Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Priceline car rental additional charges

My last 2 rentals through Priceline were with AVIS.

At the end of each rental, AVIS added on a charge of a few dollars. I did not keep the vehicle beyond the time pre-paid through Priceline nor did I purchase any additional items.

I contacted Priceline and they arranged for AVIS to process a refund.

Has anyone else been getting similar type of charges, and if so, has it been with AVIS or is this with other companies?

The extra charges can arise if you request airline FF miles. This is not part of deal so it's a legitmate surcharge.

The other issue can be if you return the car with less than 75 or so miles and don't show proof of fillup.

Question - do Priceline car rentals typically include all additional taxes and surcharges, such as those that local governments impose to pay for a sports stadium or a convention center?

Question - do Priceline car rentals typically include all additional taxes and surcharges, such as those that local governments impost to pay for a sports stadium or a convention center?

All my PL car rentals included all charges ie no extra "surprise" additions at check-in.

MisterNice

No surprises when you turn it in either. Plus, my experience is you hand them the res. sheet and they don't even try to sell all that extra cost stuff.

I have never ever had a PL car rental where there were extra charges that I didn't deserve. I used to get dinged outrageous sums for extra days or hours, but the RAC companies have gotten more reasonable about these. I've posted in this forum about outrageous local drop fees in circumstances where "normal" renters would get a free drop. Prudent people would never buy gas or insurance from the RAC. Save your gas receipt!

99 times out of 100 the receipt spits out of the little printer at $0.00

for others out there like me who Legally are not an owner of a car thusly have no ins. Do NOT use PL for a car, since you are paying PL and not the Car Compnay your CCs CDW does NOT get Invoked. Thusly you will have to pay for CDW which can well negate any savings.

when I rent and pay the Car company with my CC its Primary for me since I dont have any car ins

for others out there like me who Legally are not an owner of a car thusly have no ins. Do NOT use PL for a car, since you are paying PL and not the Car Compnay your CCs CDW does NOT get Invoked.
Wrong. Your credit card is your method of payment, whether through an agency or directly to the rental company. PL is a travel agency and they transmit payment as any agency would. You can call your credit card issuer's insurance to confirm. That's why when you bid on PL you should use a card with CDW for payment for a car rental. You can't change to it after that. Owning a car has no effect on this. And if you do have car insurance, you should always invoke the credit card insurance first.

Wrong. Your credit card is your method of payment, whether through an agency or directly to the rental company. PL is a travel agency and they transmit payment as any agency would. You can call your credit card issuer's insurance to confirm. That's why when you bid on PL you should use a card with CDW for payment for a car rental. You can't change to it after that. Owning a car has no effect on this. And if you do have car insurance, you should always invoke the credit card insurance first.

I dont know about North of the Border, but down here in the US, most TAs I know/knew didnt pay with their own CC but settled up by sending a check or wire

PL uses its own CC, and most US CCs have an * that you must use their CC for CDW to be in place and decline the CDW on the contract. When I used PL the 1 time for a car my CC wasnt on it, thusly if I was in an accident or someone hit me I wouldnt have had any coverage, and I did call and ask a couple of CCs I had at the time and they said if I didnt pay for the car directly No Coverage.

so much so that some even make you pay for the rental in full, so if a person has a free rental again no coverage. I dod a # of 1 day free rentals, I dont hand in teh coupon till I return the car , I simply tell them I forget the coupon in my Hotel room can I give it in tommorrow when I return the car. Why cause if there is damage I wouldnt be covered, so no damage to claim I hand in the free day coupon, with damage I leave it as is and pay with the CC

BTW almost every CCs CDW is secondary down here, execpt I believe for Diners Club, so before the CCs CDW kicks in you MUST make a claim with your own ins company

I dont know about North of the Border, but down here in the US, most TAs I know/knew didnt pay with their own CC but settled up by sending a check or wire PL uses its own CC, and You are right about almost all of it. But it is not a matter of Canada or US, it's a matter of how you paid that the credit card company is interested in, not how the rental car company got its money for the rental. If you paid for the rental with their card, then that's what on their record. In any case, everyone should call their credit card's insurer and clarify this for their own situation. The car rental company does demand a credit card at the time of rental and you should use the same one you used to pay for the rental to avoid confusion.

Fortunately I have never found an PL car rental rate that I could not beat through other sources but I have the same CDW concerns. If I ever found a rate on PL that beats other sources, I would for sure contact my credit card company about it first. My educated guess is what was stated above - since the merchant is not the car rental company, your CDW coverage through the credit card probably would not be valid.

I do know that AmEx won't cover you unless you literally pay for the ENTIRE rental using the card. Even a 1 free day coupon on an 8 day rental means no coverage. I have had personal experience with that.

John

No surprises when you turn it in either. Plus, my experience is you hand them the res. sheet and they don't even try to sell all that extra cost stuff.

That alone is a good reason to use PL. I hate hearing all that upsale insurance crap.

MisterNice

I've found that Hotwire can beat PL many times. Hotwire has no extra service charge so the daily rate on PL can look lower but the bottom line is higher. Did you know that when your bid is accepted on PL and they say "add a rental car" you then can use any dates? The option stays active until the start of your hotel stay. The prices listed for each car type come up by clicking once you have the dates selected. The prices are the lowest bid PL will accept. ((A Priceline employee told me - that's how - and it's true no matter what Sheryl says.). You will see that there is often no relationship between the seeming value of the class you select and the price. "Compact" is often the most expensive or equal to larger vehicles. I have tracked prices with every successful bid just to see what happens. The only stinker is if the agency PL has contracted has no cars left at all, then all bids will fail. Getting back to the CDW, I did call the credit card insurance company and did find that it only matters that you used the card to pay whomever it is that gives you the voucher. This is also true for Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, AAA - or Joe's Travel Agency and Bait Shop. And if you pay the rental agency directly, you do so after your rental, so how would the CDW come into play in that case? I've given a credit card to guarantee the rental and paid cash as the end.

I've found that Hotwire can beat PL many times. Hotwire has no extra service charge so the daily rate on PL can look lower but the bottom line is higher. Did you know that when your bid is accepted on PL and they say "add a rental car" you then can use any dates? The option stays active until the start of your hotel stay. The prices listed for each car type come up by clicking once you have the dates selected. The prices are the lowest bid PL will accept. ((A Priceline employee told me - that's how - and it's true no matter what Sheryl says.). You will see that there is often no relationship between the seeming value of the class you select and the price. "Compact" is often the most expensive or equal to larger vehicles. I have tracked prices with every successful bid just to see what happens. The only stinker is if the agency PL has contracted has no cars left at all, then all bids will fail.

Good to know. Makes me more confident that the rates I found apart from PL/Hotwire are indeed better.

Getting back to the CDW, I did call the credit card insurance company and did find that it only matters that you used the card to pay whomever it is that gives you the voucher. This is also true for Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, AAA - or Joe's Travel Agency and Bait Shop. And if you pay the rental agency directly, you do so after your rental, so how would the CDW come into play in that case?

You called YOUR credit card company. There are thousands of credit cards out there, hundreds of banks issuing them, with varying rules, benefits, etc., not to mention that the rules might or might not be different between Canada and the US.

The difference between PL/Hotwire and Expedia, Orbitz, AAA, Joe's Travel Agency and Bait Shop is that only PL/Hotwire make you PREPAY. The others almost always only accept a reservation and the Merchant is the car rental company, not the company that gives you a voucher (i.e. no voucher from anyone besides PL/Hotwire).

I am NOT here to argue with you - heck, it works for you, great. I am just saying that the booking sources you mentioned are completely different for the reasons stated above. And in any case, EVERYONE who uses PL/Hotwire or another source that you prepay through should check directly with their own credit card company to confirm the terms of when they will and will not cover CDW.

I've given a credit card to guarantee the rental and paid cash as the end.

This is actually the "worst case" scenario since if you pay cash at the end then the rental company comes back after the rental is over (like they did with me once), you have absolutely no recourse with the credit card company.

You called YOUR credit card company. There are thousands of credit cards out there, hundreds of banks issuing them, with varying rules, benefits, etc.
Right - so check with your own company. Here's a simple statement from mine, which is also in the US "Car rentals must be charged in full to the Card, cannot exceed 48 consecutive days and the rental agency's Collision Damage Waiver must be waived by the Primary Cardholder." On the phone, they said that you must pay for the rental with the card (to an agency or the company) and when you are asked if you want the CDW when you take the car you must decline. Seems that it would be unreasonable to demand that you cannot have paid Priceline if what you are purchasing is a car rental. But you can't assume - so ask.

Right - so check with your own company. Here's a simple statement from mine, which is also in the US "Car rentals must be charged in full to the Card, cannot exceed 48 consecutive days and the rental agency's Collision Damage Waiver must be waived by the Primary Cardholder." On the phone, they said that you must pay for the rental with the card (to an agency or the company) and when you are asked if you want the CDW when you take the car you must decline. Seems that it would be unreasonable to demand that you cannot have paid Priceline if what you are purchasing is a car rental. But you can't assume - so ask.


I found most US issued MC or VISA CCs that have CDW limit it to 14 days max (at least those CCs that I have/had) a Biz CC usually 30 days.

To get around that 1 has to return the car and rent either the next day or go to another rental company. Was told back to back contracts even if with a return and then a new rental contract is a no-go on the sameday from the same outfit, doesnt make sense but Id hate to be stuck with having to pay out of my pocket for the Repairs