I bid on an economy car at TPA a few weeks ago. The total charges for my car were supposed to be 73.

I m new to this. I was hoping I d find some advice on renting cars from Priceline.com because I need one in Tampa FL when I go this month. I ve never used Priceline and some online reviews have been questionable regarding hidden fees Priceline charges so I figured this site might be more helpful. It seems like this forum mostly deals with hotels..is there any rental car advice? I m not sure if I m looking in the right places.
I bid on an economy car at TPA a few weeks ago. The total charges for my car were supposed to be 73.87. When I picked up the car at Budget, the agent told me that the total charges were actually going to be 15.75 higher. I was in such a daze when I rented the car that I didn t even question it. I had completely forgotten about that until I just saw your post So yes, you may end up paying more than what is listed on your Priceline bid.
Welcome to the board, bgk . As valree noted there s a section of the board dedicated to Priceline Car Rental bidding. A moderator will probably move this thread there when they see it. Car Rentals are below Hotels on BetterBidding s homepage. To better assist you: What are your rental dates? What car class or classes are you looking for? What s the best rate you ve found so far through conventional routes? valree ,
The total charges for my car were supposed to be 73.87. When I picked up the car at Budget, the agent told me that the total charges were actually going to be 15.75 higher. Unless you upgraded to a higher car class or purchased some optional item like insurance or a GPS there shouldn t have been any extra charge. adaptive cruise control software engineer What does your Budget receipt adaptive cruise control software engineer say the charge is for?
Thank you for the replies. I was hoping that there wouldn t be any additional fees but was nervous because of a few reviews adaptive cruise control software engineer I saw saying that their charges ended up being twice as much with additional fees seen at the counter. I was also suspicious of the low amount I was allowed to bid per day on a car (see below)
valree , Unless you upgraded to a higher car class or purchased some optional item like insurance adaptive cruise control software engineer or a GPS there shouldn t have been any extra charge. adaptive cruise control software engineer What does your Budget receipt say the charge is for? I didn t get any extras for the car so I m not sure what the extra charges were for. I was in town to see my friend who was in the hospital so I wasn t really adaptive cruise control software engineer with it and didn t ask about the extra charges at the time I was picking up the car (not a smart move). I m going to call them tonight to find out.
5/day was an accepted rate with priceline ( 25 total + 26.82 taxes/fees = 51.82) Conventional routes rate: between 150-190 at avis a few miles from the airport. It s possible 5 was accepted in Tampa for other dates but your dates are Spring Break and rates are extremely high. The lowest conventional rate from I can find from a Big Six car rental company is 381.83 from Dollar, for a Standard car. Smaller classes like Compact and Midsize actually cost more. There are lower rates like 259- 330 from smaller companies---Ace, adaptive cruise control software engineer U-Save, and Payless. Personally I like to stick with the Big Six . Hotwire s Compact adaptive cruise control software engineer is 67.95/day, or 442 total. Priceline usually beats Hotwire on price, so it s possible a Priceline bid in the 45-55 range for Compact could be accepted. But 5/day is out of the question for these dates. If you can rent from Avis off-airport for 150-190 that might be your best bet. Unless rates drop significantly I don t think Priceline or Hotwire will beat that.
I didn t get any extras for the car so I m not sure what the extra charges were for. I was in town to see my friend who was in the hospital so I wasn t really with it and didn t ask about the extra charges at the time I was picking up the car (not a smart move). I m going to call them tonight to find out. If the Budget agent charged you 15.75 at the counter there will be a separate charge to your credit card from Budget, not Priceline. They should have given you a receipt when you returned adaptive cruise control software engineer the car that said what the 15.75 was for. Good luck getting through to Budget Customer Service. I ve found them difficult to reach. If you find out let us know what that extra charge was for.
I just got off the phone with Budget (twice) and Priceline. I called Budget first. The agent that answered the phone first tried to tell me that I was charged the extra money because I turned in the car about 30 minutes late. She somehow completely missed the fact that I ended up turning in the car almost a full day early This was a 2-day rental for 2/14-2/16, and I ended up returning the car on 2/15. I asked her how Budget would have known that I would turn in the car late at the time when I was picking up the car. Her next excuse was that Priceline only paid Budget 45.58 so the difference is what I still owed on the car. Nevermind the fact that her math is completely off, but why would I be getting in the middle adaptive cruise control software engineer of a Budget-Priceline fight? adaptive cruise control software engineer She was pretty rude when I kept asking questions and told me to call Priceline. No problem. adaptive cruise control software engineer I am home sick today, so I can play this game all day. I called Priceline next. The agent that helped me was very nice. He told me that the only reason I would be charged extra was if I rented a car seat, GPS, etc. I didn�t adaptive cruise control software engineer rent any extras. He didn�t see anything in my bid about Priceline owing Budget any money. I called Budget adaptive cruise control software engineer back. The agent that I spoke to there said that I would be charged the fees was if I didn�t pay taxes when I rented the car. I pulled up my Priceline bid, and yes, I did pay for taxes. She said that I could e-mail the agreement to customer service, and if my claim is correct, they will credit me the 15.75. I just e-mailed a copy of the bid so I will keep waiting. She said it could be 24-48 hours. I ll keep you posted. adaptive cruise control software engineer Sorry for hijacking your thread, bgk
(Valree- no apologies necessary and I m glad you were able to argue that charge. It s nice to know there aren t actually additional charges. I think I was looking at Priceline incorrectly.) Colfax, I think you are right about the priceline bid of 5 being too low.. I guess that i just assumed after i entered a dollar amt per day, the next page seemed to accept my price but this was before I put my credit card info in. I was hoping that I could get a definitive price quote before I committed to the price. Is this not the case? If not, that explains why I thought adaptive cruise control software engineer the prices were so low. I never put my card info in because I was insecure about using Priceline. The other rule I should keep in mind is that I can t rebid for another adaptive cruise control software engineer 24 hours if the first one is not accepted?
I was hoping that I could get a definitive price quote before I committed to the price. Is this not the case? Hotwire gives you a final price prior to purchase. Priceline doesn t. On Priceline you bid and your bid is accepted or rejected.
A moderator will merge this with your other thread. Then please keep all posts about this car rental in the same thread. Thanks. Rates were high before and they ve gone higher still since I checked four days ago. Hotwire s Compact is now 76.95/day (vs. 67.95 before). Hotwire s Economy is up to 75.95/day. adaptive cruise control software engineer With rates this high my offhand guess is you might have to bid 50 or more to win an Economy car on Priceline. adaptive cruise control software engineer You said you can reserve at Avis off airport for 150-200. Even if you have to pay roundtrip cabfare from the airport that off airport Avis will probably turn out cheaper than Priceline or Hotwire in this instance. You might check rates at an off airport Enterprise too.
I am sorry for all your concerns in this matter and you are correct, the taxes were included in your rate. I have advise adaptive cruise control software engineer the appropriate area and they are working on this issue, you should be receiving adaptive cruise control software engineer the credit shortly.
Valree, That s great I will keep that in mind for the future. I kept trying to get a lower price with PRICELINE than the other places I got quotes from but it s going to be more expensive than just going directly through Thrifty at the airport. 35 was the highest I tried and no go. I got a Thrifty deal through some discount website for about 37/day. Thanks again for all the info
valree , Congratulations on your refund adaptive cruise control software engineer from Budget. Your persistence paid off bgk , Priceline isn t always the best deal for car rentals. Dollar and Thrifty don t participate in Priceline and it s not uncommon for one or the other to beat Priceline rates. adaptive cruise control software engineer Sometimes rates drop at the last minute so it may be worthwhile trying a couple more Priceline bids a day or two before your trip. Either adaptive cruise control software engineer way, have fun in Tampa