Help with Priceline car rental from Long Beach Airport

[LisainCalifornia]

Hi all,
just wanted to know if anyone had any experience with using Priceline to rent a care from Long Beach Airport. We normally fly into John Wayne SNA, where we take a cab to Disneyland. But this time we needed to rent a car anyway. I have never done Priceline before, but have been trying to educate myself with the "name your own price" feature. I have learned that many people go to a place like Orbitz.com or Hotwire.com, then take 20-40 percent off to name their own price.

I tried this last night for a full sized car (family of 5) but my bid was rejected. I can try again tonight.

Any tips?

Lisa

 

[briangl]

Just keep trying. I always use Priceline and get really good deals on rentals. The only downfall is if your plans change you are out of luck. If you make a reservation directly with the rental car company you can always change your plans but you will pay more.

 

[ssung]

You can have 1 bid every 24 hours. I have used both Priceline and Hotwire at LGB many times and have never had any problems. However, I do confirm the reservation with which ever company the rental car is with. This way you can be sure there are no errors in communication between Priceline or Hotwire and the car rental company. When I used priceline, I usually bid about a few dollar lower than Hotwire prices. For example, the last rental I had at LGB, I got a standard-size for $16/day while hotwire have a standard at $22.95. Another thing you should watch out for the the service fee embedded with Priceline and Hotwire rentals. I would suggest you to look at the final price after taxes and fees are added and compare the FINAL prices with a rental from any of the car rental companies.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Thanks, that is really helpful. I didn't realize that there were fees for using priceline. I will have to read more about it.

Lisa

 

[DahliaRW]

I did a priceline bid last time we went (2 years ago). I did compare final with fees (it does tell you). Ended up getting a mini van for really cheap. I bid for weeks, and got accepted a couple weeks before our trip. Usually you get better deals closer because they'd rather rent at a cheaper price then have the car sitting on the lot.

 

[lilpooh108]

checking biddingfortravel.com or betterbidding.com for other people's winning bids. this will give you a very accurate ballpark of where you should be bidding. obviously, the dates that you are traveling matter alot, but if you can't find winning bids for your exact dates you'll know the ballpark of acceptance.

 

[HaleyB]

What about carrental.com?

Anyone use them? Right now I have a reserved full size car for just under $17 a day for Christmas week. Is that good? I also normally fly into SNA or LAX but decided to try Long Beach because Jet Blue had great ticket prices.

I know I paid a lot less at LAX but that was also about 5 years ago. We don't rent cars very often so I am a bit lost as to what a good deal even looks like. I also need to add a 2nd driver.

 

[ter-moo]

Try hotwire.com too. They have very good rates, and use only top rental companies. You can see your rate up front, but not the company.

I've had excellent luck with them, and have used them several times.