May car rental deals? Hotwire or keep looking?

[LaurenT]

Thanks for the tip. I'll do that.

Whatever happened with your rental car for your last trip? Did they hold it for you despite your flight delays? Which company was that?

Yes, they did...and it was Enterprise. And going home I didn't want to wait to turn my car back in....wanted to get to the ticket counter because we hadn't printed our boarding passes yet (that was a whole other nightmare!) - but they said no problem, just leave the key in the car and go.

 

[Cherinva]

I got a good deal for next month, and I went to the Thrifty Car Rental site. No one else could beat what they gave me.

 

[n2mm]

I got a decent rate for May when I booked several months ago. I looked yesterday and the price has more than doubled...ouch. Of course I'm glad I booked, but am hoping the prices go down as the time approaches. I looked at the last minute fares on National and there are not even any available for Orlando this week. wow. Guess that Spring Break is in session now.

 

[sharona]

Yeah, rates are crazy expensive from most companies right now.

Renting a car is usually so much more fun! You book, you cancel, you rebook, again and again until you have a great deal - the buyer usually has all the power in the relationship! I've arrived at the airport, reservation in hand, and if "my" counter has a line, I've gone to whichever counter has no one waiting and asked if they can match or beat my current deal. This last maneuver has worked for us several times - sometimes they match price and you get to skip the other line, once we ended up with a suv for the price of midsize.

I'll keep looking for a deal...

 

[ecgz88]

so even pass the pick up time you can still cancel the original reservation without penalty?

Yeah, rates are crazy expensive from most companies right now.

Renting a car is usually so much more fun! You book, you cancel, you rebook, again and again until you have a great deal - the buyer usually has all the power in the relationship! I've arrived at the airport, reservation in hand, and if "my" counter has a line, I've gone to whichever counter has no one waiting and asked if they can match or beat my current deal. This last maneuver has worked for us several times - sometimes they match price and you get to skip the other line, once we ended up with a suv for the price of midsize.

I'll keep looking for a deal...

 

[sharona]

You do not typically give a credit card to reserve a car rental - unless you are booking through hotwire or reserving one of the "pay now" rates.

 

[ChisJo]

I agree that prices for rentals are absolutely ridiculous for May. I have never paid as much as I am for a rental before as I am for my upcoming trip. I have been checking everyday since November, and usually the prices go down, but they are going up up up. I used the costco discount for Alamo, and got a midsize car, with extra driver included (Hotwire won't include this), from May 2-11, for $200. Same codes are now $285.

I found a rental from Hotwire for a midsize car for $197, but that didn't include a second driver, so I didn't take it as it will be nice for my sister to drive every now and then.

I remember getting cars for under $100 for a week...gone are those days!

 

[LaurenT]

I got 2 weeks for $331 total..not under $100/week, but $115 isn't bad! Of course, this is for late August - after the summer rush....

 

[nmanning19]

Hotwire went UP $30 from yesterday, I should have booked!! Do they change rates throughout the day or do they stay the same?

 

[lats118]

Hotwire rates for a compact from 5/8 - 14 were all over the place yesterday. In the morning a compact was $335! Later in the day it was $178. I went over to Priceline and bid $11 a day and it was accepted; $148 total with taxes. I'm happy with that. It's a compact but its just my wife an I so we don't need anything larger. FYI, the bid was accepted by Hertz and it came with an offer to upgrade to the next size car for $1 a day more.

 

[sharona]

Does priceline let you specify "in terminal" for MCO?

 

[lats118]

Does priceline let you specify "in terminal" for MCO?

All of the companies Priceline offers are in the terminal.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I tried to priceline a minivan for the end of may & I bid $40 a day & it was declined. They told me to try $66. No way I went to Budget & got one for $236 with the Travelocity code.

 

[quagmire0]

I tend to check carrentals.com every day to see if a new deal pops up. It has a feature on the front page that will search Hotwire as well. I found a deal through them - a crossover suv @ National for $240 for the week! But that was way back last year when I found the deal. Haven't seen anything close since then.

 

[sharona]

I joined Alamo Insiders to get an additional 10% off if I book with them. Could get the midsize for $20 less than my current reservation w/ Enterprise but would have to pre-pay. Not willing to commit yet. Also, it seems all of the good deals/coupons ($40 off, double upgrade etc.) expire on 4/30/11. Anyone know when most companies typically release coupons for the next month? TIA.

 

[Lilo&Stitch]

I joined Alamo Insiders to get an additional 10% off if I book with them. Could get the midsize for $20 less than my current reservation w/ Enterprise but would have to pre-pay. Not willing to commit yet. Also, it seems all of the good deals/coupons ($40 off, double upgrade etc.) expire on 4/30/11. Anyone know when most companies typically release coupons for the next month? TIA.

Usually I have my rental booked by now with current codes ! I would love to know when some alamo codes are coming out past 4/30

I think if worse comes to worse i'm going to try priceline, but not until a couple weeks before my trip !

 

[pinkprincess30]

I may have to give that a try. Not much different than hotwire since you don't find out until you pay which company you're getting right? What company did you get through Priceline? Also, were you able to specify "in terminal" or something similar? If memory serves, at MCO you can usually walk right to the cars for the brand name rental companies. I wouldn't want to get stuck on a shuttle to some outlying lot...

TIA

We got Hertz.

 

[sharona]

For those on May car rental price watch: Hotwire rates dropped back down today. Just booked a standard size for $13.95 per day weekly rate + 1.5 days. All total w/ fees etc. $202. (Midsize would have been $192). As expected, Hertz was the assigned company.

I got tired of playing chicken and worrying about the crazy pricing that's out there right now. $14/day is not bad - that's $60 less than the next cheapest, using every code/coupon I could find, and $50 cheaper than hotwire's best rate yesterday. I'm happy with the deal. I think. Maybe.

So, to all May travelers - good luck and if you find something cheaper, don't tell me!!

 

[bbwhos]

For those on May car rental price watch: Hotwire rates dropped back down today. Just booked a standard size for $13.95 per day weekly rate + 1.5 days. All total w/ fees etc. $202. (Midsize would have been $192). As expected, Hertz was the assigned company.

I got tired of playing chicken and worrying about the crazy pricing that's out there right now. $14/day is not bad - that's $60 less than the next cheapest, using every code/coupon I could find, and $50 cheaper than hotwire's best rate yesterday. I'm happy with the deal. I think. Maybe.

So, to all May travelers - good luck and if you find something cheaper, don't tell me!!

Yeah, for our dates Hotwire is showing $12.95 for full size using the Budget X474200 code. I don't think I'm going to do much better even waiting for May codes to come out.

Have a great time!!! We can't wait for ours!! My DH keeps saying let's go now!

 

[sharona]

Yeah, for our dates Hotwire is showing $12.95 for full size using the Budget X474200 code. I don't think I'm going to do much better even waiting for May codes to come out.

Have a great time!!! We can't wait for ours!! My DH keeps saying let's go now!

I know! It's taking forever to get here. Original plans had us there the week before Easter break week. But the crowd predictions scared me away so I switched our plans... between other commitments and work schedules, 5/7 was the earliest we could go if we waited past Easter. Now I'm sick of waiting! Can't figure out if the obsessive planning is just keeping me busy until we leave or if it's what is driving me insane, lol.

Enjoy!!