How I Saved $74 On a Rental Car: Priceline Still Delivers Deals

Several years ago, third-party travel providers such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline were doing a gangbuster business.  That's because the travel industry was in the doldrums, and hotels, airlines, and rental car companies were grateful for any additional channels through which they could sell their product.

But in the last 18 months, travel has roared back to life.  Airlines are flying full planes.  Rental car companies are raising their prices.  And hotels are working to gain control over more of their room inventory and making "lowest-price" promises to drive business to their websites. 

Third-party websites have begun concentrating on packages to make money.  By bundling a hotel room, airline ticket and rental car, sites such as Expedia can offer deals that are attractive to travelers who know buying two or three elements of a trip together can be cheaper than buying each separately.  So where does that leave Priceline, whose clever ads starring actor William Shatner remind us you can still bid for travel on the web site? 

I've never bid on an airline ticket on Priceline because I could never afford not to know ahead of time when during a day I'd be departing my destination.  (While you can buy specific flights on Priceline, if you bid, you can only specify the days you want to fly--not the times.)  But since Priceline began, I've regularly used the site to rent hotel rooms and reserve cars. 

Now, there are entire web sites and blogs devoted to ways to figure out how much to bid on Priceline.  But I will tell you this: Check the retail price of a rental car or hotel room, then bid at least 30 per cent less on Priceline.  I did just that to get a car for five days in Los Angeles last week.  I found most rental car sites quoted me between $230 and $300 for a standard car with unlimited mileage and an airport (LAX) pick up.  I bid $140 on Priceline ($28/day before taxes and fees) and got a car at Budget.  With taxes and fees, the total cost was $166.65. 

Just to see how much I would have paid retail, I went to Budget's own web site, replicated my request and was quoted a total cost of $240.  Savings: $74.  Not too bad.  Bottom line: I'm still a Priceline fan.