Stealth22

Ok, I'm confused.

I booked an FCAR (I'm an ES member) for this weekend at YYZ, using the Emerald Club contract ID and the ND9736JAS (free weekend day) coupon, and the total including taxes was $315.99.

I just tried the EXACT SAME booking again, just for fun to see how much the price went up. Same days, same times, same vehicle class, same contract ID, same coupon. Booked exactly the same way, logged in with my Emerald Club account, on my work computer, using Google Chrome.

The price today is $190.47.

Now, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but is this normal?? It just seems too good to be true. I've included two screenshots, with my info edited out.

I changed the pickup time by half an hour to better match with my flight arrival, but that didn't change the rate. Did a whole boatload of people cancel or something??

Before



After

dwbf11

Supply and demand. In my experience the system updates itself at night, and it looks like a bunch of cancellations (or a bunch of one ways) just affected availability for you. This also underscores why it's worth checking rates up until the day of travel as often there are big swings from day to day.

Stealth22

Makes sense. That was my best guess, that somehow there was a big swing in supply and demand. But hey, like I said, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

Chalk it up as a lesson though. Always keep checking the rates, because you just never know.

peteropny

It's always a good idea to check rates close to your pickup day - particularly on the 2 Tuesdays before since that is when the last minute specials are posted. Even if your location is not on the list, it's worthwhile to check the rates anyways (I rebooked a 5 day reservation at PSP picking up on Sat for 5 days and lowered the cost by $40 all in).

They review their utilization close in and adjust the rates often (could be lower but could also be higher a depends on if the original target was off).

ElmhurstNick

I just switched a 1 day rental from National to Alamo for tonight as the latter slashed their pcar rate at the last minute and i saved $30 at a non-EA location. I will lose 1/6 free day but gain a couple of VS miles.

As much as I like National, if I can get a pcar or a sfar significantly cheaper elsewhere, i will make the switch.

Coastercameron

If you look closely at the screenshots you will see that the first time it billed out as 5 days, the 2nd billed out as 1 week for the billing unit.

Not sure why it changed, but that is the reason the rate dropped so significantly.

Stealth22

I noticed that as well. Not sure what changed it. But I know the weekly rate was higher before as well. When I originally made the booking, I had been playing with the pickup and return dates to get the cheapest flight possible, and part of that was checking the cost of the car rental too. In the end, the system gave me 5 days, but I believe the one week rate including tax was about $330.

So there was definitely a price adjustment that happened somewhere along the line. I checked again this morning, and the price hasn't changed. Maybe they had a big group of people cancel or something.