Make a deal involving the fact it must pass the smog check and run the plate through the DMV to make sure there are not 100 parking tickets on it.

Check vacant lots and in shopping centers on weekends. Recycler has a few of them every week as well.

It's not a car, it's an adventure!

Thanks all,
So far best is $499 at an Enterprise non-airport location.
BTW there are a million Enterprise locations all over LA, prices range from 400 to 750 for same thing. Never rent from an aiport location.

Will check rent a wreck and ugly duckling. . .
Thanks guys