Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Priceline rental cars warning

I've been monitoring an especially troublesome situation with Priceline rental cars. Since consumer protection is part of what I do on the day job, I thought I would pass this along.

Here's what happens. You propose a rental car bid for, say, $32 and then Priceline flashes back a screen that says, whoa...the lowest going rate in that market is $50 (or more) and you should increase your bid in order for it to be accepted.

On SEVERAL occasions I've seen the "going rate" substantially misrepresented. For example, I secured a reservation at FCA for $31.99 from the rental company's own web site while Priceline was telling me the "going rate" was at least $20 more! Just for grins, every week or so I would bid the confirmed rate on Priceline and each week I would get the same result.

The same situation has come up in other situations as well.

Moral of the story: KNOW the "going rates" before you propose a bid on Priceline and don't automatically assume that they are telling you the truth about them!

As always--buyer beware!

PL does this with hotels, too.

PL is just trying to con the foolish into bidding higher... buyer beware.

I'm sure there are plenty of PL bidders who end up bidding more than the rack rate for a room.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by aconcagua98:
PL is just trying to con the foolish into bidding higher... buyer beware.</font>

agree.

Heh. I've taken to cynically assuming that if I *don't* see what I call the "nag screen" (the one you describe that says "We really want you to get your hotel/car/whatever blah blah blah bid a little higher") then I might be bidding too high in the first place. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Suffice to say I have had a handful of successful bids even when completely ignoring that page, pressing on with the same bid price I originally used.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CrazyOne:
Suffice to say I have had a handful of successful bids even when completely ignoring that page, pressing on with the same bid price I originally used.</font>

Agreed, more than handfuls of successful bids here http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CrazyOne:
Heh. I've taken to cynically assuming that if I *don't* see what I call the "nag screen" (the one you describe that says "We really want you to get your hotel/car/whatever blah blah blah bid a little higher") then I might be bidding too high in the first place. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

Suffice to say I have had a handful of successful bids even when completely ignoring that page, pressing on with the same bid price I originally used.</font>

Me, too. The issue I raised, however, goes a bit deeper: misrepresenting the going rate in order to induce a higher bid.

Oh Yeah, ALWAYS ignore that screen. I fyou know that you're offering a reasonable price, there is no reason whatsoever to pay any attention to that screen.

Almost all of my successful bids have included my ignoring that screen.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dick Ginkowski:
Me, too. The issue I raised, however, goes a bit deeper: misrepresenting the going rate in order to induce a higher bid.

</font>

Not really, though. They're always going to use very high "going rates" for their comparison. I always expect to see rack rates or thereabouts on the hotel page, and I would expect nothing different from the car page. They aren't going to update those rates every time there's some sale or other that you might be able to get.

Certainly it's true that this can catch uninformed bidders, and that it's no accident they use the higher rates. But I hardly think it's sinister. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see you fail with that bid sometimes. They're looking for some spread between the price they're paying and the price you bid, and if they don't have it, they may let you walk.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CrazyOne:
Not really, though. They're always going to use very high "going rates" for their comparison. I always expect to see rack rates or thereabouts on the hotel page, and I would expect nothing different from the car page. They aren't going to update those rates every time there's some sale or other that you might be able to get.

Certainly it's true that this can catch uninformed bidders, and that it's no accident they use the higher rates. But I hardly think it's sinister. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see you fail with that bid sometimes. They're looking for some spread between the price they're paying and the price you bid, and if they don't have it, they may let you walk.</font>

I'm sorry -- from what I gleaned in your post, I may not have made the issue clear.

When I said "going rate" I meant that the screen will say that the LOWEST available rate from its partners, is, say $50 when, in fact, it may be $30. In that case the representation is false and misleading.

As for the bid strategy, Priceline is, of course, free to accept or reject any bids but they recommend for cars bidding 20% below the "going rate." In the instances I mentioned, I bid the actual lowest price and it was not accepted, which is fine. It was a test.

As for general bidding strategy, I go by the established lowest rates in a particular market as a guideline and then bid somewhat below that depending on the market. If, say, a compact car rents for $21 on the Hertz web site, I might bid $16-17 and will usually get it.

I use Priceline for hotels regularly, but despite numerous tries have never found their rental car product to come even close to the best rates I've found through conventional booking. On the other hand, I never use Hotwire for hotels, but have found that their car rental product has at times offered rates lower than conventional booking - especially for cars in Canada (which isn't even offered on Priceline).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dick Ginkowski:

As for general bidding strategy, I go by the established lowest rates in a particular market as a guideline and then bid somewhat below that depending on the market. If, say, a compact car rents for $21 on the Hertz web site, I might bid $16-17 and will usually get it.</font>

Why do you do that? Tack on the service fee, and your savings disappear, yet you're stuck with a non-refundable rental if your plans change.