Opinion on Payless Car Rental
 

I'll be looking to rent a vehicle a couple of times over the next 3 months. Like everyone else I've been surprised at the cost of car rentals now. It seems like they've gone up significantly in the last year.

I'm wondering if anyone on here has had any experience renting from Payless. In side by side comparisons on a few travel sites it appears their pricing is consistantly less than some of the regular rental agenicies such as Budget, Thrifty, Hertz, etc.

I'm just nervous to book through them as I've never used them or even heard of them before.

Any feedback on your experiences with this car rental agency would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Sadie

Don't know about Payless, but I recently did a search on Hotwire and found much lower prices than Travelocity, Kayak, Expedia, etc. I haven't booked yet... I'm just a little leery of the gamble with Hotwire, not knowing ahead of time which company. Good luck with the research.

I've used Payless several times in California (San Diego, San Francisco) and they are just fine. Their operation is smaller than the big guys, but the cars all have been clean, had 4 wheels, and went just as fast as Hertz cars for a lot less.

Be sure you know where they are located, either in terminal, in a central rental car center, or off-site.

Yeah, car rentals have gone up. Last August I got a 1 wk luxury car in LA for $99! So now they are actually just returning to the norm.

The one time I used Payless, everything went fine except for the car return. They had only 1 guy checking cars back in, and 4 people returning cars. Unlike the other agencies, the payless return is slow and 4 people equaled a loooong wait. I made my flight, but I often am the guy thats late so I dont risk payless for a few dollars.

We've used Payless several times with no problems.
Generally, but not always, we find the lowest prices using Priceline.
When we rented a car last month, the Entertainment Book coupons gave us the best deal.
I've never done it, but it has been suggested that renting in town (as opposed to at the airport) can be much cheaper.

I have used Payless many times and they are ok.

Payless is not my preferred car rental company but I have used them a couple times. The only time I had a problem was once when I reserved a compact car and they wanted to give me a minivan, saying they were out of compacts and it was "a free upgrade." I did not want a minivan, and after a brief - but firm - discussion they gave me an upgraded car. They are often lower in price than the major companies, but also often located off the airport property, if that matters.

Thanks for all the great info. One of the areas I'm looking to rent is at Fort Lauderdale Airport. It does appear they are in the terminal but I will doublecheck. I had forgotten about hotwire so I might look at that as well. I was thinking about trying Priceline too but I've never had much luck with rental cars on Priceline, although I've done great on there with hotels.

If I find Payless are a lot cheaper I'll consider them for sure based on your experiences.

Thanks again!
Sadie

We just Pricelined a car at the Fort Myers airport a couple weeks ago and got it on the first try for $150/wk--it was Avis. Thought I probably should have bid lower but that is a decent rate.

I have also found good rates searching on www.carrentals.com

That's not bad. A little more than $20 day. Is that taxes in? What size car was it?

Sadie,
I have been looking at Payless too. I checked out eopinions.com and there were more negative comments than positive. Mostly regarding older cars and lack of staffing resulting in longer pickup and drop off times. Prices for rentals have gone crazy the past few days. I looked at a rental a few days ago with Alamo, when I returned to book it today, the price had risen $257!! This was not an advertised special with an expiration date, just a routine booking with a massive price hike. There is no excuse for a price increase that much over a 3 day period. I am really ticked!

The $150 was the total cost for a full size car, including all taxes. They gave us a PT Cruiser. I had found a "Lock Low and Go" special on Dollar for $181 total--can't remember what that special was exactly. Looking at my paperwork I see I have a rate code RXH66.

I probably found that using www.carrentals.com

Worst experience ever renting a car from Payless Car Rental. The company may say that you will save $30 or $40 but they will get more money from you in the long run and drum up more drama than you would ever want when it comes to renting a car, including wasting your time and having you sign contracts that make no sense.

I have ten years experience renting cars and traveling and I thought we would try a more *local* company so we rented a car from Payless Car Rental out of the Oakland airport. The experience was negative from start to finish.

The first car offered to us smelled like a group of high school kids had partied and thrown up in the car. The trunk was stained with a white crud. We asked for another car. The next one offered didn't smell as bad so we took it. After leaving the lot (yes, they got us out of the airport car rental agencies and away from their competitors) and driving around for a bit I noticed most of the interior of the car was not only dirty but sticky. We also realized after driving around for a few days that the front left headlight was out so we had to return the car 2 days early.

The company charged us for a full week's rental even though we had only used the car for four days. Southwest Airlines should remove Payless Car Rental from the their web site recommendations. These folks are running a scam and they will take advantage of you if they have a chance.