Rental Car Time Pick up change price?????

[mdurette]

How can this be. I was playing with Enterprise for Jan 21 to Jan 28th. Cheapest rental I found was there - about $300 for the week in a small SUV.

Well, while playing I put a noon pick and return time.

When I put my actual 5:00 pm pickup and 11:00 am drop off (same dates) the price rose by $400!

What is up with that????

 

[dioxide45]

How can this be. I was playing with Enterprise for Jan 21 to Jan 28th. Cheapest rental I found was there - about $300 for the week in a small SUV.

Well, while playing I put a noon pick and return time.

When I put my actual 5:00 pm pickup and 11:00 drop off (same dates) the price rose by $400!

What is up with that????

Who knows. Pricing on these things never make sense. If it was Alamo, I would say book it for noon as they will hold the reservation for 24 hours. So you could pick it up at 5pm and still get the lower rate. I don't know Enterprise's policy on this though.

 

[mdurette]

FYI - I called Enterprise tonight. (actually I called twice to get different customer service people).

They said this is normal. That their pricing doesn't go by days - but by hours. Example - they have more inventory to get rid of at noon than at 5pm. So the noon time is cheaper.

I then asked - can I put noon in ressie and pick it up at 5pm without an issue?

Rep 1: They will hold the car - but increase your rate when I show up at 5pm.

Rep 2: They will hold the car - I should call and let them know I will be late - they will honor the rate.

Not sure if I trust either yet to make the ressie!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Being late more then an hour pretty much leaves all bets off and I would anticipate the rate increasing. If you were scheduled to arrive on a flight at noon and it was delayed (confirmed delay), I would lean more towards the original rate, just not showing up for hours after I would lean towards a new rate.

Remember its all about inventory control.

 

[redrosesix]

I don't know if this is always the case, but I found the same thing when we were reserving our Alamo rental in Feb. 2009 -- the best rate for us was at 3 pm on a Sunday. Maybe they had a lot of returns just before that time?