Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Priceline and specialty vehicle Jeep Wrangler

Maybe its me, but I find it really fustrating that Priceline does not have a listing for Jeep Wranglers in Hawaii. You have SUVs large and small, convertibles etc etc, but no Jeep Wranglers. With so many being rented in Hawaii I find it strange that Priceline hasn't listed them. Unless there is a way and I do not see it.

Enough of rant.

Priceline is a way for agencies to dump excess inventory.

Maybe Jeeps don't meet this criterion.

A couple of thoughts:

1. Priceline's opaque product doesn't guarantee a particular model of car even in the categories they do offer. That's true everywhere, not just Hawaii.

2. I agree with the above comment that Jeeps probably are pretty well rented in Hawaii and the car rental companies don't need to find ways to squeeze extra rental days out of them.

3. In general, online travel agencies don't allow you to reserve a particular model, either, even in a transparent (price/agency) booking. Some car rental companies have created a category called "Jeep" in Hawaii. You can, for example, book this category directly from Alamo on their website. However, you cannot book it through Expedia, Priceline, etc. My guess is that this mainly has to do with the fact that "Jeep" is not a category found at most locations, and it's not worth the extra programming time, processor power, and complication to query it when 99% of the world's car rental searches are in places where "Jeep" does not exist as a category.