Help - Austin, TX

[lynchmob98]

I'm new to betterbidding.com ... never rented a car via Priceline / Hotmail ...

I need a car in Austin, TX for 9/2 thru 9/8 ... I'm OK with "cheapest" ... so I'm thinking "economy" ...

Here's my options ...

- Hertz @ 700 miles @ $172.90 / week + taxes/etc for total of $244 (with my #1 login)

- Hertz w/ unlimited miles @ 179.50 / week + taxes/etc for total of $252 (without my #1 login)

- carrentals.com shows ACE w/ unlimited miles @ $134 / week + taxes/etc for total of $210

- Hotwire.com shows $25.95 / day for total of $229

Here's questions ...

- what do you suggest for bidding strategy at Priceline?

- is the difference between "economy" and "compact" significant either in price or the car that I will get?

- will priceline give me a car with unlimited miles? (never mind, just found posting here that points to Priceline's "help" which says Yes)

- even with renting for a week, bidding still done "per day"?

- will the fact that my rental spans the Labor Day weekend make it less likely that I'll get a winning bid that's a major bargin?

I'm seeing some pretty lowball success in this car rental forum ... so I'm inclined to give that shot ... say $10 / day ...

Thanks for your help on this ... and your web site in general!

[thereuare]

I don't find much difference between economy and compact.

Bidding is still done on a per day basis.

I'm not sure how holidays affect Austin, but a large part of car rental business is done by business travelers, and over labor day there are likely to be fewer, so it may actually have a beneficial (from your perspective) effect on rates.

Since you don't have much time, i'd start PRICELINE bidding at $10/day and increase $3/day every 24 hours until you hit your maximum bid. (this is assuming you'd take the carrentals.com offer... if you would instread opt for one of the others i'd start at $12 and increase $3-5 per 24 hours since you'll never read your maximum bid in 4 days by increasing $3/day and starting at $10. DO NOTE the total cost on the 'review' page to make sure that "all-in" you dont' exceed the cost of a rental thru one of the sources above.

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

Any other questions feel free to ask. Good luck and let us now how it goes.

[lynchmob98]

Will I be able to add my wife as a driver for no extra charge?

We're both >35 years old.

THANKS for the help!

[lynchmob98]

$10/day bid just got REJECTed ...

During the process, right after I initially put in the $10 bid, it put up a page that said this ...

We Want You To Get Your Car!

$10 per day would be a great price to get for your Economy Car but it's so far below currently available retail rates that none of our partners are likely to accept it. Remember - If your offer is not accepted you will need to change your pick-up or drop-off date, time, or car type to resubmit your request. If you only want to change the price you will need to wait 24 hours before submitting a new rental car request. Good Chance $28.00

Great Chance $29.00

Total charges, including taxes and fees, are displayed on the following page.

... and then it showed me the "total charges" would have been ...

Your Offer Price: $10.00 (per day)

Total Rental Days: 6 days (5 days and 19 hours)

Subtotal: $60.00

Taxes and Fees: $61.24

Total Charges: $121.24

... so ... I'll try again tomorrow ...

THANKS again!

[lynchmob98]

It occured to me to "change my parameters" and bid again tonight ... by changing to bidding on a "compact" car ... so I bid $12 ... why not $13 as you recommended? I don't know ... I'm cheap, I s'pose ... which is why I'm here :-)

This time, the web site told me this ...

We Want You To Get Your Car!

$12 per day would be a great price to get for your Compact Car but it's so far below currently available retail rates that none of our partners are likely to accept it. Remember - If your offer is not accepted you will need to change your pick-up or drop-off date, time, or car type to resubmit your request. If you only want to change the price you will need to wait 24 hours before submitting a new rental car request. Good Chance $26.00

Great Chance $27.00

Total charges, including taxes and fees, are displayed on the following page.

... which is interesting because it's showing slightly LESS for compact than economy ... whatever ... with this summary of charges ...

Summary of Charges

Your Offer Price: $12.00 (per day)

Total Rental Days: 6 days (5 days and 19 hours)

Subtotal: $72.00

Taxes and Fees: $63.82

Total Charges: $135.82

... which is interesting because, while my bid was raised 20%, the taxes/fees only went up 4%.

Also, I found the answer to my presvious question ...

Only the driver will be able to pick up this rental car at the counter. You will be able to add an additional driver at the counter for an additional charge.

[thereuare]

Last i checked, at most locations, Avis and Budget allow for spouces to drive at no additional charge... most others to charge extra.

One reason to start a little higher than you did is simply because you don't have much time, so you don't have the luxury of lowballing. How high you increase you bids by should be determined by which one of the above you would use as a back-up... you want to increase in large enough numbers to get close enough to the price of your back-up reservation before you run out of time.

I'd book one of the above as a back-up to protect yourself from prices rising over the next few days while you continue to try to bid... most rental companies allow you to reserve without any cancellation penalty (most dont' even require a credit card to reserve)

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

[Colfax]

If you can get to one of Enterprise's off airport locations the rates are much lower than anything at the airport.

At the Enterprise at 5000 South IH35, for example, an economy car is $123.24, taxes included.

[lynchmob98]

I just tried $15 for economy ... got rejected.

Then tried $18 after adding compact ... got rejected.

Was about to pack it in and come back tomorrow ... when it occured to me to simply try again and see what the message looks like saying "you can't bid again for 24 hours" ... so I started over and bid $20 ... and got rejected ... no message saying "hey, you already bid today" ... I wonder if I did something wrong ...

Undaunted, I log'd out and log'd back in and tried $22 (total = $212) ... but then got this message ...

Unfortunately, we were unable to process your rental car request because it was identical to one you submitted within the last 24 hours (the same pick-up date, drop-off date, car type, and location). Follow instructions below to try your request again.

... so I'll try this bid again tomorrow.

[lynchmob98]

I ended up renting direct from Alamo ... because they offered a 30% discount on my Southwest boarding pass ... so total spend was $222 ... and their service was very good ... it was the fastest service I've ever gotten at an airport counter ... and then the pickup was quick enough ... they did not have an ecoonmy size, nor compact size car ... so I got a mid-size Mazda ... and the return was quick & easy ...