sweet Hertz pricing Christmas period

I just checked pricing for 12/19–12/27 in Reno, and for 8 days, I am locked into $234.07 for a Toyota RAV-4 or similar.
I usually find myself paying about $650–750 for this trip.

So… YMMV

champagne.gif

Trying to understand rental car pricing makes airline pricing seem straight forward. When I’m looking to rent a car for a trip, sometimes the prices quoted will differ every single day over a 2 week period.

Nevertheless, that’s a nice deal you snagged.

Nice is an understatement. I thought I had done well back in February when I had booked it for about $460.00.

One of my Flyertalk friends started http://www.autoslash.com

Here’s what you should do. Enter your destination and dates to see if they have a participating car rental agency in Reno. If so, you book the car. You do not give them any credit card information. If and when the rates go down, you’ll get automatic e mails advising you. No other rental agency does this. Last year I booked a weekly car rental at FLL (Fort Lauderdale) in November. All the online sites had rates of $250 +. AutoSlash also had that rate. Over the course of my reservation, the rate kept dropping until it finally reached $105, and that was for an Avis car. I’ve used them in Las Vegas too. The rates always drop, but the percentage off varies. You can cancel at any time.

This spares you the time of going to Kayak or Hertz to see if the rate went down.

dh

When do you actually ‘lock in’ to your rate?.. or ever?

say for taht example. it keeps dropping… eventually you hit 105… and so how do you lock that in with a credit card?
another example is say you hit 110 with Hertz and i WANT hertz… but it goes to 105 with some tiny crap compnay… i rather pay 110 with hertz… can i filter only certain rental companies?

that’s a really cool concept though!

When the e mail arrives telling you the price and the rental company, you can send it back saying not to make the change. You’re always locked in at the last lowest rate. It’s a real reservation. If the rate goes back up, it doesn’t matter.
As for filtering, Autoslash has limited companies working with them. There was a time when they had multiple companies, but those folks didn’t like the lost revenue.

Wow… ok more hypothetical (b/c i probably will want to use that service).
so do they BOOK the new lowest rate first then email you or no?
if you say “don’t make the change”… they go back and book the latest lowest rate again for you? what if that rate is expired?
or they don’t book the new one until you give the green light? in that case what if you miss the discount window of some sort?

Why is the pricing usually ~$100 a day. Is Reno just a really pricey rental market?
In my experience you can typically find $20-$30 a day rentals via places like kayak. Has that not been your experience?

Wow… ok more hypothetical (b/c i probably will want to use that service).
so do they BOOK the new lowest rate first then email you or no?
if you say “don’t make the change”… they go back and book the latest lowest rate again for you? what if that rate is expired?
or they don’t book the new one until you give the green light? in that case what if you miss the discount window of some sort?[/quote]

Sometimes they book it automatically, and sometimes they wait to hear back from you. Hmmm. I’ll ask my friend about that and get back to you later.

You’re always booked at the last lowest rate. I usually don’t worry about which rental car agency it is.

I am used to paying (with reserving in May or June, usually) in the high $600’s for an 8-day rental around Christmas from Hertz. I could have probably paid less, but there are enough rental companies with which I have had poor experiences that I take the reliable route.

Reno is the airport you fly into to get to Tahoe in the winter. Squaw Valley, Northstar, etc. Rental cars are pricey for the 2 holiday weeks…

Everything is pricey during the holiday weeks. [soap.gif]

George

I used to be a loyal Hertz Member, but now I check out CarRentals.com http://www.carrentals.com and do some comparative pricing. The one thing I miss when I don’t rent with Hertz is the speedy checkout when you go for your car, as well as last minute car choices offered when you land. Yesterday at SFO, it took me 45 minutes to get my Enterprise car (Hertz would have taken 15), but I saved over $200 instead of renting from Hertz. Sometimes the compromise pays out if you’re not rushed.

From my friend Chris.

I just threw that into our search and came out with $187.39 with Avis.

He suggests you (everyone) use this link >>> Cheap Car Rentals Near Me | AutoSlash | #1 Site for Cheap Car Rentals This will manually price it out. Sometimes the main site shows nothing available due to blockage.
He goes on to say (in answer to the question above)
Well, sort of. If the price drops with the same company you’re booked with, we drop it automatically. If the price drops with a separate agency, we ask for your permission (we tell you to reply “YES”) before switching you (just to make sure you’re OK with the new company and are aware of the change)

that’s an awesome tool.

how does he make any money on it? just curious what the monetization is? (not how much just ‘how’)… does he get a commission on the booking?

but yah great tool. Thanks Dan!

I’m guessing that he’s getting a travel agent rebate, just like Kayak and Orbitz.

In case you didn’t know it, Todd keeps me around here for my travel savy-ness. [whistle.gif]

On a recent trip to CO, we used carrentals.com, and wound up with a package through Dollar. We arrive at the depot about 230PM, and due to their lack of 4WD vehicles, drove out of there at 4PM. This made us two for two with Dollar, and we have a similar batting average with Avis, National and (I forget the rest).

in the past I have found that the Citi thank you point portal gave me a much better rate than carrentals.com or hotwire.

Just signed up for autoslash.com and booked my Christmas car 22 day rental started at $783.64 for a standard car. I will post and further discounts to this thread.

nothing updated fem Autoslash this week.
But through Citibank portal for thankyoupoints the same rental is $750.10

updated cost for the 22 day rental via autoslash $571.32 as of today
SWEET!