Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Car rental bidding...

Ok, maybe it's me, but over the past couple of years i can't honestly say i've ever found a cheaper car rental price by bidding on hotwire or priceline than i can find by searching a number of sites. i have found good deals on hotels, but cars? not even once.

I've gotten a couple of bargain rental car rates via PL and it always seems like the taxes work out to be less, too. Not sure if that's the case or not. I've had the best luck (but not recently) at PBI; have also won car bids in a number of other locations.

In general I agree with GoingAway, however last month I was going to San Juan for the weekend and on Thursday afternoon took a bump in ATL on DL for $400. I was rebooked the next AM. I immediately called Hertz and told them that I would not be able to pick up the car I had reserved for that evening until Friday AM. They told me that was fine but the rate for my compact car would go from $25 to $80 per day. I said that seemed unfair, I would still need the car for 4 days,would still return it at the same time and would be happy to go ahead and prepay the rental. They said sorry. I then went into the Crown Room and got on the computer. Hotwire wanted $24 a day for a compact, figured I would try PL. Bid $20 for a Midsize and the bid was accepted immediately. Saved $20, got a brand new PT Cruiser. Can you guess which company took the bid? Hertz, of course. Go figure. I love PL. Pays to have an alternative.

The PL car rental price is all inclusive and you don't get dinged for additional overcharge, not included in the "rates," such as airport facility recover fee, registration recovery fee, the fee to ride the rent-a-car bus which is usually more than the cost of a cab ride to the rent-a-car facility. Or at least PL will tell you up front what all the taxes and fees amount to.

I've also had varied luck with Priceline and Hotwire when it comes to finding good deals on rental cars. These two sites have been my #1 destination for business and leisure travel for nearly 4 years. In the last year or two particularly, I've seen a remarkable decline in the availability of "cheap" rental cars via PL/HW.

Needless to say, there are still bargains, although most of them are weekend stays. I've received $15/day midsize at MKE, $18/day fullsize at BWI... for weekend trips. Work (weekday) trips have less plentiful bargains, but I can sometimes shave $10 or so off the exorbitant rates most other travel sites are quoting.

I did PL twice on rental cars and are noted below:

1. Weekend rate was $40/day in SEA during the summer 2 years ago. I bid $19/day for compact. Bid was accepted and I think it was Alamo/National. I got bumped twice on that trip ($450 in vouchers :D) and received 20K status miles on UA. (a nice promo! :D)

2. Did a 4 day vacation to ATL. Regular car rental price was very high since I didn't "fit" into the nice weekend "box". Bid about $16/day on PL for compact. Went to Hertz counter, presented a double upgrade coupon, they gave me full size car. Nice! :)

Only did air one time on PL. (pre FT days). Got a $600 bump on a $30 ticket PHX-LAX in April 2001. Sweet!