John

While searching for car rentals out of Houston, I found Hot Wire to be approx. $70.00 cheaper, as opposed to dealing directly with the rental people, for the same car. Have you used hot wire, were you satisfied and how can they rent so much cheaper?

rkkwan

Yes I have. No problem. But if you try Priceline, you may even get a cheaper price.

How can they rent so much cheaper? Well, same reason why they and Priceline can offer hotels for cheap. The car rental company have excess inventories, or think they will have excess inventory. So, they dump to HW and PL.

Business travelers who have contracts with a particular renter/hotelier, or those who aren't paying out of their pockets, don't care and will pay full price. They're subsidizing us.

John

Thanks for the quick reply. Just noticed that they require immediate payment whereas the rental people require payment at the counter on pickup. I'm not leaving till December so that would tie up that money for 4 months. I have a reservation now with a car company. I'll try hotwire again in December and if the price is indeed lower I can always cancel the rental people with no penalty.
Thanks again.

rkkwan

That is correct. With HW or PL, you pay right away and no refund. No reason to book them so soon on HW or PL.

bennnie

I've used Hotwire twice for rental cars and have been very satisfied. The rates were always far less expensive than what I could find elsewhere. Downside is the prepayment but it was worth it to us as we saved $200 on a minivan rental both times.

Compumom

We just used them on a trip to Chicago and Michigan. Our car was from Budget and exactly as described. No downside that I can think of.