luv2buynfly

I have used Dollar almost exclusively for the past 5 years or so. I also fly Southwest almost always.
I have been able to use a discount code of SW2358 for many many years which gave me a very competitive rate and frankly has kept me with Dollar.
Recently (the past 3 or 4 weeks) the code hasn't worked and has generated an error.
Does anyone have another good code that will work in thick and thin like SW2358 did?

I would love to stay with Dollar

Any ideas?

DollarCSR

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we've stopped accepting that code.

When you make a reservation with a corporate rate such as Southwest Airlines, we make sure you have identification to prove that rate.

For instance, if the entire city is sold out of cars and we have rates at $129/day and a corporate account has a $40/day rate, we better make SURE they've got a corporate ID of some sort to back up that rate. In our system that Southwest Airlines code pops up as "Southwest Airlines Customers". Well, how is a customer going to present identification to get this low rate? The answer: they don't. They simply put down their Southwest Airlines number and we accept it.

Hypothetically this could mean that anyone at anytime could join Southwest Airlines for free and book that car just to get the rate. Overhearing this as a representative, it makes sense but I do realize how many customers we could potentially lose because of this. I'll keep you posted on any new long term codes I find.

luv2buynfly

Your post sort of makes sense, but I guess I don't understand the reason behind the codes then. Aren't they supposed to be used?
Was this a case of this specific code being used too much? I rarely saw it posted anywhere and rarely if ever saw it used or mentioned. I never mentioned it.

In my case it has cost Dollar a good portion of my business. I probably only had to use that code once or twice in 10 rentals, but valued it greatly when I did use it. Now that it is gone I find myself shopping much more and in most cases there isn't a compelling reason to still give Dollar my business.

I would love to have an alternative option. Please keep me posted if something comes up.

Mr. Style

I agree with you. I like using Dollar - better value than the other companies, and with my express membership I can go right to the key kiosk in the parking lot instead of standing in line with the tourists for an hour at the airport booth.
That code really helped to keep the rate acceptable to my company. They want me to go with the lowest rate and when Enterprise was at $80 and Dollar was at $100 for a day in SEAtac, I would use the code to get the $40 rate and stick with Dollar.

jackal

Dollar's strategy of using flat rates for corporate codes rather than percentage off rates like most other rental companies always bewildered me. If cars are going for $80 per day because of high demand, I can understand using a code to knock maybe $10 a day off, but cutting the rate in half? That makes no sense. It also makes no sense because in lower-demand periods where cars are $20/day, the corporate code is useless, since it returns a higher rate.

Mr. Style

I agree with you. Dollar does have codes that allow a 10-15% discount off regular prices, such as paying with an AmEx credit card. It's not much but it helps. Unfortunately, its not the car that costs a lot, it's all the concession fees, recoup fees, sales taxes, airport taxes, etc. That in some locations double the cost of the car rental.

Mrp Alert

Wirelessly posted (FlyerTalk.com/wap is fun : BlackBerry8330/5.0.0.438 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/389)

Have you tried using autoslash.com for your rentals? For DTAG, it has found competitive rates for me, but YMMV.