Has anyone used Hotwire for car rental? Would you recommend it? Do prices go down close to time or when do you book with them for best price? No hassles when getting to car rental place?

Predictong price can be hard on this site. Historically, they used to fluctuate evryday, but lately they have stayed the same. I havse used tham a bunch. No issues yet.

We did this last year on a trip to Maui. It was the cheapest price I found, and we had no hassles at all.

Not Hotwire but we've used Orbitz several times w/o a hitch

Last two car rentals were via Hotwire. Got Hertz both time (compacts.) No problems.

I tend to wait until several days before the trip, looking for other deals. When I do use Hotwire for car reservations, it's to do the deal and start packing.

FYI: The last rental was July 12, at SFO. Hertz had some kind of problem, and there was a 30-45 minute delay waiting for a car. They were quite apologetic, and though aggravating, it wasn't a real problem.

Right after we got home, I got a $25 voucher from Hertz, to be used at the conclusion of my next car rental with them. It's good for a year. This, even though I made the rental through Hotwire.

Of course, the voucher means that I'll almost surely do a direct rental with Hertz sometime in the next year....

We use HOTWIRE, and have for our upcoming trip to UTAH..which we booked in Apr. We have got a full size car for 2 weeks at half the price they charging the last few weeks. Prices fluctuate at any given time of the day. I kept checking and bought when it was at its lowest of $16.95. They only deal with big name auto rentals as listed at the website..Hassle free pickup, but they will not change or alter the name of the driver once you buy..Who ever is listed as the driver MUST pick the car up! Additional drivers name can be added at pickup.

I've used them several times without a problem.

This past spring, I needed a minivan out of FLL for a week. Hotwire was the same price as a direct reservation 2 months prior to the trip so I reserved with Dollar or somebody. Then, a month after I had reserved, Hotwire sent me an e-mail telling me that Florida minivans were on sale. I checked and I would save $100 over the course of the week. I promptly cancelled my Dollar reservation and ended up with Hertz for $100 less than I ever saw elsewhere. I was pleased!

I check Orbitz's price first then I compare it to Hotwire to make sure they are offering a discount. The I go to Priceline.com and bid about $3 lower/day than Hotwire's rate. Sometime you can beat Hotwire's price by more than $3/day, check biddingfortravel.com car rentals section for winning bids.

Use them all the time -- works fine. I almost always get either Hertz or Avis below the discount prices quoted for the other agencies, even on Orbitz. They only use those two or Budget -- if I get Budget some day, I may be a bit more wary, but so far no problems.