Originally Posted by
newyorkgeorge
It would be the same with Priceline, Hotwire on any other prepay service. You would not be guaranteed that the vehicle class would be there and you would not be entitled to a refund. Unless you are willing to wait around for a vechicle to become available, I would book directly with the rental car company not prepaying.
I do agree with you with regard to booking a specific car class doesn't necessarily mean you'll drive away in that same class. However, just because the terms of a purchase are non-refundable doesn't give the vendor or booking agent the license to deny you a refund in the event they can't fulfill their contractual obligation.
Last year I bought a non-refundable hotel room through Hotwire. The reason I selected the specific hotel I did was because Hotwire advertised the property as being 100% non-smoking. After the purchase, when the identity of the hotel was revealed, I was familiar with the property and knew they weren't 100% non-smoking. When Hotwire verified with the hotel that they did in fact have smoking rooms and that they couldn't guarantee me a non-smoking room, they immediately refunded my non-refundable purchase - no questions asked.