Better bidding long before a car rental or shortly before?

[roughnready]

The general rule with booking through a large site, like Kayak.com, or through an individual site, like Hertz.com, is that prices trend up the closer you get to the rental date. Of course, there are day to day flucuations also. Thrifty might drop one day while Avis goes up. But when taken as an average, rental cars become more expensive the longer you wait. With a refunable booking, though, this should not present a problem, since you can always just cancel and rebook at a lower price should the cost suddenly drop.

But what about bidding on Priceline and, to a lesser extent, buying on Hotwire? Here, you lose the advantage of the refundable reservation. I know that there are other factors, like monthly sales goals and rental inventory, that seem to influence these types of sellers more strongly than individual car retailer rates. Since Priceline and Hotwire don't have to worry about published prices and published brand names, they probably have more leeway when it comes to pricing changes. I guess I'm wondering whether there is also an upward price trend for these sites as the rental date approaches. It seems that Priceline and Hotwire have more wiggle room from the retailers to help move a glut of cars move, if necessary (or have themselves taken out of the equation altogether, if rental car demand is high). Does this mean for these companies that there is no uptick in rental prices as the travel date approaches, for example, during a weak travel season, like the current one??? (i.e. they are priced to move.) Or is it generally best to bid as early as possible?

[powerplantop]

Or is it generally best to bid as early as possible?

As a general rule I bid as soon as my plans are firm.

Sometimes prices go up sometimes they go down. Sometimes car companies sell out and I am not going to take a chance.

Besides I do my home work and even if they do go down I still have a good deal.

That said I don't use PRICELINE or HOTWIRE much for rental cars now. I have chairman status with Avis and do not want to miss the big time upgrades.

[thereuare]

In addition to the above, the same laws of supply vs. demand that effect hotel rates effect car rental rates, so you can apply the same thoughts as discussed in the "bid early or late" link in our PRICELINE FAQ.

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