Log your Car Rental rates here! (Priceline, Hotwire etc.)

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

Let us use this thread to track what we paid for our car rentals.

Format: Location, Date, Number of Days, Total (including taxes etc.), Car Rental Agency, Reserving site/system.

Las Vegas; 2/10/08; 7 days; $152.90; Hertz; Priceline (I bid $13 per day for a mid size car.)

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

San Diego
5/11 - 518/08
$255.99
Hertz
Priceline ($14/day for standard)

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Scottsdale, AZ - Thrity - mid-size car 1/26 to 2/2/2008 $114 base rate for 7 days. Total with fee's was $190.41 including a $2 charge for FF miles.

Las Vegas March 2007 - Thrifty - full size $109 base rate for 7 days estimated total incluing fee's $168.73

Savannah, GA (for HHI) - Thrifty - Wild Car (guarenteed mid-size or larger) $100.60 base rate for 7 days estimated total including fee's $131.40

Palm Beach, FL - Thrifty - mid-size $256.32 base rate for 7 nights. *note* I have never paid this high of a rate at PBI. I have to watch the rates, which usually come down, but almost always get the best deal through Priceline or Hotwire. Last December we rented a mid-size for the week through Hotwire for $99 for the week.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

$13/day

Pick-Up Location:
Hertz Corporation
Sarasota Bradenton Airport
In-Terminal
1121 Rental Car Road
Sarasota,FL 34243
1-800-654-3011
Drop-Off Location:
Same as above Pick-Up Date: April 19, 2008 - 2:00 PM
Drop-Off Date: April 26, 2008 - 12:00 PM
Your Offer Price: $13.00 (per day)
Total Rental Days: 7 days(6 days and 22 hours)
Subtotal: $91.00
Taxes and Fees: $58.05
Total Charges: $149.05
Lowest Published Price: $262.99
Total Savings:* $113.94 (You saved 43%)


Total is $21/day. That's half the price on a quote directly from Hertz for the same vehicle.

Selected Vehicle: Hyundai Accent or similar
Economy 2-4 Door Automatic Air
Total Approx. Charges: 308.44 USD

base amount:
Weekly: 1 week at 233.99 USD

With Unlimited free miles
Rate Code: WEBW

Additional Items (included in Approximate Total Charges)
Tax 7.00 %
Airport concession fee recovery 10.00 %
Rental surcharge & vehicle license fee recovery 16.87 USD
Airport security surcharge 14.00 USD
This Rate is Guaranteed

Total Approximate Charges 308.44 USD

[vinolover Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vinolover]

Las Vegas June 2007, Priceline Name Your Own Price

Your Rental Car Reservation
Compact(unlimited mileage)

Alamo Las Vegas Arpt

Alamo Rent a Car
7135 Gilespie St
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Pick-Up Date and Time:
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 - 1:30 PM

Drop-Off Date and Time:
Monday, June 11, 2007 - 3:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $10.00
Total Rental Days: 7
Subtotal: $70.00
Taxes & Fees: $52.77
Total Charges: $122.77(USD)

I was really proud of getting this deal!

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Scottsdale, AZ - Thrity - mid-size car 1/26 to 2/2/2008 $114 base rate for 7 days. Total with fee's was $190.41 including a $2 charge for FF miles.

Las Vegas March 2007 - Thrifty - full size $109 base rate for 7 days estimated total incluing fee's $168.73

Savannah, GA (for HHI) - Thrifty - Wild Car (guarenteed mid-size or larger) $100.60 base rate for 7 days estimated total including fee's $131.40

Palm Beach, FL - Thrifty - mid-size $256.32 base rate for 7 nights. *note* I have never paid this high of a rate at PBI. I have to watch the rates, which usually come down, but almost always get the best deal through Priceline or Hotwire. Last December we rented a mid-size for the week through Hotwire for $99 for the week.

I just improved upon my rate in Savannah, GA.

The new rate is $91.14 - Thrifty - Wild Car (mid-size or larger) for 7 days estimated total with fee's is $119.99

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

continue to bid for better deals...eh?

I just improved upon my rate in Savannah, GA.

The new rate is $91.14 - Thrifty - Wild Car (mid-size or larger) for 7 days estimated total with fee's is $119.99

Doug, are you saying, you did another bid, and the lower price is accepted, so you will take this new price and cancel the older reservation? Is that allowed?

I also noticed - taxes etc are around $30 for you at Savannah, while it is around $60+ for Las Vegas!

[idahodude Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close idahodude]

2/2/08-2/8/08 San Francisco

Hertz, Priceline
$14/day-total cost ~$150 for a full-size car



12/1/07-12/8/07 Orlando

Avis, Priceline
Total cost $85 for a compact car

As to the other poster who bid again, you can't cancel a priceline request (unless you include insurance in your bid which will only work for specific incidents). That's part of why you can frequently get a lower price.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Doug, are you saying, you did another bid, and the lower price is accepted, so you will take this new price and cancel the older reservation? Is that allowed?

I also noticed - taxes etc are around $30 for you at Savannah, while it is around $60+ for Las Vegas!

No, mine are reserved directly through Thrifty. If you reserve early enough you often don't need to use Hotwire or Priceline as you can't improve you're savings that much. One great thing about reserving directly through the rental agenicies is that if you find a better deal, you can cancel or change and re-book at the better rate. I only use Hotwire/Priceline when I get close to our departure date. I'll start looking at them 1 or 2 months out while watching the regular sites for price drops at the same time. If you buy to soon from Hotwire/Priceline you could end up paying to much. I've seen compact cars go for less than $10/day in Vegas. For that matter we rented a full size car from Hotwire for $8.95/day through Hotwire in Palm Beach for December.

Re-reading the initial post, I can see that this thread should be about Hotwire and/or Priceline. However I think it's important to know that reserving early can be just as good plus, I get to use my prefered renters status to skip any lines.

In reality if people want to compare Hotwire/Priceline rates, they'll be better off at one of the web sites dedicated to such transactions rather than a thread on a timeshare forum. One such site is Priceline and Hotwire Forum .

And yes, Vegas has some pretty high taxes. Denver and Pheonix are pretty high as well. The last car I rented at the Denver airport was almost double in price because of all the taxes and fee's.

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

Thanks Doug. I have referred to betterbidding.com before making the reservation, but was unable to find a thread about the car rental deals/prices.

I thought, having a thread like this would help folks unfamiliar with the other sites to get an idea about what people do to get good deals on car rentals and other services.

I sure am appreciative of the responses received on this thread too. Thanks.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

There is also the web site BiddingForTravel.com - The informed Priceline Travel Bidding Forum .

I believe both sites have sections dedicated to car rentals but haven't visited either site for some time. The webmaster and biddingfortravel is to much of a control freak and if you don't post exactly as she tells you to post you can get deleted and/or banned from her site. After being chastised twice I quit providing information about my bids on Priceline to her site.

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Here is a direct link to the subforum for car rentals at betterbidding.com

Priceline and Hotwire Forum -> Car Rentals

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

Doug, these are great! Thanks so much for providing direct links to these forums.

[SIGN]Thanks!![/SIGN]

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

here is my link I had just recently posted for FLL for a Conv

FLL $13 Dec 1-6 Convertible Avis



FLL $13 Dec 1-6 Convertible Avis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Offer Price: $13.00 (per day)
Total Rental Days: 5 days
Subtotal: $65.00
Taxes and Fees: $52.57
Total Charges: $117.57
Lowest Published Price: $452.95
Total Savings:* $335.38 (You saved 74%)




Hotwire $18

[kapish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close kapish]

Wow! A convertible for $13 a day! Not bad