We don't pay all that much attention to the ebbs and flows of the pay now rates/discounts because, on the whole, we feel that the discounts offered are usually not worth the tradeoff for the cancellation penalty they usually levy. A better deal often comes along.

That said, they become more tempting the closer you get to the rental dates, but we probably wouldn't even consider them less than 3 days or so before the pickup date unless we were certain to use the reservation and the price point was at least 10-15% below than the best pay-later rate we could find.

Others may feel differently, but if one of the AutoSlash team members were booking for themselves, that's a window into how we look at it. Hope this helps!