Priceline and rental cars (restriction, rentals, airport, package)

[Shorty458]

Hi!

I've never done the "name your own price deal" on priceline. Next month I want to go on a long weekend trip. My cousin is getting married, and I would love to be at her wedding. I finally found a good price on a flight on Southwest. Need to fly out of Orlando though (I live in Tampa) Ended up not doing a combo package since it ended up being more money. Southwest is never part of those package deals anyway. Plus now I don't have to worry about baggage fees.

I found a good price on a rental car through hotwire, but of course anything less expensive is good.

I was thinking of asking for $15 a day which after taxes and all those other fees is like $100, which is exactly what I was trying to find. It's for a Friday-Monday rental car. I am getting the rental car in Hartford (or technically Windor Locks) CT.

Thoughts/opinions?

Thanks!!

[jaypee]

Check out betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com for hints on winning bids.

[jlawrence01]

I would pass on Priceline for rental cars.

Hertz has a $14.95/ day weekend rental promotion. Add in a AAA discount or a Southwest discount and you should save another 10%..

I have been renting cars over the past few weekends for $41 including taxes and fees at OFF-AIRPORT sites (lower taxes).

If you are not driving a lot, Enterprise is offering a $9.99/ day three day weekend but it has a 100 mile restriction.

Hope that helps.

[prospectheightsresident]

Speaking generally, my limited experience with Priceline for car rentals (at least for name your own price) has me in agreement with the immediately preceding, albeit somewhat dated but still relevant post. I just booked a car for a trip later next month. As I was searching for a good deal (I'm leaving from the NYC area), I looked through Priceline's regular booking system, and found a 24 hour rental (mid-size SUV) for a total of $40 from LGA. Yes, from LGA! Because the regular booking price for that vehicle (it was via Enterprise) was only $40, which includes fees ($29 without the fees), I thought that I'd try the name your own price option for an even steeper deal. First, I tried $15, then $20, then $25 (at that point, counting fees, my $25 bid would have been just a couple of dollars under the $40 deal available through the regular booking process). All bids were for a 24 hour rental for a mid-size SUV from LGA. All bids were rejected, and I received a notice suggesting that I bid $45, which, after fees, etc., would've been put considerably above the $40 deal.

This was a clear example of an instance of Priceline's name your own price deal not living up to its reputation (as far as car rentals go). Perhaps the system works better in smaller cities where the general rate, on average, is much cheaper than NYC, but this was certainly a bad way to start out.

Btw, I ended up booking from the Enterprise website for the same $40, including fees, rate. I am more familiar with this method and can cancel for free until its time to pick up the car (I'm not sure if I can do the same with Priceline's regular booking method as I didn't get that far).