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TPA --> MCO (Tampa to Orlando) Compact Alamo


Faculty
By Faculty,
in

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Hello everyone. Thanks to the owner for an amazing site full of information. I have gone over a number of pages and am not clear on a couple of items.

First off, I used PRICELINE last year for a 2 week rental in Orlando during July. I got my first bid and I believe it was $20/day for a compact.

This year I am staying from 07/07 - 07/30. Need the pickup in Tampa and drop off in Orlando, both Airport locations.

I see there is 24 hour wait period between bids for hotels, what about cars?

Shall I start m bidding now (dates are firm)?

Looking for a compact again, any suggestions on what to start the bidding at?

THANK YOU!

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Welcome to BetterBidding! (and thanks for the compliments on the site... the accolades go to all of our members :) )

Yes, there is a 24 hour waiting period between car rental bids (recently lowered from 72 hours)

What is the best rate you're able to find thru conventional booking methods? (use our Car Rental Checker to help in your search. What is HOTWIRE's best rate for this car class (and this an 'opaque' rate where the rental company is not shown before your purchase)

Let us know the above and we'll be in a better position to advise regarding a suggested bidding strategy.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thank you for the prompt response.

Using the Car Rental Checker, the best rate was $199 per week from Alamo, Dollar and Thrifty. Works out to $28.43 per day. But Thrifty and Dollar in the end are more.. I guess they have some extra charges?

Hotwire does not give me the option to select a different drop off location, but the price from Tampa is the same as above. Total price: $835.79, which is the same as above and both with Alamo.

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The rate at Alamo is significantly cheaper than all the other rental 'major' rental companies... i would book that as a cancellable back-up asap (assuming the rate is fully refundable, which it should be)

From there you now know your "price to beat". However, before bidding, i'll add one caveat...

While i don't think you'll encounter any additional fees above your winning bid, PRICELINE does leave the door open on one-way rentals (i assume just to protect themselves... which is good for them, not so good for you):

One-way reservations are currently limited to airport locations only (for example, pick-up at Orlando International Airport and drop-off at Miami International Airport.) There may also be a "drop-off" fee charged by the rental car company. One-way rentals from off airport locations will be available soon.
(bold added by me for emphasis)

While we have seen a few one way rentals i have never heard of anyone being charged an additional fee directly from the car rental company.

Let us know if you book the above alamo rate and if you'd then like to try to beat this rate thru PRICELINE.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Any additional questions the above raises feel free to ask.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Ok. I guess you meant to book directly with Alamo as if I booked with Priceline they would charge me right away? If not, I used the above suggestion (THANK YOU!) and was able to book directly with Alamo with the discount. The total came to $758.43 with all taxes etc. It still works out to about $28.49 per day. The extra time and distance worked out to $33.24 per day and then the discount was $66.47.

So having that as teh back-up, what is suggested course of action with PRICELINE?

Thanks.

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To match the "all-in" price above would be about a $25 bid, so given the time you have before your stay, i'd start at $12 and increase $1-2 every 24 hours up to ~$20 (which should take 3-7 days from the time you start bidding)... if that is rejected i would wait a week or two and start over again, starting at $12 again. If you get a counter-offer along the way stop bidding and let us know.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Keep us updated, and please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases (NOTE: and please don't use the links in any emails PRICELINE sends letting you know you're eligible to bid again)

Good luck.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Actually my bad as I forgot to add the extra coupon, so the total as mentioned above is now $730.99.

I will take your advice and start the process. What kind of counter offer would they make? Do I have to take it and if not does it affect my future bids?

Thanks!

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With the coupon that would make your equivalent 'all-in' price of a $24/bid (doublechec this as you get closer to this price in your bidding)

The counter-offer would read something along the lines of "We couldn't find a car company to accept your $16 bid, and normally you have to wait 24 hours between bids, but if you're willing to raise your bid by at least $x we'll let you bid again immediately".

You are given the option to bid this suggested higher amount or not and it in no way affects your future bidding (it may affect the strategy suggested, but it doesn't affect your chances of acceptance/rejection)

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Hmmm... Something strange happened. I have been increasing the price as suggested daily but tonight when I did the normal search on priceline for my dates etc. the price has drastically increased from $199 per week up to $362!! WTF? That's like $52 a day for a compact? I guess the economy is not that bad after all. Is this normal?

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Your rental covers many days so there is a greater likelihood that 'demand' picks up for sometime during that period, thereby increasnig prices... this why you booked a cancellable back-up the other day so that you're protected against any such price increases, yet can still cancel and re-book should a better deal present itself :)

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Hi Faculty, I've been reading your ongoing struggle with car rental prices...which seem to have gone bananas the past year or so. When we travel anywhere in Florida, we use the Orlando Visitor Bureau code with Thrifty which is available to everyone. The code is 004M001010 and goes in the corporate box. This will give you a $148/wk rate. I plugged in your dates and some made up pick up & drop off times, and this is the total it's showing:

Corporate #: 004M001010

TIME & PLACE CHANGE

Pick-up TAMPA AIRPORT, FL, USA Jul 07, 2009 01:00 PM

Return ORLANDO AIRPORT, FL, USA Jul 30, 2009 04:00 PM

CAR & RATE CHANGE Car Class: Dodge Caliber or similar

Rate: $148.00/week Total Base Rate (USD):

Total Base Rate (USD): $540.00 $540.00

Rental Time Charge $540.00

CONCESSION FEE REC (10.5%) $58.36

Energy Recovery Fee ($0.45 per day) $4.50

STATE TRANSACT TAX ($2.03 per day) $48.72

STATE TAX (7%) $46.40

VEHICLE LICENSE FEE ($0.47 per day) $11.28

Total Estimated Mandatory Charges (USD) $709.26

Estimated Grand Total (USD) $709.26

I know it's not much...but every little bit helps, right? Good luck with your priceline search. I have a rental with Thrifty for end of June...but I always keep checking on Priceline.

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Hi Faculty, I've been reading your ongoing struggle with car rental prices...which seem to have gone bananas the past year or so. When we travel anywhere in Florida, we use the Orlando Visitor Bureau code with Thrifty which is available to everyone. The code is 004M001010 and goes in the corporate box. This will give you a $148/wk rate. I plugged in your dates and some made up pick up & drop off times, and this is the total it's showing:

Corporate #: 004M001010

TIME & PLACE CHANGE

Pick-up TAMPA AIRPORT, FL, USA Jul 07, 2009 01:00 PM

Return ORLANDO AIRPORT, FL, USA Jul 30, 2009 04:00 PM

CAR & RATE CHANGE Car Class: Dodge Caliber or similar

Rate: $148.00/week Total Base Rate (USD):

Total Base Rate (USD): $540.00 $540.00

Rental Time Charge $540.00

CONCESSION FEE REC (10.5%) $58.36

Energy Recovery Fee ($0.45 per day) $4.50

STATE TRANSACT TAX ($2.03 per day) $48.72

STATE TAX (7%) $46.40

VEHICLE LICENSE FEE ($0.47 per day) $11.28

Total Estimated Mandatory Charges (USD) $709.26

Estimated Grand Total (USD) $709.26

I know it's not much...but every little bit helps, right? Good luck with your priceline search. I have a rental with Thrifty for end of June...but I always keep checking on Priceline.

Thanks for the advice. I put it through as another back up and it came out to $668.70 all in. I tried to combine with other promos but it wouldn't take it. Better than what I currently have. Again not sure why the price of compacts have suddenly jumped to $52 a day o priceline. Who the hell would pay that? Maybe the recession is not so bad after all?

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Again not sure why the price of compacts have suddenly jumped to $52 a day o priceline. Who the hell would pay that? Maybe the recession is not so bad after all?

$52 for a compact isn't unusual now. We're seeing price hikes of that dimension in many markets. Last week Hotwire was asking $68.95 for a compact in Minneapolis. It doesn't seem to be about increased demand either, at least not always. The rental lots at MSP were overflowing with unrented cars on those expensive dates.

All the rental car companies have been losing a lot of money recently and I think they've made a business decision to dramatically hike their rates and reduce deep discounting via Priceline and Hotwire, despite reduced demand, at least in certain markets. These uncustomarily high prices, in some cases double what they were a year ago, aren't in every market. Maybe the rental companies are testing a new pricing model in select unlucky cities?

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  • 2 months later...

Well after what seemed like a decade, I finally got something worthy from PRICELINE using the links here.

23 day rental, picking up in Tampa, dropping off in Orlando (July 7 - 30) @ 18.00 per day for a compact from Alamo.

All taxes etc. came to $557.91

Had been trying the cycle as was recommended and nothing was ever accepted. First try today at $18 went through. Perhaps could have got cheaper if I waited longer but it's fine as my next best offer was the back up you guys had me do at $730.00

Thanks once again!

And if someone can edit the title to reflect the pricing, that would be helpful for others.

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Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see yo stuck with it, and it looks like you saved abuot $175 for doing so... a nice deal on an extended, one way, car rental.

Thanks for the update and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bid. We've updated the topic title accordingly.

Have a great trip!

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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