Renting a car through Hotwire

[draybook]

Has anyone used the Hotwire Hot Rate to book a car rental? I'm loving the savings I would get but I don't like paying upfront and I haven't found too many reviews of it.

 

[Poofiesdream]

I use hotwire all the time and love it! Can't beat the rates!

 

[draybook]

I use hotwire all the time and love it! Can't beat the rates!

Ok great. Right now I have a full size through Hertz (got a 20% company discount) at $405 for two weeks. If I use the Hotwire HotRate I would get a full size for $336. That's quite the savings, but I was just hesitant because of A)paying upfront and B) you don't know which car rental agency you're getting until you pay. I'm hoping that since it's an airport location that all of the agencies offer pick your own car. That's what I loved about our recent rental through Enterprise.

 

[CRad1028]

I use Alamo with the free Insiders (Alamo's discount club) which usually includes a free additional driver and at least a 10% discount. For 10 days in September I am paying $193.68 for a standard car (Chrysler 200). The best thing is you can cancel and rebook until the trip.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

Its not so much hotwire but the actual company you rent from. We used hotwire and rented payless and it was I nightmare, even though we had the print out confirmation from hotwire showing we had rented a full size car they were insisting on giving us an economy car for five people and their luggage. After about an hour of arguing we finally got a midsize. At that point we gave up instaed of wasting more of our vacation, but I really think that was payless and not hotwire.

 

[draybook]

Well, the Memphis International Airport has Alamo, Enterprise, Dollar, Hertz, National, Thrifty and Sixt. I've never heard of Sixt before and I've only dealt with Enterprise and Hertz before. They're all in the same big parking garage so I'm hoping they all over "pick your own car".

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We've done it before at Tampa airport and got a car with Hertz. It was a Nissan Sentra, the exact size car we booked. We would definitely do it again. You can't beat the savings! And I especially like it because it's one of the larger companies, someone people all know. I think, but I might be mistaken, if you click on the rate to book it, it will show you what companies you could be booked with. It was like that last time we did it, but that was in 2011 so it might have changed.

 

[dreamfinder]

As mentioned already, it all comes down to who is offering that price through Hotwire. You might get a PYO car through one of the big guys, or you may get a complete random no name agency that only runs a shuttle bus every 20 mins to their offsite location where all the cars are 5 years old.

 

[draybook]

Well, it says that it's an on-site agency and it's the ones I mentioned, so that's a good sign. Of all of those agencies listed, only Alamo doesn't have a "full-size car" category, so they're the only ones I have to worry about giving me a mid-size car. I think I'll wait until the week we leave and then pull the trigger.

 

[tookydo]

Have used them several times; all major companies; all on-site; never a problem. I got a full size car next month for 10 days for $230 tax included through Hertz.

 

[flynnibus]

Do it all the time.. and always end up with Avis or Hertz... but that depends on the location too. I have no concerns at all about doing it through Hotwire.

 

[ShookieJones]

You're good to go with Hotwire my friend. I've used them a couple of times and have gotten great deals.
Before Hertz had a spot at TDO I got stuck using a shuttle to offsite, but I believe ALL rental companies used by Hotwire have a presence onsite at TDO so you should be fine as far at that's concerned.

Have you tried Priceline - You don't have to pay up front unless using "name your own price"? I've used them more often than Hotwire and I've scored some serious deals there.
Even without name your price (which you do have to pay up front).

 

[draybook]

I might try the NYOP, since the lowest regular rate Priceline would give me was $460. is your bid accepted/rejected immediately, or does it take some time? I just want to know so I know when to bid.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi Draybrook, I have used Hotwire a number of times and nothing but good experiences. Also I would tell you to try Dollar Rental Cars as well. They usually run some good deals right on their own website. I find the pricing on the two of those are usually comparable for the size car I Am usually looking for ( I prefer compacts) Hope this helps!!! Marie

 

[draybook]

I think I'm going to try to semi-lowball on Priceline's NYOP and if it gets rejected I'll just use Hotwire. I just want to make sure they don't try to give me one of their jalopies that they've been trying to sell for 3 years.