Question about using .Priceline for rental car

[off2disney]

I've never used Priceline before and have a question. I need a car for 6 days - Monday evening thru Sunday morning. When you list a price you are willing to pay (say $25 a day or $150.00) is that the total you pay, or do they then add all the taxes and extras to that??? I don't take the insurance, but do like the extra driver included. Or do you list a price that you can live with, knowing you will have to add a certain percentage for taxes??

 

[seashoreCM]

The bid you make does not include the taxes.

You can estimate the taxes by pretending to make a car reservation through normal means such as Travelocity.com, they will itemize the taxes etc.

Be careful when you need extras such as extra driver, insurance, etc. Sometimes the company that accepts your bid may have unusually high extra charges for these extras.

Sometimes if your bid is rejected (no participating company accepted it) Priceline suggests an alternate higher bid for next time. I recommend you do not use that immediatly but instead rebid with an amount of your choice.

Also, normally you must change something such as pickup date or range of rental locations you will aceept before rebidding if you don't want to wait a few days before rebidding. Be careful here, sometimes a change you don't want gets filled in automatically. Check all the blanks to be sure they are filled in with something you like, and check spelling particularly of state abbreviations (Mississippi is MS).

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[nicolep91]

The nice thing about Priceline is that the only use major car rental companies so you know you won't get stuck with Thrifty or Payless.

I just posted this on the budget board, but here it is again:

I just bid for a rental car on Priceline today and it was accepted. $19 a day for a mid-size through Avis. This is the breakdown of my charges:
9 days x $19.00 = $171.00
Taxes & Fees = $62.19
Total charges = $233.19

I was very happy with this price since the lowest I had found with codes/coupons for my dates was $260.

 

[inkkognito]

We use Priceline a lot for rental cars. As the others have said, the taxes and fees are not included in your bid, but they are the same that would be added by booking through the car rental company itself (except for the $5.95 Priceline fee). I find the best rates I can (typically through Orbitz plys some messing around with coupon codes), and then bid below that. We usually end up with Alamo or Avis, although we did get Hertz once (the others are onsite but you have to take a bus to HertZ...ended up working out well, though, as Hertz upgraded us from an economy car to a Rav 4 for free!).
I don't add an extra driver, but when I asked about it (can't remember if it was Alamo or Avis), they said it would be $5. They also may offer you an upgraded car class for a certain fee that may or may not be reasonable. I have never taken the upgraded, but I've been upgraded one class a few times for free when the class I booked was not available. They won't tell you that right away, so if they are pushing an upgrade that you have to pay for, it may be because they don't have the car you booked.
Once in a very great while, they will actually let you bid again right and away and tell you how much to bid to be assured of having it accepted. This has only happened to me once with cars and twice with hotels out of countless bids, but it does happen.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[sln88]

to get an idea of where bids are being accepted

 

[off2disney]

Thanks, everyone. I've had a rate of $170.00 (including taxes and extra driver included for free) for the 6 days, and haven't found anything better so far, but always looking for a better deal.
I may give Priceline a shot and see what I can get.