Hotwire for car rental? Any bad experiences/warnings?

[coastgirl]

I have been looking off and on for a car for our trip in August. I have a booking for $800 for a midsize for 2 weeks, which I thought an awful price, but I like to have something I can cancel at least as I look for better, if that makes sense.

I just did a search through "bookingbuddy" (came up with it through a google search, never used it before) and got a hotwire price of about $450 for the same rental/time frame/all in/not prepaid. It's with Enterprise, which is fine with me, we've used them before with no issues. I went direct to Enterprise to compare and it's still $800+ through their own website. Sounds too good to be true (though this is closer to the price I want to pay). Any warnings??

Answering my own question--on closer examination, the reservation was for some office 15 miles from MCO. Seriously?? I asked for MCO and I know Enterprise is onsite at the airport. (It was the same price direct with Enterprise when I found the location--it was listed 12 of 15 locations closest to MCO!) I had to really search the reservation to figure out what the location was. Yep. Too good to be true.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Tell us your dates and car preference and we can look around!

Ted

 

[robinb]

I would join (or start) the August car rental thread for coupons and codes. Hotwire and Priceline are fine for car rentals but I would wait until later to book since they at often nonrefundable.

ETA: looking at places away from MCO is not a big deal as long as you can return the car to MCO. It's worth a $30-$40 can ride to save $300+ dollars IMO.

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks Ted. : We are going Aug 10-24, and we usually end up renting midsize or "standard", though we have been upped to a van the last couple of trips. (Like Enterprise for that reason, but I think Dollar did it too.)

Robin where is the car rental thread? I've missed that one!

 

[robinb]

The August 2913 Car Rental thread is here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2982862&highlight=august

BTW, the "KLM Code" found here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2878667 gives a rate of $440 with taxes for your dates from National. Many people have used it with no problem and anyone can join the KLM Frequent Flyer program.

 

[pigletto]

I have not used Hotwire but have used Priceline for a car rental. All of their options for "name your own price bidding" are definitely onsite. We ended up with Budget for 200 for 9 days (full-size). However I would only use Priceline the week before the trip or closer if I hadn't found the price I was looking for. I wouldn't bother with Hotwire if they are going to give you something offsite, and I think 400 is too high.

Check out the August car rental thread mentioned above. I'm in there too. Rates are very high right now but they should drop at some point.

 

[robinb]

For future reference, I put together a Priceline Car Tutorial a couple of years ago: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2496606 .

 

[pigletto]

For future reference, I put together a Priceline Car Tutorial a couple of years ago: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2496606 .

Excellent resource robinb! Thank you
I had never compared the Hotwire prices and worked from that angle. Makes sense. I just started with what I was willing to pay which was silly because I was accepted on the first bid and likely could have started lower. I will use your advice if I need to use Priceline in August again

 

[coastgirl]

Thanks folks, it's bedtime now but I will have time to have a look tomorrow--thanks for the great ideas.

 

[coastgirl]

Robin, just wanted to let you know the KLM code saved me over $300. Thanks for your help! I'll keep looking, but I'm happy with this deal, and anything better that I might get later is a bonus.

 

[vacation_junkie]

I have been looking off and on for a car for our trip in August. I have a booking for $800 for a midsize for 2 weeks, which I thought an awful price, but I like to have something I can cancel at least as I look for better, if that makes sense.

I just did a search through "bookingbuddy" (came up with it through a google search, never used it before) and got a hotwire price of about $450 for the same rental/time frame/all in/not prepaid. It's with Enterprise, which is fine with me, we've used them before with no issues. I went direct to Enterprise to compare and it's still $800+ through their own website. Sounds too good to be true (though this is closer to the price I want to pay). Any warnings??

Answering my own question--on closer examination, the reservation was for some office 15 miles from MCO. Seriously?? I asked for MCO and I know Enterprise is onsite at the airport. (It was the same price direct with Enterprise when I found the location--it was listed 12 of 15 locations closest to MCO!) I had to really search the reservation to figure out what the location was. Yep. Too good to be true.

The past few trips I have found that the best pricing we have been finding is on the Rental Car companies websites themselves. Best pricing is a couple weeks out.
Also check out rental car mamma dot com. There are always great codes on there.
Last car rental I booked it 8 months out then changed it 4 times. Last time was 2 weeks before we left. Would found super cheap pricing on alot of different companies sites.

We have rented through hotwire & Priceline both nad have never had a problem.

 

[robinb]

Robin, just wanted to let you know the KLM code saved me over $300. Thanks for your help! I'll keep looking, but I'm happy with this deal, and anything better that I might get later is a bonus.

I'm happy to help!

 

[Dalyman0]

Hotwire for car rental? Any bad experiences/warnings?

I've often used my RBC Avion credit card and waived any additional insurance (when paying the rental company directly)..... but I've been reluctant to use Hotwire for rental cars due to the fact that I'm not sure my credit card would cover any insurance issues if any came up, because I'm paying Hotwire and not directly to the rental company. Paying for insurance can easily double the cost of the rental in some cases.

Just something you may want to check into further.

 

[braddillman]

I've only used hotwire once in 2010 I think, got a convertible and picked it up just down the street from MCO, they had a shuttle, no problem at all. I'd try hotwire again.