frfl37

Did they disappear?

randix

They are still there...but...they are not (for me) if I (1) enter my Bluechip number and/or (2) enter ANY promotion code. If I leave them blank, it pops up just fine with pretty good deals more often than not. Having said that, although I just snagged a $116 per week rental in SJC, that was the day before; otherwise I get (what I believe) ridiculous rates, eg $200-$400/per week.

jackal

I know you all like your below-cost rates, but given the taxes at SJC, the break-even point for Thrifty comes at about $225 per week (base rate of $175, which is all Thrifty itself gets to keep). And that's assuming that as soon as you return your car, someone else picks it up immediately for the remainder of the month and it spends no time sitting!

Given realistic utlilization expectations, the car should go for more like $281 per week in order to pay for itself.

And that's not even counting overhead. Add that in, and who knows--$300 per week (or maybe more) is the true break-even point.

Unless that $200 per week is subsidized by the incremental sales (LDW, SLI, gas, etc.), but you all love to say that stuff is a rip-off...

randix

If I was the CEO of Thrifty, on their Board of Directors, or a shareholder, I might care; as a consumer, I'm looking for the best "deal" considering price, service, etc. I feel no worse looking for the best "deal" on Thrifty as I do when I take a flight, book a hotel, or decide where to shop. If the business model doesn't work, it'll change; I'm not here to support their business model, I'm here as a consumer, I bear them no fiduciary obligation. Any allegiance I may have had, is lost when one week they offer me their product for $116 and the next week the same service is double, triple or as was the case last year, quadruple the price. And when I have to play the "game" of getting their "hot deal" only by NOT putting in a promotion code, well, all bets are off. Not meaning to start anything here, I'll go back to my cave.

jackal

Understood. But when you come here whining that selling you a car AT COST is "ridiculous," expect to be called on the carpet.

I'm sure Hertz or Avis or National will all be happy to rent you a car at well over cost. Good luck finding $116 per week rentals with them.

And it's really nothing that you can get angry about: it's not like they're doing a bait-and-switch on you. You are free to rent with whomever you want and whomever offers the lowest rate. Usually, that happens to be Thrifty, but occasionally not.

I'd understand getting angry if Thrifty had a monopoly on a given market and then suddenly started charging well over cost--basically forcing you to pay those prices or else not rent a car (the effect AS currently has over the ANC market)--but Thrifty is usually the small guy in town, and I know of no places where they can hold the market hostage. But it seems silly expecting them to be a charity and continue to give you cars at below cost if something causes them to be able to raise the rates to at least the break-even point.

Uh, that's because the Hot Deal *IS* a promotion code. If you pay attention to the screen when you click "Hot Deals," you'll see that it basically enters a promotion code in the promotion code field. It can't do that if you've manually entered another promotion code.

The Hot Deals are intended to be the bottom-of-the-barrel rates which do not qualify to be mixed with any other promos (other things you might enter in the promo code field--10% AMEX discounts, triple airline miles, etc.), which is why they're not offered when you take advantage of other promotions.