TPA Tampa Economy Alamo

[erinys]

Went up to $15 (starting at a lower price with bigger cars) on a compact, $14 on economy, didn't get warning of price too low on either, both rejected.

Is it 72 hours before I can bid again, or 24? Should I start at Full-size and increase my rate and lower my size from there? Compacts seem to be starting at $30 for those dates.

Is part of my problem my early drop off time - 5am? Perhaps the less expensive options aren't open yet?

My goal is a compact. I could use a friend for pick up and driving, but seems like an unnecessary pain that is difficult to coordinate. Getting my own car effects whether I can Priceline or Hotwire one night in Orlando (since he may or may not go at the same time).

[Colfax]

You can rebid for rental cars after 24 hours now, just like with hotels.

Which car classes are acceptable to you and what's Hotwire's rate for those classes?

I don't think the 5am dropoff time has any relevance to your bid.

[erinys]

Please change the subject.

Don't know why it worked, but I put in same name, same billing address, same phone numbers, same email address but different credit card number and it let me bid on an Economy.

Got it for $17/day from Alamo. Total price with taxes was $96.91, whereas Hotwire Compact ($2/day more than Economy, but I didn't bother to get a total) came to $134.xx. Says I only saved 16%, but I couldn't find that lower rate anywhere. Perhaps should have gone for subcompact at that price, but I'm impatient and thought it would only say "nope, you've bid on that option already" and only give me the few, undesirable options I hadn't bid on before. I may have had it clicked before that I'd be paying with a debit card, although it wasn't. Who knows, maybe I thought I'd bid on economy and hadn't.

Guess we'll see if I get a nastygram, but assuming I don't, I'm happy - got a car for 4 days at $38 (or $30 w/ the compact price difference) less than hotwire, and considerably less than the direct rates I'd found.

If only we could bid on the GPS unit. . . .

[Colfax]

Congrats on your deal, erinys. You'll probably get upgraded to compact as I don't think Alamo has many economy cars, if any, in their fleet.

My last Alamo compact on Priceline had XM satellite radio. No GPS though.

Enjoy your stay!