Priceline ?'s

[RevBob]

How soon should one try getting a good rental car rate with Priceline for a trip starting the last week of April? And what is the best rate one can expect to get? TIA

 

[Vijoge]

How soon should one try getting a good rental car rate with Priceline for a trip starting the last week of April? And what is the best rate one can expect to get? TIA

I got mine about 2 weeks ahead.

The best rate you will get depends on what type of vehicle you want, where you're renting, when you're going, and for how long.

We got a minivan for about half what Avis was charging on their website.

 

[SB in KY]

Usually you can get your best Priceline rental car rates 2 to 3 weeks prior to pick up. Every now and then you can bag a really good rate earlier but not often. You should probably make a back up reservation that you can cancel just in case you get stuck and do not get a good priceline rate.

Often in Orlando if we are renting for a week I can get just as good or better rates by conventional booking with codes and coupons (however if it is during a busy period when rental rates are high OR if we are renting for less than a full week I can almost always do better on Priceline)....but it never hurts to try on Priceline. You can bid anytime. Just do your homework and know what the going conventional rental rate is and then bid about 40% lower than your best deal on Priceline.
If you do not get it then try again in a week or so, but do not increase your bid too much because Priceline often does not have a lot of inventory in rentl cars until 2 to 3 weeks out.

 

[bab31]

you can rebid after 72 hours. You also can change two things immeidantly for example your dollar amount and your car catagory.

 

[Not so Dumbo]

How soon should one try getting a good rental car rate with Priceline for a trip starting the last week of April? And what is the best rate one can expect to get? TIA

Thanks for posting this question. I was also wondering the samething. Right now we have a minivan reserved for 19 days in May at $689 and were wondering if and when we should try to do better on priceline. We could get a suv for $567 if we booked and paid now, so now we have to decide on whether to wait for priceline or just book the suv

 

[stage manager]

I've also had great success with Hotwire. While I don't name the price, I've often had a reservation and then cancelled it because I could get a much better price on Hotwire.