NeoPatrick

I'm really confused. I'm looking for a one day one-way rental in May from Miami airport to Naples, Fl. airport. I have one reserved with Budget for a total of $54, but thought it might be worthwhile to check Priceline. Some companies including Dollar seem to be adding a drop off charge -- but ironically do not when you go the other way.
But when I plug my information in on Priceline, the LOWEST I find is $111, which is double Budget and even more than Dollar including their $55 drop off fee! I thought I'd try bidding my own price, but I do not see how that's possible one-way. I thought I had mentioned this before here, but was told that you CAN bid one way rentals there. How? What am I missing here?

This isn't a lot of money, but I'm doing several other one day one way rentals within Florida in the next couple of months and the others are all $35.01 TOTAL!

sf7307

Neo, I know it says you can do one-way rentals on Priceline but I could never figure out whether the drop-off fee will be added to your bid after the fact (along with all the other taxes and fees), so I didn't do it. Hopefully, someone will know the answer to that.

BeachGirl247

I would skip priceline for this.

Since you don't know the company Priceline will be using it would be hard to determine the drop off charge. I guess you could call the top 5 companies and ask what their drop-off charge is from x to y city.

I just rented a car through Priceline. Upon receiving the "you won" screen, I noticed the outrageous amount of taxes. They average what they "think" taxes will be which ends up being much higher than what they would have been if I had rented directly from the car company. (My taxes were 2 times the total car rental fee).

Also, I added 6 days (by calling Alamo at the airport) and because the beginning of the the rental was through Priceline and not Alamo they were not able to give me any price adjustments which would have saved me a couple of hundred dollars. (I rented for 3 days and extended 6 more.) I mention this as if you wish to extend your rental for any reason you will be charged out the wazoo.

It sounds like Budget is a good deal.

NeoPatrick

Wow. Thanks. I was sure when I brought up that taxes and fee issue before, I was told here that Priceline gives you the TOTAL including all fees before you agree. No? Gee. I'd never agree without a firm total, those fees and taxes could be anything! The base per day price means almost nothing when renting a car!

So when people suggest bidding a car on Priceline in Hawaii for example, and they keep saying they got one for $25 a day or whatever, they are NOT including what they paid for the fees and taxes? And they accepted a bid without knowing those costs?

Gretchen

Have you tried Hotwire?

sf7307

Hotwire doesn't do one-way car rentals.

NeoPatrick

Are you kidding? As always I found Hotwire MORE expensive than using basic discount codes with any of the agencies direct. And I have no desire to pay in full without being able to change or cancel unless there are some pretty major savings in store. I guess another reason not to use Priceline for this one, but I thought I'd try since it wasn't a huge amount to lose if I'd save something like $20 over $54.

BeachGirl247

Neo, I'm sure Priceline gave the taxes somewhere on the page but I missed it.

Hotwire does give you your total upfront and in plain view. That I do know.

sf7307

Regarding taxes and fees on Priceline, you do see your entire bid, including taxes and fees, before you hit "buy", but it is NOT CLEAR whether those taxes and fees include the one-way drop-off fee. Until that's clarified for me, I'm just not willing to try it only to find out otherwise.

yk

I have used Hotwire at least a couple of times for car rental. One time, I got a one-day rental at the Kansas City airport for $4.95 for a compact. They also offered me an economy for $3.95 but I decided to splurge for a compact. Including tax/fees, the one-day rental was $22.50 (the car was from Hertz).

I usually check Hotwire first, and then I bid a few dollars lower on PL. Most of the time, I can get something via PL. If PL is a no-go, I go back to Hotwire and take their deal.

Never used either one for one-way though.

clarkgriswold

Don't know your dates, but try pricing this particular rental via the delta airlines website.

milemarker0

I've never seen or heard of a one-way rental option on the "name your own price" side of Priceline....I know they do offer it through their other version.

NeoPatrick

OK, tried the Delta website. Avis was $111 there, the same as Priceline's quote. But Delta offered Hertz at $108 -- still double my own I found with Budget. (Incidentally, today I discovered that when I return my car at home to Budget, they will bring me back to my house for free -- that saves my getting a friend to go with me to return the car). So now I'm really happy with Budget. (By the way, that $54 was using a Costco code).

And SF7307 was right about Hotwire not doing one way rentals. It wasn't this one way I was thinking of; I was checking them for rentals in SF, Seattle, and LAX (all return to same) and again they were higher than any of the bids I was finding on my own direct with basic bids -- so again, I don't know why I'd prepay and suffer penalties without any savings.

yk

One other thing I've noticed with Hotwire car rental (same for hotel) is their rate can fluctuate from day to day, or even hour to hour. So I make the habit of checking it a few times a day for multiple days in a row.

Apart from HW/PL, I also search for discount codes online and see if I can get a better rate (and not prepaid) by booking directly with the rental company.

NeoPatrick

"Apart from HW/PL, I also search for discount codes online and see if I can get a better rate (and not prepaid) by booking directly with the rental company."

I guess that's what I'm saying. To be honest, I don't think I've ever booked a car direct with an agency without using some sort of discount code -- seems silly to do, when anyone can use a Costco, WalMart, AAA or something else. But the bottom line is that I have yet to find a Hotwire price lower than I can find on my own, and NOT have to prepay.

yk

But I don't have a Costco or AAA membership. Can you tell me what the WalMart discount is? Anyone can use it?

I usually look on the car rental forums on Flyertalk where the current coupon codes are posted on the sticky threads. I also find that just plugging in the CDP code for American Airlines usually give me a good discount on Hertz. But the bottomline is, I have to do quite a bit of "homework" by trying out various discount codes and also pricing on HW, to see which method I can use to get the best rate.

NeoPatrick

This morning I happened to think of AutoEurope which gave me by the far the best deal for two one week rentals in LAX. So I tried them for this one day, one way Miami to Naples rental. Surprise. It came back at $42.55 all inclusive and no drop off charge -- yet it is with Dollar who wanted to charge me $55 drop off (plus a slightly higher rate to start with).
I called to confirm and the guy read me that "due to special arrangement -- all one way rentals in Florida are without drop off charges". So my total is now $ 42.55.

Sounds good right? Ooops. No. I just remembered and checked the fine print. AutoEurope requires you pay up front for a full tank of fuel in addition and you can return the car empty. But I'm only driving about 100 miles -- maybe $12 to $15 worth of gas. Yet when I called Dollar they said their current charge for a full tank in a Dodge Caliber (what my contract says) is just over $60. So I should pay $40 to $45 extra to them? Or bring the car home and siphon off the gas into my own car? Not going to happen. Back to Budget.

NeoPatrick

I found the WalMart code on Mousesavers.com (but I think that particular one is good anywhere for Budget -- not just Florida).
It yielded me the same discounts as Costco.

Yes, it does take some homework, playing with all the codes.
But those of us who have no lives can do that.

yk

Well NeoPatrick, you got me motivated to research for a rental car that I'll need next month in San Francisco. My problem is that I prefer an in-town pick-up, but airport drop-off. Pretty much all the Hertz discount codes I found are invalid for this kind of rental.

I am partial to Hertz, and I like the fact that Hertz has a location right inside the Westin St Francis, which is where we'll be staying.

In any case, the lowest rate I found for a 2-day, weekend rental is $115 for a midsize.

OTOH, I saw a 50% off Hertz discount code for airport weekend rental, so I plugged that in and see how much cheaper the rate is if I go to SFO to pick up the car. Well, the 50% off code works, but when you add in the airport fees/taxes (which does not apply to an in-town pick up), the final rate is about $100! Well, forget that! When I add in the BART fare and all the precious time wasted to get to SFO, it's not worth saving that mere $15.

I also took your tip and looked on AutoEurope. The cheapest in-town pick-up, SFO drop-off rate is about $85. But then adding in the cost of a full tank of fuel, it doesn't seem much savings over my Hertz quote.

NeoPatrick

I just canceled a reservation with Dollar to pick up at Fisherman's Wharf and return to SFO in June. It was a total of $178 for a full week. I had found the same thing picking up near Union Square. I used Rate Code: RWUW5