Hotwire car rental - a cautionary tale...
 

Hi all,

I wanted to share my recent car rental woes, not just because I crave a sympathetic ear, but also to hopefully help someone else out! I recently scheduled a trip to the east coast to visit my Uncle and peruse some assisted living facilities for his possible future living arrangements. Now, let me say that I am not a total novice traveler. I have been to Europe twice, Central America twice, the Caribbean, Canada, and have also covered a bit of ground in the US. But I certainly felt like a novice when this situation came up.

I booked my tickets and then set up a car rental through Hotwire. I had no intentions of extending my trip - I actually thought about shortening it but... the day after I arrived my Uncle was admitted to the hospital to undergo some tests. As the day for my departure neared, I realized I would not be able to leave at the appointed hour. When I spoke with Budget, I was told that if I attempted to deviate from my original contract in any way, even an extension, the original Hotwire contract would become void and Budget would be able to retroactively charge me $132 per day from the first day of rental.

The only way to avoid this horrendous rate was to drive back to the Philadelphia airport (which happens to be 1 1/2 hours from where I was staying) and end the original contract. At that point, I would be able to initiate a new contract directly with Budget for the extended period. To add insult to injury, I did not pre-reserve the second/replacement car. Big mistake. They charged me $77.99 per day for a tiny little Saturn. This part is just a stupid mistake on my part. I should have known that the walk-in rates would be horrendous.

Needless to say, I will think long and hard before I ever book a car through Hotwire again. The original contract saved me approximately $20 over what I would have been charged directly through Budget. Considering what I spent in gas, tolls and time for the round-trip journey to the Philadelphia airport, it was in no way worth it.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
H

Buying a non-refundable prepaid travel item - whether it's airline ticket, hotel, or rental car - always carry risk. Travelers need to understand the risk involved and then decide on their own whether they want to do this. Doesn't matter if it's booked directly with the vendor, through a TA, through Hotwire or Priceline.

Your experience has nothing to do with Hotwire or Budget. It's not realizing the risk involved when you purchase that good rate.

It is a good cautionary tale for others buying prepaid non-refundable travel, though.

It hasn't happened to me, and one reason is that I'm a big believer in booking directly with companies. The same sort of thing can happen with hotels or airlines booked through discounters. The penalties are too great a risk for me to try to save a few dollars.
While any contract being changed may cost more, I think you've learned the hard way that many discount websites do not allow ANY changes and make you pay dearly if you have to do so.

By the way, I've often noted that many people who do their reservations through such discounters strongly suggest getting travel insurance. I suppose that might cover such issues? One reason I don't worry about travel insurance is that the vast majority of what I've prebooked I can cancel without major penalty. If the cost of travel insurance is greater than the savings gained by using a discounter, I'm not sure why I'd use the discounter to begin with.

Yeah, I agree with rkkwan. This kind of thing is one of the risks involved with using Hotwire or Priceline or any prepaid service. If I were advising you at the time, I would have simply had you return the car early to Budget at PHL but have booked a second car some other way (best available) so you didn't get gouged by Budget. There's no reason you you needed to stay with Budget (other that the inconvenience of switching airport shuttles and wasting more time).

Wouldn't the exact same thing have happened if he had booked directly with Budget? I don't think it has anything to do with Hotwire.

In other words, no matter what rate you get, if you change the terms (keep the car longer or shorter) then the entire thing is null and void, and they can then charge you whatever rate they choose, especially bad if it's a major hassle to go back to that airport mid-stay. Budget would treat you the same as Hotwire in this case, no?

I don't think so, no. I've extended and shortend car rental contracts a number of times. In some cases it's actually saved me money like changing from a four day rental to 6 days where they gave me a weekly rate which was lower than the original 4 day rate, but in most cases it simply changed the entire thing to the current rate if I had gotten a major special.

Most car rental are not prepaid, if you book directly through the agency. And that's the reason why Priceline and Hotwire can offer better rates. Both only use the largest agencies anyways, so no surprise there. Main difference is prepaid and no refund.

Hotels are a little different. Most rates offered by hotels are not prepaid, but many chains DO have them now, at a lower rate. Read carefully and decide.

For airlines, except for the very high full-fare tickets, they are all non-refundable, but they are changeable for a fee. Not if you buy through PL or HW, however. You can't fly on that flight and you're on your own.

I've extended car rentals many times, though I don't use Budget. I've never had a problem. Just phoned them and that was that.
I would try contacting Budgets home office. Explain the situation, and hopefully they'll give you a partial refund.

How and why would Budget give the OP a refund? Both sides fulfilled the Hotwire contract, then the OP decides to rent another car from Budget at $77.99/day. He could have Hotwired or Pricelined another deal, he could have prebooked another Budget (various coupons from everywhere), he could have used another car rental agent.

He has lots and lots of choices; but somehow he felt like Budget or Hotwire should just automatically extend his deal automatically. I don't know how and where he gets that idea, and I think that's the core of this thread.

I think we're all aware that there are exceptions to every rule. If it bothered the OP enough to post here, it may be worth it to contact Budget. It's quite possible that they'll offer a partial refund on the 2nd rental.

First things first, the OP is a she, not a he. Now that we have that out of the way, I am not looking for recourse. I also recognize that a prepaid contract comes with risks. I was aware, for instance, that if I didn't show up, I still had to pay. What I found almost usurious, however, was the fact that I would be punished for extending the contract.

The follow-up contract, as I noted, was my fault. Had I not been exhausted, I could have gotten over to the terminal, found internet access, and booked a better rate. I chose not to do that. I will say that I did not realize that the walk-in rates were as high as they are.

My purpose for posting was just to let people know that extending a pre-paid contract may not be possible without serious penalty. Most people anticipate the problems with cancellations, but perhaps don't know about the drawbacks of extensions.
Thanks for your responses.
H

This is very helpful information, thank you.

I had a similar problem with Alamo a few years ago, when I tried to return a car a day early since I didn't need it. The great weekly rate disappeared and they tried to charge me an outrageous daily rack rate that would have made a 5 day rental about 3x a 6 day rental.

This wasn't a prepaid rental, but it was a weekly special rate.

I just held onto the car another day rather than succumb to the Alamo customer service policy.

Another time, also with Alamo, my flight was delayed 3hrs due to weather. When I arrived I found out that my reserved rate had expired (since I was more than 2hrs late). Again they tried to rent to me at very high counter rates. I asked for a supervisor. No help. I simply called the 800# and told them I would be late, they changed the arrival time without issue. All this while standing right at the Alamo counter.

It's BS practices like these that keep me miles away from Alamo to this day.

So once again, thanks for the hotwire heads up. Details like that can sting, and are likely to occur when you are tired, harried, or otherwise distracted.

Again, people should understand that prepaid rental car bookings through Hotwire (and Priceline) are very restrictive and can't be change or canceled. THAT IS WHY you got such a good rate in the first place! If you could change the terms, you wouldn't get that great price.

If you think there's even a reasonable chance that you might need to change a car booking, DON'T USE HOTWIRE OR PRICELINE. Don't make any assumptions about being able to change things.

And, assume that walk-up rates at rental car counters will be absurd. At the PHX airport recently, I booked a car last minute right at the airport, via my laptop. Got to the Thrifty rental counter before they had even received my reservation (it takes a few minutes). Was told I had to wait for it or pay 2X the price by making a new one! So I waited 2 minutes for my reservation and the better rate to show up. Ridiculous, but that's how they do it. Important to remember.

Thanks PHi eagle fan...Its good to let people know about the latest tricks coming out of the agencies.

I have run into the shorten or lengthen penalty w/ rate increase several times recently at both Alamo and Avis. With Budget doing it too, it may become the norm, rather than a tricky exception.

Once I wanted to return early and they wanted $15 a day penalty, plus jack the rate to rack rate. I just kept the car the full time.

The other time, I wanted to extend and they quoted me a $15 a day penalty, plus higher rate for additional days! I went online and made a totally new res at the same place. I then called and told them that I could return the original car, let them wash and prep it, and write me a new contract, and I'd drive off with a new car for the cheaper rate, or they could let me keep the orig car at the original rate for an extra five days.

The agent asked if I really wanted to waste my time coming back to the rental depot, and I said, "I'm ten minutes away and it will save me $160!" He checked with his super and they agreed to extend the rental at no additional fees. (I got his name and details, before we started the negotiating).

we have used Budget tons of times and have had to extend our car rental many times and have had no problem when we have just called them. We don't rent thru Priceline or Hotwire but my sister has and said she has extended her stay thru Budget with no problems at all. Maybe it is the franchisee your location - can you talk to a higher up and explain the problem. I don't see why you can't extend it even if the extension is at a higher cost for those extra days only. We have gotten good rates thur Costco and it goes right thru the car rental company just like we rented from them.

phieaglefan - Interesting post. Sorry about your troubles during a difficult time.

I agree with poster rkkwan and poster Andrew that as long as you understand the restrictions when you book thru Hotwire or Priceline you are fine. If you think that you might need to shorten/lengthen your car hire do not rent thru Hotwire or Priceline.

Sandy

OK, sorry if I'm being dense here, but even after reading all the replies, I still don't see how originally renting thru Hotwire makes an extension worse. No matter how you first rent the vehicle, you basically must re-negotiate to extend the contract. So you find internet access, make a whole new res for the new days, and merge the two together (assuming they will let you like they let Icuy).

No matter who you book thru, whether directly or with a discounter, they will still try to up the rate for the extension, so why not get the bargain rate to begin with.

Joan i've never had to renegoiate to extend a contract. It's written on the paperwork that they hand you when you rent a car..."$150 per week, extra day $47.99" or whatever.

That's correct. I always get that on a regular contract with the car rental agency, but I suspect there is no such statement on a Hotwire or other contract, which means they can charge you whatever they want. Therein lies the major problem that started this discussion.

Bad Luck!! If you'd have done it with the original contract, you'd have saved $20. So, that's the upside of all travel goods. You snatch a fair deal.

But if you change your schedule, you're doomed. The same is applicable to lowest airfares and other such deals.

Not just Hotwire, it's applicable to all travel agentd, online portals and airline companies.

We gotta be super-cautious while booking non-refundable or non-cancellable deals. Or just put or fingers crossed. Nobody is a Nostradamus!

To use tracy2cents' example, it just isn't worth avoiding Hotwire, because if you extend you're right back in the same pool with everyone else. Converting from $150/week to $50/day is still exorbitant, (and that's a very valid example because the per day rates on the extension are always rack rate, sky high) and it would be worth a phone call or internet check to secure something better.

Back to the OP's situation. Her (sorry, I assumed the wrong gender earlier) story is actually very educational to many people. I don't know how long her original rental agreement was, but in general, one should save at least 40-50% over the regular rate for rental cars. If one's only saving $20 over several days, it's not worth using Hotwire or PL, for the exact situation she was in.

The monetary benefit needs to be higher to justify the risk involved.

Andrew said:

"If you think there's even a reasonable chance that you might need to change a car booking, DON'T USE HOTWIRE OR PRICELINE."

Well, isn't there always a reasonable chance you might need to change a booking? I think so! You can't control illness and weather. Therefore, using Hotwire and Priceline is a big gamble, and you better be sure you're getting a killer deal if you are going to use them. From what I've read on the Bidding for Travel website, these services don't offer rates much lower than the cheapest deal available by booking direct, which leads to the conclusion that the risks involved in using these sites typically outweigh the rewards. This I believe was the point of the original post. Due to the recent weather, our flight was cancelled and we had to cancel hotel reservations after the cancellation deadline (this hotel required a 48 hour notice). We had booked through the hotel directly and when I explained the situation, they happily returned our deposit. They didn't have to do this, but did so on the basis of goodwill. I suspect if we had booked through an outside website of any sort (especially Hotwire and Priceline, but probably even Expedia), the flexibility to make an exception would not have existed.

Hotwire and Priceline can indeed save a lot of money. My overall experience for hotels and rental car is that they save about 50-60% over lowest rates direct from the hotels or rental company.

One nice thing about them is that you can book with little advance. So, if it's a trip that may or may not happen, or have a decent chance of being changed, then book a regular hotel and car. Then do PL or HW when you feel the risk of cancellation is lower.

It's all about the risk level one's willing to accept. Everybody's situation is different; the discount level vary from deal to deal. Therefore there's no single answer.

In some cases, I use PL/HW; in others, I don't. The critical thing is to understand the rules and costs, and your own unique situation for this trip.

I had a very similar situation happen to me about two weeks ago. I rented an SUV from Avis via Hotwire for a two day trip ($80 total); my wife became sick and we couldn't leave when we were supposed to. I called Avis to extend the rental by one day. The rep told me they would not honor the rate listed on the contract for an extra day ($40). I was not a happy camper and asked to speak with the manager - he agreed to allow me the rate on the contract.

My saving grace was that they actually had the $40 per extra day listed on the contract I signed at pick-up.

I asked the manager why they even listed the extra day rate on the contract if they didn't intend to honor it? He mumbled something about their computer system and reluctantly agreed.

OnVacation says,
"Well, isn't there always a reasonable chance you might need to change a booking? I think so! You can't control illness and weather. "

It's up to you whether you think there's a reasonable risk of a change in your plans. Some people know that their final plans are more fluid than others. Some people's lives are more complicated. It's always a risk with Hotwire or Priceline that something could change and you'd lose the money spent on the booking.

As for weather, sometimes you can get a break on that. Last Christmas, I had a late flight arrival and booked an airport hotel via Priceline. When AA canceled my flight that day due to weather, Priceline refunded my money without much hassle (just had to verify I'd actually been on that flight and that it had been canceled - all done over the phone in about 10 minutes). I've otherwise used Priceline a few dozen times. When I am not completely sure of my plans, I don't use it or won't use it until the very last minute.

And you can buy trip insurance (at least with a Priceline bid) that would cover circumstances like change of plans due to illness...