Hertz - Hertz.com Lower Price Phenomenon?

Background info: I'm doing a 1.5-day rental this weekend at SLC (fullsize, USAA CDP, used PC 167193).

Just for the heck of it, I just decided to price out a new rental and see what it would cost if I made the reservation today instead of last week. Surprisingly(?), it was $12 cheaper than I had originally booked! I modified my existing reservation (unchecked the "keep my original rate plan" (sic)) and got that price too. I was originally on rate code MCLE, now it says rate code TMDE; other than that, the reservation is identical. Woo!

What I'm wondering is that I've tried this for several rentals and nearly every time, this trick works. Has anyone else experienced this? If not, give it a shot... you might be in for a surprise :)

-J.

I do this all the time. Go back in and reprice existing reservations. I am surprised at how often one can lower the price. However, sometimes you need to book a brand new reservation and cancel the old one to get the price change to "stick".

Am perplexed as why you call this "a trick"? Unless you are on a pre-paid rate, there is rarely a penalty for booking a car and then cancelling at the last-minute or not showing up at all. All you did was re-price the rental. Good for you that you got a lower price. It's called inventory control/management/dynamic pricing. Clearly the location was trying to move some vehicle classes and lowered prices due to lower demand. Enjoy your cheaper rental!

You should always check any travel reservations for lower rates and change to the lower rate when it's for your benefit. Make sure to check your contract (or rate for a hotel) to make sure they printed the one with the new rate on it,

As long as there is no penalty or the drop in rate is greater than the penalty you have to pay, it's worth it to do it.

I had a rate drop 50% from one day to the next a couple years ago

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz/1085354-pays-check-those-reservations-price-drop.html

AutoSlash (http://www.autoslash.com) will do this automatically for you.

AutoSlash re-prices your rental multiple times a day. If we find a better deal, we'll automatically re-book you to lock in the savings. It's like price protection for your rental.

AutoSlash (http://www.autoslash.com) will do this automatically for you.

Even though you can't book Hertz through Autoslash anymore (:() you can still track your reservation with them, which I did. I got an email from them a few days ago saying Enterprise was cheaper and I should rebook with them; however I didn't since I try to stick with Hertz to get more points and since the USAA rate with Enterprise was more expensive than the discounted one Autoslash found (I need the USAA rate to get around the young driver fee). AutoSlash didn't catch this one (the cheaper rate I found myself).

-J.

AutoSlash (http://www.autoslash.com) will do this automatically for you.

Not on a Hertz rental it won't
Or Dollar
Or Thrifty
of if you already have a lower rate than they found

I try to remember to do this because I've had that happen a number of times. But if you start out with a pretty rock bottom rate it probably won't help. For example, 2 weeks from now I'm picking up a full week rental and I've gotten the total with tax down to under $150 with a coupon. It usually doesn't get much lower than that so while I'll check it again a couple times between now and then I don't expect it to go down.

Even though you can't book Hertz through Autoslash anymore (:() you can still track your reservation with them, which I did. I got an email from them a few days ago saying Enterprise was cheaper and I should rebook with them; however I didn't since I try to stick with Hertz to get more points and since the USAA rate with Enterprise was more expensive than the discounted one Autoslash found (I need the USAA rate to get around the young driver fee). AutoSlash didn't catch this one (the cheaper rate I found myself).

-J.

Smart move, enterprise typically has the worst cars out there in terms of how clean they are and damage free

Well after I wrote my famous last words above, damned if the rate didn't drop another 11 bucks looks like. Trying to rebook it now. :)

EDIT: Weird, so, if you don't change anything on your res, it will show you the lower price, but when I get to the final screen it shows me the same price as before. So I had to book a new one and cancel the old. Still, 11 bucks is 11 bucks. Down to $135 total for a week for a midsize, including all taxes. $28 of it is $2/day rental taxes from county and state, so the real rental cost after coupon and before tax is south of 100 bucks. ^

Do not be surprised about any prices you see in Hertz site. I'm looking a car for a vacation in MCO and constantly 8-day rate for luxury (LCAR) has been around 500 USD. Today it's about 1500 dollars. I can even rent minivan for 1800, Suburban for 2400 or Clubwagon for 3000 dollars. For 8 days. Go figure what's going on in Hertz :rolleyes:
Couple of years ago got a great deal from Hertz though - LCAR for 20 dollars/day for 8 days :)

Keep checking and hope the price will drop. If not, and the competition offers a better deal, book with them. If the competition has the same rates, try Hotwire or Priceline.

For 8 days. Go figure what's going on in Hertz :rolleyes:


I love Hertz, but one time at one airport they were over three times as much as half the other car companies at that airport. I couldn't justify over triple the cost, so booked with Avis. When we landed and went to pick up the car, they had sold out signs up at the counter, so apparently they knew what they were doing.

I figured they would have been begging people to take an overpriced car.

Well after I wrote my famous last words above, damned if the rate didn't drop another 11 bucks looks like. Trying to rebook it now. :)

EDIT: Weird, so, if you don't change anything on your res, it will show you the lower price, but when I get to the final screen it shows me the same price as before. So I had to book a new one and cancel the old. Still, 11 bucks is 11 bucks. Down to $135 total for a week for a midsize, including all taxes. $28 of it is $2/day rental taxes from county and state, so the real rental cost after coupon and before tax is south of 100 bucks. ^

There's a way around it I think. When re-pricing your original reservation, when you get to the home screen, at the bottom (below the PC/RQ/etc. fields but above the submit button) there's a check box next to the statement "I want the Rate Plan I originally reserved" -- uncheck it, and that allows the lower rate to come up (i.e., my rental was originally on rate code MCLE, when I re-priced it I unchecked the box and the lower rate was TMDE).

BTW, where are you renting from that taxes are only $2 a day??

-J.

Well, just today i managed to rebook at an insanely lower rate... I am trying to rent one way from the Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale area to Wisconsin. About two weeks ago i was pricing out different locations and the cheapest i found was from a HLE in Hollywood for $386 per week. The airport at the time was about $480 per week (for ECAR). Today i decided to check again and the airport priced me out at $101 per week (for FCAR). After taxes and the $40 one way PC, my total cost is $125, MUCH lower than my previous booking of $396 with taxes.

It sounds like you stumbled upon a situation of Hertz not advertising their usual $5/day FL driveout, but matching the $14-19/day FL driveout prices of their competitors, though only from certain FL airports.

There's a way around it I think. When re-pricing your original reservation, when you get to the home screen, at the bottom (below the PC/RQ/etc. fields but above the submit button) there's a check box next to the statement "I want the Rate Plan I originally reserved" -- uncheck it, and that allows the lower rate to come up (i.e., my rental was originally on rate code MCLE, when I re-priced it I unchecked the box and the lower rate was TMDE).

BTW, where are you renting from that taxes are only $2 a day??

Oh right, duh, I was oblivious to that box the other day, just clicked right on through without even noticing it, though I know it's been discussed. The funny thing though is on the in between screens, where it shows the car types, the lower rate shows. Then after you continue the lower rate still shows. Then on the very final screen where it includes all taxes and fees, and asks for your payment and airline info and such, it reverts to the original rate. I find that behavior just a little odd. ;)

There are two separate $2/day taxes (thus achieving the $28), and this is not the entire tax. It was just an amount I knew off the top of my head because it was easy. Knowing there was additional tax on top of that I knew that $28 plus the additional tax would push the effective before-tax rate below $100 on the $135.xx all-in total.

I'm renting from HLE in suburban Pittsburgh, PA. A couple years ago the state instituted a $2/day additional rental car tax, and Allegheny County followed suit with their own additional $2/day tax. So that's where I get $28 for a week (2x2x7). That's not the only tax though; a regular sales tax is still applied as well, although I'm not sure what rate and on what amount. Hertz math on the web site with the coupon is always a little screwy. ;) Looks like this:

1 week at 122.81 USD
ALLEGHENY COUNTY RENTAL VEHICLE TAX 14.00 USD
State Rental Surcharge 14.00 USD
ENERGY SURCHARGE 1.03 USD
Vehicle Subtotal 123.85 USD (obviously doesn't add up but I have $35 coupon)
Taxes 11.77 USD
Total Approximate Charge 135.62 USD (actual charge at end is always a buck or two less)

I guess the "taxes" line must be a 9.5% rate on rental cars on the $123.85 amount, that does come out to exactly $11.77. Only thing that makes sense but having trouble confirming with quick search. The regular sales tax in Allegheny would be 7% (most of the state is 6% but Allegheny gets an extra 1% and Philly gets 2% extra.). We had a discussion a while back about the application of dollars off coupons, but it's still hard to figure out the math as far as where the $7 went, seems like $35 turns into about $28 right?

If this were at PIT on airport, there would be an additional fee or two.

Even though you can't book Hertz through Autoslash anymore (:() you can still track your reservation with them, which I did. I got an email from them a few days ago saying Enterprise was cheaper and I should rebook with them; however I didn't since I try to stick with Hertz to get more points and since the USAA rate with Enterprise was more expensive than the discounted one Autoslash found (I need the USAA rate to get around the young driver fee). AutoSlash didn't catch this one (the cheaper rate I found myself).

-J.

We're in a transition phase right now. Due to the recent activity by Hertz and DTAG, our automated systems are only capable of handling the companies that still partner with us. We are having to handle "tracked" reservations booked with other companies a bit more manually for now while we work on building a new system that will support rentals with all companies.

While we work through this, you may encounter some glitches, and it's probably best to consider AutoSlash as an "assistant" in helping you find the best rate rather than the be-all-end-all solution. (Our aim is to eventually be that solution so that you don't have to do any work at all!)

For "tracked" reservations (ones you've booked elsewhere but have submitted for tracking), I'll make a few notes about what we are currently doing so you can best adapt your use of that function:

-We try but are a long way from 100% at being able to factor in any membership affiliations you included on your original "tracked" reservation
-We prioritize our offers based on an admittedly-subjective ranking of the rental companies. Generally, if you had booked with Hertz, you wouldn't get offered a lower rate with Enterprise, but you would if we found a lower rate with National or Avis. If you had booked with Payless, we'd send you the cheapest rate from any other company. ;)
-Once we send you an email alerting you of a lower price, we don't really have a way of knowing whether you took advantage of it, so our current practice is to not send any further emails. Thus, if you want to continue tracking for further price drops after you rebook, you'll need to submit another tracking request for your new confirmation details and new price.

It's far from a perfect system, but it at least allows us to provide some type of service while we work towards a new, more comprehensive service where we hope to provide all of the features that FTers want.

Well after I wrote my famous last words above, damned if the rate didn't drop another 11 bucks looks like. Trying to rebook it now. :)

EDIT: Weird, so, if you don't change anything on your res, it will show you the lower price, but when I get to the final screen it shows me the same price as before. So I had to book a new one and cancel the old. Still, 11 bucks is 11 bucks. Down to $135 total for a week for a midsize, including all taxes. $28 of it is $2/day rental taxes from county and state, so the real rental cost after coupon and before tax is south of 100 bucks. ^

Hertz's website makes it difficult to rebook the same details at a lower price. When we do try to rebook a Hertz reservation at a lower rate without changing any details, we often find the need to change something (such as adjusting the time slightly) or rebook a different car class and then go back and rebook to the original car class. It's VERY tedious and cumbersome.

There's a way around it I think. When re-pricing your original reservation, when you get to the home screen, at the bottom (below the PC/RQ/etc. fields but above the submit button) there's a check box next to the statement "I want the Rate Plan I originally reserved" -- uncheck it, and that allows the lower rate to come up (i.e., my rental was originally on rate code MCLE, when I re-priced it I unchecked the box and the lower rate was TMDE).

In theory, unchecking the checkbox should work, and occasionally it does, but more often than not, you need to play with the reservation a bit as indicated above to get the lower price to "stick."

We're in a transition phase right now. Due to the recent activity by Hertz and DTAG, our automated systems are only capable of handling the companies that still partner with us. We are having to handle "tracked" reservations booked with other companies a bit more manually for now while we work on building a new system that will support rentals with all companies.

While we work through this, you may encounter some glitches, and it's probably best to consider AutoSlash as an "assistant" in helping you find the best rate rather than the be-all-end-all solution. (Our aim is to eventually be that solution so that you don't have to do any work at all!)

For "tracked" reservations (ones you've booked elsewhere but have submitted for tracking), I'll make a few notes about what we are currently doing so you can best adapt your use of that function:

-We try but are a long way from 100% at being able to factor in any membership affiliations you included on your original "tracked" reservation
-We prioritize our offers based on an admittedly-subjective ranking of the rental companies. Generally, if you had booked with Hertz, you wouldn't get offered a lower rate with Enterprise, but you would if we found a lower rate with National or Avis. If you had booked with Payless, we'd send you the cheapest rate from any other company. ;)
-Once we send you an email alerting you of a lower price, we don't really have a way of knowing whether you took advantage of it, so our current practice is to not send any further emails. Thus, if you want to continue tracking for further price drops after you rebook, you'll need to submit another tracking request for your new confirmation details and new price.

It's far from a perfect system, but it at least allows us to provide some type of service while we work towards a new, more comprehensive service where we hope to provide all of the features that FTers want.

Thank you for the update and information on your "features". Some of that should be mentioned on your website.

I started a tracking on a week Hertz rental with the USAA CDP earlier this month, so it sounds like I may need to handle checking myself.


Hertz's website makes it difficult to rebook the same details at a lower price. When we do try to rebook a Hertz reservation at a lower rate without changing any details, we often find the need to change something (such as adjusting the time slightly) or rebook a different car class and then go back and rebook to the original car class. It's VERY tedious and cumbersome.



In theory, unchecking the checkbox should work, and occasionally it does, but more often than not, you need to play with the reservation a bit as indicated above to get the lower price to "stick."
Thank you for the tip.

Had a great example of this last weekend.

Booked a 3 day rental at SNA using the AAA CDP and a $10/day AAA coupon.

On Wednesday when I booked - $56 total
On Thursday night when I re-checked - $41
On Friday - $24

When I actually returned the car they botched the coupon and gave me $40 off instead of $30, so the rental ended up being $11, but even without that the prices still halved in about 2 days.