Priceline.com $4 off Standard Car and bigger per day! Possible $9/day for standard car (PDX and other locations). YMMV
 

Its back! Priceline.com $4 off Standard Car and bigger per day! Possible $9/day for standard car (PDX and other locations). YMMV

I got this notice from Priceline today where they will take $4 off your daily rate for a week!

Last time I ordered a standard vehicle from Priceline I was able to rent a standard for $13 a day (from Portland Airport) using the name your own price and add Priceline's deal it would be $9. This makes a standard car $56/week.

Here are the details -

Every dollar counts when you bid on a rental car. Here's your chance to knock a few more bucks off and get a rental car steal of the year. Just Name Your Own Price® for a standard size car and above and we'll add $4/day up to 7 days ($28 total). That's on top of our normal savings of up to 40% OFF.
Hurry, this offer ends in 24 hours.


Sale Discount: $4/day up to 7 days
Good for: Any city, Standard size car and above
Sale ends: Wednesday July 6, 11:59PM ET

http://travela.priceline.com/prom...N|22645305

sigh, why does it cost $651 to rent the crappiest car from San Diego Airport to San Francisco Airport for 2 weeks?

why can't i find a deal for $199/week rentals during the summer? ridiculous prices (not just priceline, but everywhere)

Most likely because you're not returning it to the same location. I just booked a full-size car from OAK in August for $135/wk total. Thought about driving it to L.A., but after comparing the costs of returning the car down there, it just made more sense to fly (for us anyway).

yeah thrifty charges like $230 for it... it's ridiculous because you know they're is someone who wants to do the reverse trip and now they are doubling up on this BS fee

i could get an Avis gift card for 20% off on Ultimate Rewards, but cutting it close by the time i get it

I would keep the car in the airport's town or drive all the way back and get a 1 way Southwest deal (or maybe priceline name your own price) for $50-$100. It would probably be cheaper if you can work around that but it will be a pain in the @$$.

How do you know how much to bid?

You don't. I just threw a bid $10 (which I thought was way too low and didnt expect a decent offer in return). I got a reply with how does $13 a day work for you? I immediately accepted.

Bummer. I tried $9 and it said no dice, and I could try again in 24 hours (when the $4 deal is dead). Oh well I tried.

Thank You!

If it didn't send a counteroffer, try another bid. Even if you offer $50 and they accept you can still back out. Just try again.

I threw out a bid of $9 (+$4 Bonus cash) and the next page said something like 'Are you sure? This has a low chance of being accepted'. I clicked through that, but the next page wants my CC#.... It doesn't say the bid was accepted or rejected, but it gives me a Summary of Charges. Is this just in case the bid is accepted?


Also, one of the conditions that you have to initial to is:

Priceline rental cars are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-changeable even if the reservation is not used.

yeaaaaaaaah, i'm travelling with my wife and a 15mo old, that's not happening

Ya it was just a thought. Good luck!

Yes it is in case the bid is accepted.

Bid $50 and back out? NOT.
 

WTF?! This is the strangest advice I've ever seen re: Priceline.

DON'T DO THIS.

:lmao: Dude I was making a point. Anyone who has half a brain knows not to make an initial offer of $50. Like I said in my previous posts, I offered $10 thinking it would not even get a counteroffer.

priceline is really shitty. they keep sending me emails about car deals form $15 and when i try to book it shows min $45. What BS

Just be careful with this promotion. I used it the last time priceline ran this deal and it didn't show my $4/day discount. Don't go forward with the offer unless it shows you that your discount is going to be applied. I had to wait on hold for almost an hour and speak with a supervisor just to get my $28 back.

Awesome.....$120 with tax for my Indy trip July 14-18...nicer car and cheaper than the econo...thanks OP! TU and Repped!

Thanks!! saved me $160. Got a car in SFO for $10/day.

San Diego Airport is expensive regardless. All the car rental facilities are off site as well.

What dates did you select? I tried 10, 12, and 15/day...all came back with saying price too low!
Also trying for SFO

9/14-9/21

to clarify, I bid $10 + $4 priceline bucks = $14 total/day

I have never used PL..So I put in a price of $10 , and I got to the CC info page, does that mean my offer was accepted?

$9 per day *7 days= $63 how this makes a standard car $56/week ?

this deal works for them because their fees are added in at the higher rate... so if you bid $11 + $4 = $15... they base their fees off the the $15 (which are basically double) so they make it back

Geez... I just can't seem to get Indy for Aug 26-30 anywhere below $200!

TU for the chance to try though!

Not just that, but Priceline adds a bunch of fees (the equivalent of Ticketmaster's "Convenience Fee") for using their name-your-price bookings, but the fees are totally opaque and nearly impossible to separate from the standard taxes and regional/municipal charges. Never compare rates between Priceline and any other services just by comparing daily rates.

Just be sure you compare the FINAL, TOTAL price for your rental wherever you get it from. The daily rate is irrelevant due to local taxes.

Example: I just reserved a car through PL in "low tax, Red State Missouri." The daily rental rate was $7/dy. The taxes, in "low tax, Red State Missouri?"

$20/dy. My weekly rental was $49 for the car, $140 in taxes! They tax out of towners for everything they can't get the locals to pay for, including $5/dy for the local sports stadium!

I'll take California taxes any day of the week.

No, it doesn't mean it was accepted... this deal is a "Name Your Own Price" promotion. What this means is for the next 24 hours, any bid you make (which will be a per day price), Priceline will include an additional $4. In other words, if you bid $9, PL will view it as an offer of $13/day. Once you place your bid, the next screen requires a credit card number before your bid is actually submitted. It works this way because if your bid is accepted, your card is charged, and you have contractually agreed to deal. In other words, you CAN'T back out. The deal is done, PERIOD.

Keep in mind that PL also charges fees when a bid is accepted. As a rule of thumb, fees range depending on the amount of the total bid amount. So a bid that totals $100 (e.g. $25/day @ 4 days), will incur fewer fees than a bid that totals $200/day (e.g. $50/day @ 4 days). In the instance of bidding on rental cars, fee will also vary based on rental location.

Don't let the fees scare you. Generally speaking, you are paying a number of fees when renting a car anyway (especially when renting at the airport.) Just to give you an example of a deal I got the last time PL ran this promotion (a few weeks ago), I rented a full-sized car for 8 days in Orlando (at the airport) through Hertz for a total price of $170.84. That was a winning bid of $12/day (+$4/day matched by PL), plus taxes of $74.84. If you do the math, the total cost per day is $21.36/day. That is a pretty darn good deal, if you ask me.

Yes, but the difference is that if you're looking to rent from a particular location (i.e. the rental stables from a specific airport), the tax rate and municipal surcharges/taxes will be the same for all of the brands at that location. Thus, you can more or less directly compare daily rates between companies to find the best deal. For example, if you go to Hertz and see $10 a day and Enterprise at $8, you know for sure Enterprise will be cheaper.

The problem with Priceline is that they tack on a surcharge, but completely hide this charge by lumping it in with the standard taxes and government surcharges, and they do not allow you to see a breakdown of these charges. Hence, a $8 bid at Priceline may not be cheaper than a $10 daily rate through conventional methods.

I was wondering this myself. Although the OP didn't specifically say 7 days, anyway you slice this $56 just doesn't add up. :confused:

Man, I put in a bid for 4 days in LV and I saw William Shattner pointing at me for over 3 minutes. I'm still waiting.

Best deal I got was $133 for four days in a standard car for 4 days in LV in Sept, not too bad.

Have you tried www.carrentalsavers.com ?

I'm sorry, this doesn't make any sense to me. If the $4/day match by PL wasn't showing up for you (which it doesn't), then why in the world did you submit a deal in the first place? Secondly, how did you commit to something that resulted in a grand total of $28? Did you bid for a one day rental? If so, how is that such a horrible deal? I'm not trying to call you out, just totally confused by your post.

Finally, one last thing... PL doesn't need to show you anything. The bottom line-- if you you are prepared to pay X dollars/day, and PL accepts the offer, then whether they are actually matching the bid with an addition $4/day is irrelevant. :)

The bottom line, don't offer a bid you are uncomfortable committing to if the offer is accepted.

I bid on a 7 day rental. 7 days x $4 off per day = $28. If you're not sure where the discount is going to come off you wouldn't know where the discount should appear. My message was simply to say that don't hit "submit" before you see the discount appearing. And yes, they do need to show you the discount before you hit "buy my car now" otherwise the deal is not going to be applied. Period. :)

Thanks OP
I got a full size car in Seattle for $26/day... $310/week after taxes and fees.
Saved $115 compared to another deal that I had previously reserved (for a smaller car).

If I am understanding everything you just said, then you are confused about how this promotion works (and fortunate PL gave you $28 back!)

There is no "discount". PL adds $4 to your bid, they are not subtracting from your bid. If you are willing to pay $10/day, and the merchant isn't willing to accept anything less than $14, then your bid would be refused. However, during this promotion, PL is offering to chip in an additional $4. This means your offer, which would've normally been refused, is now accepted. It doesn't mean PL now owes you $4.

So I also put in $10 a day, but I was not redirected to the payment page. Anyone know why?

An old but informative thread: How to get the LOWEST price at Priceline.com

Make sure to read through everything, including the warnings from others' experiences.

Additional tip (as mentioned in that post): you can use Hotwire to at least know not to overbid and what you should try to bid at. ;)

PL will always ask for your CC and you will always get to see the summary (without the car company's or hotel's name) before you submit the "bid".

Others may be able to help you out if you clearly describe what you see.

Why does this look like a phising attempt to me?

I clicked the link and entered my email for some "bonus cash" and then it asks for my "preferred internet password"

What? Yeah right...

Is this link 100% legit?

PriceLine for Car Rental - General Advice
 

I've been renting cars using Priceline for years. For me, it rarely gives you a good deal trying to book far in advance. Usually I start to look around 2 weeks prior to travel, and offers seem to get accepted around the 1 week mark before (just rule of thumb). Prior to bidding, I check Hotwire to get an idea of what Hotwire is offering. When I see the Hotwire rate dramatically come down, usually it's a good time to bid Priceline and get it for around 20% less than Hotwire (again that's just a rule of thumb number). Because you don't want to get trapped if you happen to pick a time when there's high demand and no PriceLine cars available, always have a fully refundable reservation as a backup. Sorry, this does take some work but I've found it to be the safest strategy, and it's true using Priceline the savings are often too substantial to be ignored.

For a more comprehensive look at how Priceline works (hotels as well as car rental) here is a great reference website. Be sure to read the LONG FAQs (sorry, I presume it's been posted here numerous times before, but hopefully helpful to new SD viewers). http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/

Cheers.

repped

ahahaha

Is it that ridiculous a question?

Enter your email. Now enter you "preferred" password. Isn't that the goal of every phishing attempt? It's not a priceline sign-in page.

Anyway, thanks for your constructive comment.

I didn't ask for the discount. I just told priceline that they didn't apply it, and instead of giving me a higher car class or cancelling the order, they gave me $28, which works out to be the same thing, because I would've bid $4 less had the coupon been applied!

Is this site just like betterbidding.com ?

Thanks OP. Great deal on a rental for my upcoming trip.

yes, no different in prices

in fact no matter what codes i use, they pretty much all end up being the same

My Counteroffer was for $52/day at Ontario, CA... I put it $15 (so $19/day). Recjected... and just typing it in it said their was a low chance.

Hotwire... same airport, same dates... $19.95/day.

Hmmmmmmm.

I use Priceline for hotels all of the time, but never seem to get anything near a deal on Rental Cars... usually enter a couple bucks below the lowest rate on Expedia... and still get rejected.

Hmmm... I just got a car booked from Enterprise for less than I bid on Priceline, just tried it after reading this post. And i can cancel anytime... or rebook if it goes lower, or try Priceline again 2 weeks out.

Thanks OP. But I can't reproduce it. I am going to use the best discount I can find - Hertz with CDP discount - 1911795. It saved me over $150 at PDX!!!!!!!!! It even included insurance, so cool. :)

Booked full-size car for $15/day LAX in October at Hertz. cheaper than hotwire $24/day rate. Damn LAX airport tax and fees almost killed my deal.

It's very similar, but more tailored to Priceline than Hotwire. From what I've seen the historic winning bid information is better at the BiddingForTravel site but as always YMMV. The drawback to the BiddingForTravel website is it has a lot of banner ads, though I don't feel as though I've received spam from viewing there.

I'll apologize in advance for roaming off topic.

Hello - can anyone use CDP discount code - 1911795? I too am looking for a car in PDX in August. Thanks!


Thanks but I tried to Name my own Price for standard car in PDX in August and they kept kicking it back saying lowest bid to try around $45/day :-(

The Vegas fees and taxes are ridiculous. They more than double my offer.

anyone got any good site for additional cashback/or extra miles...?

Hello - can anyone use CDP discount code - 1911795? I too am looking for a car in PDX in August. Thanks!

I too would like to know if Identification or Corporate ID of any sort is necessary to qualify for this rate. Many of these corporate codes require it.

It's a great deal, so let us know what's up. Thanks!

Yes, anyone can use it.

I've been a PL user for years and I can tell you it's not a phishing attempt. There are probably thousands of other PL users on SD alone who would agree, FWIW.

That question actually *is* a default PL login question. If you're being asked that it's likely setting up a new account for you using your email address and your password. Doesn't mean you have to give them your real password. You can also change what your "challenge" question is after you set up an account - it's just like asking your Mother's Maiden Name or City of Birth. The one I use is "Where did you go on your first date?"

Thanks. I figured it was legit, but the url was *****.priceline, which had me nervous and then the sign in seemed odd. But thanks for clearing it up. Much appreciated.

because they are charging one way rate for two full weeks. My suggestion would be to rent a car in San Diego for your stay, rent another one way rental for your trip to SF, and then find another rental for your SF stay. Would be a bit of a hassle, but definitely way cheaper. You can probably rent all three from the same rental company, so it would simply be a matter of two extra trips to the rental company and moving stuff from one car to another. Should come out under $400 this way..

i don't understand how that would work

If I have to drop the car off in San Diego to avoid a one way rental, how the hell do I get to San Francisco???

I'm not going to drive my one way rental to San Fran, pick up another car, then take two carsback to San Diego and drop one off there and keep the other one for San Francisco to drop off later, that's more waste in time, gas and a day of rentals to overcompensate the diff.

Can you explain what you mean?