Trying for a car at ATL

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I'm going to be in Atlanta later this week. I'm trying to use PRICELINE for the first time to rent a mid-sized car. I'm a bit confused about the pricing. On PRICELINE's home page, it gives these prices:

Rental car winning bids you might like:

Atlanta, GA (ATL)

Economy Car $13/day

Compact Car $15/day

Mid-Size Car $16/day

Standard Car $18/day

Full-Size Car $18/day

Are these real? When I went to bid the first time, I had decided to bid $14/day for the mid-sized car, as I figured these were probably more like an average of the accepted bids, not the low. However, in the process of placing my bid, PRICELINE gave me this message:

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We Want You To Get Your Car!

$14 per day would be a great price to get for your Mid-Size Car but it's so far below currently available retail rates that none of our partners are likely to accept it.

Good Chance $34.00

Great Chance $36.00

*****

Pric.eline then gave me the opportunity to change my bid. I already have a reservation at an off-brand rental company (E-Z Rent-A-Car) for $30/day. With discounts, I have also seen rental rates for some of the same rental companies Pric.eline uses in the $30+ range, not different from the bids they are suggesting. I also know that Alamo is currently offering a weekend rate for a mid-sized car for $19/day. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to approach this bid? I'd very much appreciate your sage advice.

Thank you!

P.S. I'll be using the PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

The rates PRICELINE shows are indeed real rates, but not for your particular rental dates... which may be higher or lower based upon demand for your particular dates.

What are you rental dates? Is the $19 Alamo rate available for your specific dates? (i'm assuming not otherwise there would be no need to reserve the 'off-brand' rental at a higher price)

Let's start with your dates and we'll look further and take it from there.

Thanks in advance for using the PRICELINE links on the board for your bidding.

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My dates are coming up very soon: June 9-11. As to where I got the $19 price, it was from an e-mail I received from Alamo on June 2nd, explaining about their "Last Minute Specials"

As I mentioned, I already have a confirmed rate of approximately $32/day from E-Z Rent-A-Car.

So, is it likely I can get a better rate than this on PRICELINE? If so, I'd would very much appreciate learning how this works.

Thank you, again!

[thereuare]

Is the $19 Alamo rate available for your specific dates? (i'm assuming not otherwise there would be no need to reserve the 'off-brand' rental at a higher price)

Checking out the "Last Minutes Specials" i don't believe that $19/day rate is available for your specific dates... trying to book shows rates at $59.50/day (before taxes and fees)

You may be able to get close to (or beat) the $32/day backup rate you have... how high would you be willing to bid? Would you only bid up to $31/$32 per day OR would you go a little higher than your backup in order to rent from a tier1 rental agency? What is the 'all-in' rate for the $32/date rental?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

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Checking out the "Last Minutes Specials" i don't believe that $19/day rate is available for your specific dates... trying to book shows rates at $59.50/day (before taxes and fees)

Obviously it's a weekend rate, and we are traveling during the week; however, $19/day is obviously a rate with which they are happy, otherwise they would not ever offer it. During my specific travel dates, I have found better rates than $59.50/day at the tier1 companies. Where were you looking?

You may be able to get close to (or beat) the $32/day backup rate you have... how high would you be willing to bid? Would you only bid up to $31/$32 per day OR would you go a little higher than your backup in order to rent from a tier1 rental agency? What is the 'all-in' rate for the $32/date rental?

I don't know what you mean by "all-in." I believe the rate is for a non-smoking, mid-sized car with unlimited miles. I don't care if the car comes from a tier1 agency, so long as it's good, working car, and there are no "hidden" costs. My understanding of Priceline was that you are supposed to be able to get rates 50-80% below those published. Is this not the case? Is the price range that they suggest to you "firm?"

[thereuare]

$19/day is obviously a rate with which they are happy, otherwise they would not ever offer it.

Rates are supply/demand driven, and weekends are slower than midweek (ie- think business travels on expensive accounts who are not prices sensitive)... so you can't take the rate offered for weekends and expect it to be able on your higher demand midweek dates.

During my specific travel dates, I have found better rates than $59.50/day at the tier1 companies. Where were you looking?

I didn't state that was the best price i had found, that was the price offered thru Alamo for your dates... not the $19/day you were using as a reference.

I don't know what you mean by "all-in."

Including taxes and fees.

My understanding of Priceline was that you are supposed to be able to get rates 50-80% below those published. Is this not the case? Is the price range that they suggest to you "firm?"

While we have seen rates at 80% off, i don't think it's advertised as such, as this would be an extreme example and not to be expected during a randomly selected dates. Again, rates are supply/demand driven... if a rental company has 100 cars on the lot and have only rented 3 of them for your dates, then you may see rates discount as deeply as you're seeking; if they only have 3 cars left for your dates, it's an entirely different situation, and may only discount rates minimally (if at all), rather hoping to rent what few vehicles they have left at full price.

What is the total price of your rental thru E-Z Rent-A-Car?

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Rates are supply/demand driven, and weekends are slower than midweek (ie- think business travels on expensive accounts who are not prices sensitive)... so you can't take the rate offered for weekends and expect it to be able on your higher demand midweek dates.

Hmm...okay. I figured that, at this late date, if a rental company hadn't rented the car by now, they might figure that getting at least a typical weekend rate would be better than not renting the car at all.

I didn't state that was the best price i had found, that was the price offered thru Alamo for your dates... not the $19/day you were using as a reference. Including taxes and fees.

Okay. By the way, I also checked the Hotwire price for my dates and car-type. They were asking $40. (I did use your HOTWIRE link).

While we have seen rates at 80% off, i don't think it's advertised as such, as this would be an extreme example and not to be expected during a randomly selected dates. Again, rates are supply/demand driven... if a rental company has 100 cars on the lot and have only rented 3 of them for your dates, then you may see rates discount as deeply as you're seeking; if they only have 3 cars left for your dates, it's an entirely different situation, and may only discount rates minimally (if at all), rather hoping to rent what few vehicles they have left at full price.

What is the total price of your rental thru E-Z Rent-A-Car?

Pick-Up Date/Time: 06/09/2010 11:00 PM

Drop-Off Date/Time: 06/11/2010 7 PM

Pick-Up Location: Atlanta - ATL Airport

Drop-Off Location: Atlanta - ATL Airport

Car Type: Midsize

Daily Rate: $32.22

Mileage: Unlimited (arriving/departing via airplane)

Coupon Applied: 7% Coupon Discount

Your membership in E-Z Money entitles you to a member discount on every reservation you make at www.ezrac.com. This discount was automatically applied to your reservation.

Total Rate: $64.44

Estimated Total: $87.22

It seems also that PRICELINE tacks $10 onto the rental. So the same $32/day through Priceline costs $10 more total than the E-Z Rent-A-Car price. I played with Priceline a bit to see at what bid price it quit complaining about the price being too low-ball. PRICELINE stopped complaining at about $28/day. Should I take this to mean something?

[thereuare]

You can/should ignore the "low chance" message. With your all-in rate above, it would be the equivalent of ~$27 bid... and it looks like you have 2 shots at this if you bid now (or maybe only one depending what time your flight leaves, assuming you're flying to ATL)... so would you want to try $21 today and $24 tomorrow to see if you could save a few dollars? (or you could try more/less of a discount but little time to lowball given your pick up is in 36 hours or so)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

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Actually, I tried $26 yesterday and got this message:

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We've Got A Great Deal For You

We searched hundreds of options to find your rental car, however we were not able to find a rental car company that would accept your price of $26.00 per day. If you are willing to raise your price to $37.00 per day, you can get your rental car right now.

We are able to extend this one-time opportunity to you because of the type of rental car you requested and your reservation dates. Prices are not guaranteed until a purchase is complete. if you do not want to increase your offer price and would prefer to modify your request in another way

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Considering Priceline stopped complaining about my low entry when I had proposed $28, and considering they are offering me a guaranteed accept at $37, what price-point would you suggest trying at the next round?

[thereuare]

Your $26 bid failed and at $27 you're just about equal to your back-up reservation... so i don't see much benefit in continuing to bid.