We want to use priceline for a car rental from and to FLL airport. The rates are in the high 700 to over 1000 normally. If we use priceline though, is there a way to see if there are car rental companies that are off site? is there a way to avoid offsite? we will have our DD with us so we want to make it as easy as possible.

If they are offsite, the rental companies have a shuttle to them. Priceline only uses the major brands, and I'm fairly certain that they're all in the airport. I always rent through priceline. Good luck!

I know biddingfortravel.com is a good resource for PL hotel bidding guidance. Is there an equivalent site for PL rental car info to help get the best rate?

The major ones all moved into the adjacent garage building a couple years ago. I wouldn't worry about offsite with any of the Priceline wins.
I've never found much good information to help you bid for cars on Priceline. I recently "won" my first bid with them in LA saving some money over what I already thought was a good rate, but I actually figured later I probably could have bid lower (pretty much last minute) and still have won.
Some say to use Hotwire as a guide and bid a little lower, but when I looked at Hotwire, their lowest was already nearly 50% above the discounted contract I already had, so I bid half of the Hotwire price and got a Priceline one.

But how long are you renting for? "the rates are in the high 700 to over 1000 normally" -- for what -- a month?

I'm not the OP but also looking for FL rental car (MIA pick-up), ~ 2 weeks & one way, FL return. I'll play around w/ PL and see if they'll bite on a low # ~$25 (std car). PL says $31-33 is the going daily rate. I have time to bid low and can inch higher if rejected.

If I'm not mistaken you still can't bid Priceline for one way rentals. You must return to the pickup. Isn't that right?

You might check mousesavers for some good Florida discount codes with Dollar, Budget, and others which are good for one way rentals.

j62...Hertz (discount for AAA or airline FF)...is less than $25 per day for that one-way rental. Why mess with priceline and paying-in-advance-no-refunds when you can book a regular rental for less?

$25/day from Hertz would be a great rate, but I've found nothing less than about $50/day from Hertz, including AAA rate. Can you point me to where you found a std size car from Hertz for $25/day clark?

Here's the quote straight from AAA/Hertz.
$508.04 USD Per Week (AAA Special Rate), with taxes & fees it comes to $819.67 USD for 10days.

Sorry, didn't know your dates so checked Aug 18 to 25

those dates are close enough. Care to share where you found that rate?

NeoPatrick- we are looking to rent a car for a week right after Christmas. the lowest rate we could find was through AAA and that was 714! I figure i might try with priceline starting at half of that and going up 25 increments until I think its better to just stop and start when we get closer to the date.

I'm no expert on Priceline, but I have the impression it's not worth bidding on Priceline for a car until less than a month before you go -- that inventory on rental cars is not given to them prior to that. You can rebid every 24 hours then.

ok- that sounds ok- we have a "just in case" reservation for 713 but i will try in november as the trip gets closer. thanks!

em, try Avis.com with Delta airlines discount AWD number K817625. This should give you a better "just in case" rate.
(you can join Delta FF online if you need to)

Wow, joesorce, that seems to be a great code. I just checked AVis using my usual Costco code and got $892, but with the Delta one for the same exact dates (and same full sized car) got $476! I was using Dec. 27 to Jan. 3.

Thanks Joe- that is so nice of you to share that code! That is really so nice. the 714 rate we got was with Hertz through AAA. We wanted an suv. With your code though, I can get a full size car for 447. (the rate for an suv is 975.) I'd much rather pay 447 for an Impala than 713 for a RAV4. (ps- hertz's AAA rate for the impala was 862).

How did you find that code if i may ask? that was terrific! thank you!

One thing that I've noticed with Priceline on car rental bidding is that, if you bid extremely low, it will come back with some suggested rates that give you a "good" or "great" chance of winning. They're not always reliable, but several times I've found them to be right on, or only a couple of dollars high. So if you try that you might get an indication of what Priceline bid might eventually work for you.

Sometimes you can get a very good cancellable reservation directly from the rental company, and then take your time bidding lower rates on Priceline up until the date of departure.

smetz, funny you mention that. I was just bidding again on Priceline for a convertible on Kauai for a week in Sept. Their suggestions for "good chance" is $35 a day and for "great chance" is $38 a day. I already have one reserved through Alamo for $26.50 a day. So why would I bid $35? I'm trying to get one for $20 or less per day to make it worth my while. But no luck so far. All of these figures are of course without the add ons. Following my own advice, I doubt I'll have any luck more than a month ahead.

But joesource, interesting thing about that Delta code, I'm getting nothing from it with any other comparisons including Costco and carrentalhawaii rates which are considerably lower. With all these codes, you just never know. Or perhaps that Delta one was a Florida only one?

Hi Neo - I had almost the same experience in SF last spring. I was able to reserve a really good rate on an agency web site, and Priceline was suggesting a pretty substantially higher rate. I kept trying with lower rates, and they never worked, until the last day or maybe the day before, and even then I only saved about five dollars a day. I was also keeping in mind something I think you mentioned on this forum a while back about the Priceline fees (I think you were talking about hotels at the time) - for cars, a savings of only a couple or three dollars a day could be completely offset by the fees.

I also noticed that the online rates at the agency web sites fluctuated a lot, and you need to strike while the iron's hot. Sounds like you hit it at a good time.

I've used Priceline for hotels many times but have never used it for a car rental; be aware that PL's add-on fees may increase your rental rate considerably. I recently had the best luck using the Southwest Airline site for a weekend rental in San Diego. You don't have to be flying with them to rent a car, and the car rental section of the site is very easy to use. SW's rate came in below Hotwire's. I checked the SW site the day before we were scheduled to pick up and found an even lower rate with a different company, so I switched. So wherever you rent, check frequently as the rate may decrease even up to and including the day you're scheduled to pick up.

Be a bit wary of using a code if you don't know it's source as you may have to show ID that indicates a certain affiliation. If you don't have the proper ID, you may be stuck renting at the prevailing rate at the counter.