FLL(CAR RENTAL HELP)

[jbelle7435]

DETAILS

Airline: DELTA

Arrive: March, 14, 10:46 PM

Leave: March 19, 6:00 PM

My Priceline email for "adding a car rental" to my plane reservation keeps on fluctuating ex. one day its 40/day another 60/day.

Funny thing is today this is what is on the email

Compact Car - $60/day

Room for: 2 adults, 2 children and 3 suitcases (1 large, 2 small) Choose This Car

Mid-size Car - $40/day

Room for: 2 adults, 2 children and 4 suitcases (2 large, 2 small) Choose This Car

Full-size Car - $42/day

Room for: 4 adults and 5 suitcases (2 large, 3 small) Choose This Car

Standard Car - $41/day

Room for: 2 adults, 2 children and 3 suitcases (2 large, 1 small) Choose This Car

Sport Utility - $50/day

Room for: 4 adults, 1 child and 6 suitcases (3 large, 3 small)

COMPACT CAR IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAT BETTER SIZE CARS :) ???

1. Can some one give me any advice or codes or know deals right now in FLL to get the best car with the best price ???

2. Should I wait untll 12am when I arrive to save an extra day on the total car rental??

[thereuare]

Car Rental Discount Codes

[mrxow]

Generally, "days" as far as car rentals go have to do with 24 hour periods and not calendar days, in my experience. So waiting until after midnight won't save you anything in terms of the number of days you are charged for. If you had an arriving flight at, say, 1pm and the departing flight at 6pm like you have, it might make sense to hang out in the airport for a while after you land before picking up your car or planning to bring it back early enough on your return day or both to keep from getting dinged for an extra day. I know that terminal 4, which Spirit uses, has free high speed wireless internet, so burning up a couple of hours there is easily done.

Since your flight comes in so late, if you do decide to use priceline, I will say that by making one bid before midnight and one after midnight, you might be able to get some extra bids in without waiting 3 days or whatever the required time currently is. I have done this many times in the past, but they may not allow this any more. Last year, not long after posting about this trick on this site, I was denied an extra bid using that method. It made me wonder if PL people were monitoring what was said here to close loopholes they didn't want used.

I took a quick look at sidestep and saw cars for your dates in the low 30 dollar range. Hertz was the lowest, but it said it was off airport. Since you can cancel and might be able to use a code or coupon to get a discount and you wouldn't have to pay a priceline fee, it seems you should try some of the other board links to book a car directly.

There is also a site called carrentalexpress that i have used many time in FLL. They deal with independent agencies. There are a few there. I looked there for you, but at this time, the options don't seem to be as good. Also, those agencies aren't open as late as the ones in airport, sometimes.

If you get a hotel next to the airport for your first night, you might consider using the hotel shuttle the first night and to get back to the airport the next day and get your car then. You might be able to rent for one less day that way, but it might cut into your trip a little, too.

[jbelle7435]

thank you for both replies

Later tonight I will do the research on what you guys gave. Right now seems 30ish/day is AVG.

In the end how do you get around that 60-even 70 additional crap cost!! Its like no matter how much you save add an additional 30%+ to your best deal out there.

Ex.. get a car rental for 1$/day for 5-6 days then final price is 77$!!! Exageration but you know what I am talking about :)

[mrxow]

There are some fees there is no getting around. States charge sales tax. Airports charge access fees. States charge special rental car fees to pay for road maintenance. Sometimes you have to pay a fee for the registration of the car. You can count on 5 to 20 bucks or more in fees every day when you rent a car, especially at an airport. Fees at neighborhood locations can be lower, but the cost per day is often more, so you pay one way or the other.

Priceline adds fees to rental car reservations, too. And the prices they offer to "add" a rental car are almost always going to be higher than what you could get if you go through the bidding process.

[REL]

Correct me if I'm wrong but that is Spring Break time. You can book a cancellable via Dollar rental car and keep trying. But, don't get bent over the cost - it is college students with money ready to spend it.

[jbelle7435]

Ok so I did the reseach today and final word is...

FLL(Ft Lauderdale)

March 14, 10pm

March 19, 5pm

Convertible

Best prices I could find

Dollar: 181.89[246.51] & Online using AmEx card(10% discount) 163.70[227.23]

Thrifty: 181.89[246.51]

So does this make sense(priceline)

-bid for a convertible less than 163.70 up to that value???

Funny thing is I called some retailer's directly and for the exact travel data at the top gave them the quotes were out of this world like double or triple the price so final word is through the internet.

Right now my best bet is the Dollar online using AmEx card deal for 163.70[227.23] unless i can do better with help??

[thereuare]

To beat your best rate from Dollar i think you would need to have a bid accepted at $31 or less.

Only question now is how much is having a cancellable reservation worth? I wouldn't go with priceline just to save $1 or $2 per day at this point... as you're then locked in at that rate with no opportunity to better the deal should rates drop (although it doesn't look like that is going to be the case at the moment). As well, if you have to cancel the trip for any reason, you'd end up eating the cost of the rental thru priceline, whereas the reservation thru Dollar could simply be cancelled without penalty (i'm assuming)

Given the prices of the other car rental companies i'm not very confident in you being successful for this rental, but it's worth a try. For me i would probably start at about $25 this early before your stay (while make one of the cancellable reservations above)... as that would make the reservation worthwhile for me (your figure may differ)

If you do book direct, please use our link to Dollar or Thrifty.

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[jbelle7435]

Company: Dollar(website)

Type: Standard Convertible

Pickup: FLL, 10pm, march 14

Return, FLL, 5pm, march 19

Base Rate: $163.70

FACILITY CHARGE: $19.75

CONCESSION FEE REC: $18.42

FLORIDA SURCHARGE: $10.15

STATE TAX: $12.86

VEHICLE LICENSE FEE: $2.35

=================================

Total Estimated Charges: $227.23

with America PRICELINE EXPRESS 10% discount.

Could not find any better unless I wanted a ferrari for around 1k/day

http://www.xoticdreamcars.com/html/index.htm

:)

[mrxow]

Earlier this month I had a priceline win from the fall at FLL through Hertz for 6 days in a compact at 16 bucks a day. I arrived in late, as you are. The last time I had done this, they stuck me with a mini van. They just don't have enough cars, especially small ones. This time around, I told the guy I wanted the smallest car possible. He spoke to the manager and she came over and asked if I would be ok with something REALLY small. I thought maybe she was suggesting giving me some little economy car. I was fine with that, as it was just two of us, and we were going to be driving a lot of miles, so the smaller the better to keep fuel costs down, I was thinking.

She didn't offer me an economy car. She asked if I would take a convertible CORVETTE! Hahahahahah... With taxes and fees, they offer them for about a grand a week. I think I paid 130 or so...

I took it, though my wife wasn't thrilled about the idea. It is very small. It got almost 25mpg, though. It had less than 1500 miles on it. Fortunately we were flew in with carry-ons only, as any luggage larger would not have fit.

If you like the idea of a corvette and can fit your party and your stuff in it and can 'vette is being offered at that location right before you arrive. If it is, maybe nobody will be renting it and they will give it to you with an economy reservation because they won't have anything else to give you except that or a mini van, and raise hell if they try to give you the mini van... :)

[jbelle7435]

That was def a nice post but luck was on your side that night!

Well if Dollar rental got a corvette I am on it!