PHL - Mid-Size-SUV

[brummel4ever]

Hello everybody,

this is my first post, so after reading and searching the board I hope that this is the right place to ask my question(s).

First of all, I live in Germany. I hope that won't be a problem when using Priceline to get a rental car (I have an American Credit Card and an international driver's license).

I would like to book a rental car at the PHL airport for the period 09/07/12 - 09/27/12. I did a price check on "Car Rental Checker" and got a price of $ 830 (incl. taxes and fees) for a Mid-Size-SUV. Not sure how much I could save on Priceline when using the bidding system.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice on a bidding strategy in order to get Mid-Size SUV. As a second priority I would also take a Full-Size car. Does Priceline make any sense if I need to add a second driver since I will be travelling with my wife?

Regards

Martin

[thereuare]

Does Priceline make any sense if I need to add a second driver since I will be travelling with my wife?

This may be the wrinkle in your plan as some companies include a spouse as an additional drive at no additional charge while others charge for this (and it can be excessive... up to $10/day i believe, although their might be a cap on a per rental basis). However, what american credit card do you have? I know America PRICELINE EXPRESS (and likely others) have car rental programs where you can buy primary insurance thru the credit card company as opposed to thru the car rental company, and this insurance may include a spouse as an additional driver. This insurance can make sense on long rentals such as yours, for example, i had a 30 day rental once where i paid $25 for the entire rental period for primary coverage (as opposed to the secondary coverage typically provided by credit cards). As well, my credit card limited their insurance coverage to 21 days and purchasing this additional coverage gave me insurance for the entire period. I THINK this coverage also included an additional driver.

So, the first thing i would do is call your credit card company to see if they offer any additional insurance/coverage which would provide the additional driver fee and the cost for the insurance, as well as if you'd be covered if renting this PRICELINE's "Name Your Own Price" (as well as if you can purchase the insurance after your rental purchase but before the rental period begins). If so, you could then use PRICELINE knowing that if you received a rental company that charged for an additional driver you could purchase you could 'buy' the coverage directly thru the credit card company for $x dollars... and use this information when determining your maximum bid price.

Hope you follow my thinking above... let us know what you find out from the credit card company and if/how you'd like to proceed.

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

[brummel4ever]

Thanks for the reply! Your comments make a lot of sense! B)

The credit card I have is a Chase Freedom Visa Card. According to the Benefit Administrator it "...carries the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver benefit, the details of which are listed below: Offers - at no additional charge - coverage for damage due to collision or theft up to the actual cash value of most rental cars. You must secure and charge the rental to our covered card, and decline the CDW/LDW offered by the rental agency. Coverage is provided to the cardholder and other authorized drivers permitted by the rental contract.

Additional terms and conditions apply."

The credit card also covers the rental period of 19 days since the rental agreement takes place outside my country of residence (the limit would be 31 days).

The best price I could get on the Internet was for a total of € 659 (I believe it was Dollar or National) which converts to roughly $ 833. However, this price would include a premium package with free additional drivers if over 25 years of age, increased liablity of $ 1 Mio., receive full tank and return empty, and CDW. Assuming that I end up with a rental company charging $ 10 per day for my wife as an additional driver, I have to take that into account meaning a successful Priceline bid shouldn't show total charges over $ 643. In order to get total charges of that amount on Priceline I would have to have a successful bid for $ 25 per day. Anything lower than $ 25 per day would mean a better deal than the one mentioned above.

Now the question is if it's realistic to get a midsize SUV for less than $ 25 per day?? So maybe afterall the offer of $ 833 mentioned above isn't too bad afterall since it includes very good insurance and not just the minimum requirement? Any idea what kind of (low) successful bid I could possibly land?

One thing I have not checked yet, is if the credit card's insurance covers the rental agreement if booked through third party, in this case priceline. I'll find out about that...

[thereuare]

A mid-size SUV could be had in the ~$25/day area so i'd first check with your credit card company to confirm coverage if booked thru a third party (it usually is, but you should confirm with your credit card company). However, it also appears that you may have an issue with coverage from your credit card company since (from your post above) your rental period is 20 days and they only cover rental periods up to 19 days?

[brummel4ever]

I called the Benefit Administator and got the following information:

1. Booking through third party like Priceline is ok and won't affect coverage.

2. My wife (or any other second driver) would be covered as well as long as listed as a second driver by the rental company.

3. Our rental period of 19 consecutive days is covered by VISA. Since my residence is in Germany it is considered an international rental agreement and covers rental agreements of up to a maximum of 31 days.

This all sounds pretty good to me. I hope I didn't miss anything. I guess I can start bidding soon?!

[thereuare]

2. My wife (or any other second driver) would be covered as well as long as listed as a second driver by the rental company.

This comes back to the original issue... some companies are going to charge to list your wife as an additional drive, so you'll need to adjust your bidding accordingly to account for any additional fee.

Taking into consideration any additional fees, what is your maximum bid for this rental?

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

[brummel4ever]

Yes, I understand. That is what I was trying to say 2 postings earlier. Taking second driver fees of 10 dollars per day into account, I would only save with bids less than 25 dollars a day. Anything equal or above will not be any better than regular offers directly from the rental companies (which will have better insurance packages already included by the way).

[thereuare]

I would start with a bid of $15, if rejected re-try every 24 hours increasing the previous bid by $2 (so $15, $17, $19, $21, $25)

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[brummel4ever]

Thanks for the advice. I did the bidding starting at $15 and increased up to $ 23. Then I decided to get the rental car outside of PRICELINE because it it is booked from Germany and therefore comes with a very good insurance package.

Again, thanks for the support even though I didn't end up with a PRICELINE deal.

[thereuare]

Thank you for closing this thread with your decision.

Enjoy your trip!