Rental Car through Priceline?

[daisy1728]

Has anyone rented a car through Priceline before? Its allowing us to name our price and its accepted an offer alot cheaper than anywhere else so i'm thinking there has to be a catch lol Any good news for me?

 

[bcla]

I've rented a car through Priceline before, but never from winning a bid. I wouldn't risk getting a rental with an agency like Fox or EZ. I've always booked where I knew what company I would be renting from.

I've gotten some really good rates via Priceline - especially the iPhone specials that are only available on their iPhone app. I've also never had an issue with any car rental I've done via Priceline. I've been treated just like any other customer. And I've gotten rates as low as $14/day (plus fees) from well-known companies like Budget.

 

[daisy1728]

This is what it says in the fine print...

• You are guaranteed a car from one of the following major rental car companies: Alamo, Avis, Budget, Hertz, National or Sixt.

Thats why im thinking its too good to be true, thats about a $400 savings over their website price ..ill check out their website app...we need a mini van so the prices are quite high everywhere but here for some reason

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Is it possible their price is not including all of the taxes that often get assessed once you actually pay for the rental?

 

[bcla]

Is it possible their price is not including all of the taxes that often get assessed once you actually pay for the rental?

The price never includes that. I've booked a $14 rate, but that didn't include stuff like airport fees and taxes. A lot of times the airport fees are flat rate and $6/day seems a lot more when it's a $12 daily rate compared to a $40 daily rate.

However, the one thing that ticked me off about a Priceline winning hotel bid was when we checked in. The hotel had an "optional" resort fee of $25, which included parking, two drinks at the bar, pool towels, local phone calls, and two bottles of water. We could have just paid for parking for $20. Anyone booking directly with the hotel chain didn't have to pay for any fees to get the included resort fee package. Of course it was a resort hotel in Maui that normally cost $300, and my wife got it for $160. I guess there was a tradeoff.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

The price never includes that. I've booked a $14 rate, but that didn't include stuff like airport fees and taxes. A lot of times the airport fees are flat rate and $6/day seems a lot more when it's a $12 daily rate compared to a $40 daily rate.

However, the one thing that ticked me off about a Priceline winning hotel bid was when we checked in. The hotel had an "optional" resort fee of $25, which included parking, two drinks at the bar, pool towels, local phone calls, and two bottles of water. We could have just paid for parking for $20. Anyone booking directly with the hotel chain didn't have to pay for any fees to get the included resort fee package. Of course it was a resort hotel in Maui that normally cost $300, and my wife got it for $160. I guess there was a tradeoff.

I've never booked mine off of Priceline, but it seems whenever I book via Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. the price does not include the taxes and fees...which can sometimes eclipse the price of the rental.

$160 in Maui is a great price!

 

[bcla]

I've never booked mine off of Priceline, but it seems whenever I book via Orbitz, Travelocity, etc. the price does not include the taxes and fees...which can sometimes eclipse the price of the rental.

$160 in Maui is a great price!

It was the Marriott Wailea Beach.

Whenever I book directly with a rental agency website, they start with the rental price but then toss in the final price when I check out. I actually get that with Priceline too as long as I know the rental company. I don't know if that's possible with bidding for a rental.

 

[daisy1728]

I was pricing them out and Fox is the cheapest...but im thinking they are not the best company being so much cheaper? Has anyone had a bad experience with them?

 

[bcla]

I was pricing them out and Fox is the cheapest...but im thinking they are not the best company being so much cheaper? Has anyone had a bad experience with them?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/fox-rent-a-car-san-francisco-san-francisco

I heard they get a lot of complaints about unexpected "service fees" as well as a large number of complaints that they might have tried to charge customers for preexisting damages. "Bottom of the barrel" is a common phrase in their reviews.

 

[daisy1728]

ok thats what i was thinking, thanks!