Priceline Car Rental Question
 

We will be needing a car rental in Fort Lauderdale in late March, prime spring vacation season. The prices are sky high and since we only need it for 2 days, was thinking of trying a Priceline car rental. Our flight is not scheduled to arrive until 11:30 p.m. in the evening. What happens if the flight is delayed beyond midnight or later? Do most rental car agencies remain open past midnight? Will we lose our reservation (and our money) since we will not be able to pick up the car until the next day? Please advise, thanks in advance for your help!

I don't know the answer to your question, but you might be able to find out by going to biddingfortravel.com and scroll down to the car rentals section, click on Florida, click on some of the winning Ft. Lauderdale bids to see which rental car company they got and then call them yourself to ask what their hours are. Not foolproof, but at least you'll get an idea....I would guess that at a major airport like FLL, most of the big car rental companies do stay open 24 hours and to my knowledge, Priceline only uses the "biggies" like Avis,Hertz, etc.

Have you checked Dollar? I rent one way one day rentals between Ft. Lauderdale and Naples as "airport transportation" when I fly and they are usually "cheaper than dirt" with Dollar. And yes, they are open 24 hours. And unlike Priceline you won't have to prepay and you won't lose your money if your flight is delayed or you cancel.

On the other hand, if you're talking about over the Easter weekend or holiday week, I doubt you're going to find much of a deal, unless possibly last minute.

I would check with the rental locations to see what their hours are..I've had nothing but good luck using priceline for rentals.

Try booking on www.southwest.com even if you are not flying them as they have some great prices. They have 40% off sales quite often with triple rewards if you have a SW ff account.

We are going to Orlando in mid April and the prices all over [including Dollar] are still sky high. I was able to book through southwest and get a comact car for 4 days for $25 a day, [intermediate was $28].

Also, no prepadi needed and you can cancel if you get a better rate closer to the actual travel date [as is often the case].

http://www.southwest.com/hotfares/hotfares_cars.html

Deb

One more thought - will you be spending the first night after arrival at a nearby hotel? YOu might be better just taking the hotel shuttle to hotel at midnight and getting the car first thing next morning.

You could either leave 1 person at hotel and have the other take the hotel shuttle back to airport, renting car and returning to hotel to pick up other person. Or you could rent a car "in town" the next morning. It is cheaper to rent in town because you avoid all the airport fees on car rentals. Also, the daily rate may even be a bit less in town.

One last thought, even though you aren't going to be in Orlando, checkout mousesavers.com for rental car discount codes. Often they have Florida codes that will work at FLL as well as Orlando.

http://www.mousesavers.com/rentalcar.html

Entertainment book coupon might works as well for a savings. They can be had pretty cheaply [I got a National edition just last week at Blockbuster for $5]

Hey Deb and aliska -
I don't know if you've ever used E-Z Car Rental in Florida, but they are usually really a lot less than the "main" rental companies. We look every day up to the day before the trip and, as far as I can remember, the prices have even dropped more every time.
We've rented from them In Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Orlando and been very pleased with both the cars and company.

As my kids would say, this is probably TMI - we are arriving very late on Thurs Mar 20 at FLL (3 of us with a lot of luggage), spending 2 nights with relatives in Tamarac (west of FLL) and leaving Sat afternoon Mar 22 from Port Everglades on a cruise. I was hoping to be able to rent a car at a decent price to alleviate transportation issues with relatives. Even with Dollar and EZ Car Rental, it looks like a full size is around $90-$100 A DAY! That's almost what we usually pay for a 4-5 day car rental. I am also looking into car rental agencies near the airport or near Tamarac. I wonder if Priceline will even have anything available as this is Easter weekend? Any quidance on cheaper car rentals would be appreciated - thanks!

Yes, you've answered the question. You are picking the busiest -- and therefore the most expensive -- weekend of the year to rent a car in Florida. Your only hope is that some of the agencies won't book as many as they expect and you can get a last minute deal with one of them. I doubt that anyone will "deal" at this early date -- why would they? Good luck.

You are also now saying that you want to pick the car up at FLL and return it to another location - Port Evergaldes? That is going to add to the cost as well.

Can you look into a car service from FLL to Tamarac for your arrival and have your relatives drive to Port Everglades? Or maybe do another car service. At $100 a day [is that the base rate or with the fees?] one way drop off fee, plus gas, etc it may be cheaper to arrange car service/taxi.

Deb

Actually there is rarely (if ever?) a drop off charge within Florida. I do one way rentals all the time and have NEVER paid for a drop off (including hidden in the rate). It's always been the same price regardless of where you return it within Florida.

I didn't realize that Patrick, but it makes sense. So many cars and so many people starting and stopping trips in different locations. Good to know!

I was able to use Dollar for our upcoming San Francisco trip [for the out of town part] and was able to pick the car in the city, returning it to SFO when we fly out and avoided both the airport fees and a 1 way charge!

Deb