# New car rental tool autoslash.com



## DorotaG (Oct 25, 2011)

Just came across it today, it is supposed to search through available discounts and come up with the best price, also automatically re-book the reservation if better price comes along   http://www.autoslash.com/


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## GetawaysRus (Oct 27, 2011)

It does as promised.  I used Autoslash to get a rental from Albuquerque airport for a New Mexico trip in early October (also the same week as the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta).  The initial rate that I got later dropped about $50.  

Rentals during Balloon Fiesta week can be expensive.  I checked Hotwire a few weeks before our trip because I often find good last-minute deals on Hotwire, but I couldn't get close to the rate I already had via Autoslash.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Oct 27, 2011)

Do you pay when you book? Or when you pick up the car?
Sounds good.
Liz


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## kenie (Oct 28, 2011)

They were over $100 higher than Costco is for our 13 days on Maui in February...


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## GetawaysRus (Oct 28, 2011)

Liz Wolf-Spada said:


> Do you pay when you book? Or when you pick up the car?
> Sounds good.
> Liz



Pay the car rental company as usual.  The charge usually posts after you return the rental car.


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## jhac007 (Oct 30, 2011)

DorotaG said:


> Just came across it today, it is supposed to search through available discounts and come up with the best price, also automatically re-book the reservation if better price comes along   http://www.autoslash.com/



Thanks for the tip DorotaG!  I signed up and booked a car (for 35 days in So. Florida beginning 1/31/2012) on 10/29/2011.  Within the same day they responded and the price had reduced from $784.99 to $757.07 (they rebooked me automatically).  This is not a lot but it's a good start and I can always cancel if a better deal comes along with some one else. Payment will be when I get there.

Jim


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## ronandjoan (Oct 30, 2011)

It's $600 more than Costco for our month long stay in Kona


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## jhac007 (Oct 31, 2011)

ronandjoan said:


> It's $600 more than Costco for our month long stay in Kona



Costco's price for my So. Florida trip presently is $1272.89. 

Jim  (will respond to your PM soon)


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## AutoSlash (Oct 31, 2011)

Hi folks, Jonathan from AutoSlash here.  I just wanted to clear up some misconceptions on our service.  Here's a quick description on how it works:

_Did you ever watch a talk show where they interview some savvy shopper who cut their grocery bill down to a fraction of the cost by finding the best possible coupons?  That's what AutoSlash does for car rentals.  

AutoSlash knows about all the best coupons and discount codes.  After you book, we analyze your rental and figure out which ones lower your rate the most.  Then we automatically apply those discounts and re-book you at the lowest rate.

That's only half the story though.  What happens if rates drop after you book?  How can you be sure that a better deal won't come along tomorrow?  Well AutoSlash has you covered there as well.

AutoSlash re-prices your rental multiple times a day.  If we find a better deal, we'll automatically re-book you to lock in the savings.  It's like price protection for your rental._

For those of you who are comparing the rates you see on our site to your currently booked rentals, it's not really a good comparison.  You really need to book to see how much we can save you.  Sometimes it's $5 or sometimes $500.  It really depends on how good of a discount we can find using our arsenal of discount codes.

Also keep in mind that while our rate could be higher right now, rates often drop significantly as the pickup date approaches, so it might be worthwhile to book with us (always free) and then see which reservation ends up being lower right before your trip.  You can always cancel the higher one.

Feel free to PM me or send your confirmation number and last name for any existing rentals booked elsewhere (like Alamo.com) to track<at>autoslash.com if you'd like us to analyze your current rental to see if we can save you anything.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if there are any questions.


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## WinniWoman (Oct 31, 2011)

Personally, I like a sure thing when I book something. That's why I don't even like sites like Priceline. To me it's gambling. I like to know exactly what I am getting and how much it is costing me - period. Not - what it MIGHT be and what it COULD cost MAYBE.........


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## dioxide45 (Oct 31, 2011)

mpumilia said:


> Personally, I like a sure thing when I book something. That's why I don't even like sites like Priceline. To me it's gambling. I like to know exactly what I am getting and how much it is costing me - period. Not - what it MIGHT be and what it COULD cost MAYBE.........



I don't see how Priceline doesn't fit this bill. You know what you are getting and how much it will cost. You just don't know what rental agency you will get, but it will be one of the majors. I have never booked a car through Priceline as once you are booked, you are locked in at that price. I don't mind not knowing what it could cost, as long as I know it is going to be lower than the rate I already have booked.


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## dioxide45 (Oct 31, 2011)

I personally think this is a pretty cool website as long as it does as advertised. As long as you are not picky about what agency you rent from, it does all the work for you. My guess is that if you have a rental through say Alamo and it finds something cheaper through Avis, it rebooks you through Avis.

This site seems to do what many of us have been doing manually for years.


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## riverdees05 (Oct 31, 2011)

Thanks, will add it to my sites that I check for rental cars.


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## AutoSlash (Oct 31, 2011)

mpumilia said:


> Personally, I like a sure thing when I book something. That's why I don't even like sites like Priceline. To me it's gambling. I like to know exactly what I am getting and how much it is costing me - period. Not - what it MIGHT be and what it COULD cost MAYBE.........



Let me be clear...  The price you book at is the *highest* price you will pay, and *your rate can only go down from there*.  Typically we analyze your rental within a few hours and send you an updated (lower) price.

The reason for this is not any sleight of hand or trying to trick you into booking at a higher rate.  It's actually just the opposite.  When we first launched last year, we used to show discounted pricing right up front in the initial search.  All the rental companies came down on us and threatened to shut us down because the prices we were showing were undercutting all other sites by a significant margin.  We had to agree to show the same price as every other site up front, and discount after booking to keep the peace.  (It's a bit like Amazon not showing you a discounted price until you put the item in your shopping cart in some cases due to manufacturer restrictions.)

As I said, booking with us is completely free (we don't even ask for your credit card), so whether you already have a reservation somewhere else already or not, you've got absolutely nothing to lose by making a parallel reservation with AutoSlash, and seeing what happens.

Hope this helps.


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## jhac007 (Oct 31, 2011)

Hi folks, Jonathan from AutoSlash here. AutoSlash re-prices your rental multiple times a day.  If we find a better deal, we'll automatically re-book you to lock in the savings.  It's like price protection for your rental.


Works for me........what else is there to ask for from a rental search!!!!!!!!

Jim


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## AutoSlash (Oct 31, 2011)

dioxide45 said:


> I personally think this is a pretty cool website as long as it does as advertised. As long as you are not picky about what agency you rent from, it does all the work for you. My guess is that if you have a rental through say Alamo and it finds something cheaper through Avis, it rebooks you through Avis.
> 
> This site seems to do what many of us have been doing manually for years.



You get to pick the company you want.  If we find a lower rate with another company, we will notify you via email and give you the option to switch, but we will never switch you without your confirmation.

Sometimes we will even give you the option to switch to a higher car class for *less money*.  Here's an example...

Let's say you're booked in an Intermediate car with Dollar for $45/day.  Dollar recently came out with a discount code that let's you book a Premium car for $35.99/day.  Our software automatically picks up on that once we add the coupon on our end, and you would get an email letting you know that we can upgrade you from an Intermediate car to a Premium car at the lower rate.

While this sort of stuff is not rocket science, and many of you could do the same thing if you put in enough effort on your own, we automate the process so you can get the best possible deal without any work.  That's really the value behind the service.


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## jhac007 (Oct 31, 2011)

dioxide45 said:


> I personally think this is a pretty cool website as long as it does as advertised. As long as you are not picky about what agency you rent from, it does all the work for you. My guess is that if you have a rental through say Alamo and it finds something cheaper through Avis, it rebooks you through Avis.
> 
> This site seems to do what many of us have been doing manually for years.



Your last statement hit the nail on the head..........no more manual for me other than an occasional check!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## northwoodsgal (Nov 12, 2011)

Thanks for the post!  Costco isn't an option in our area, so I was happy to give it a try for our California rental this Christmas.  I found it interesting that the rental on Autoslash was quite a bit less that what Kayak had been just showing me.

Also, cars automatically include unlimited mileage (unless otherwise noted).  You always know the name of the agency you're renting from.

When I booked, no credit card information was requested, since we will be paying at the rental agency anyway.  I really appreciate this fact and swayed me from the "I kind of wonder about this" mindset to "I'm impressed" mindset.  

A rental confirmation number was given, so it will be easy to look it up at the rental site.

I'm hard pressed to see a downside with this site.


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## AutoSlash (Nov 12, 2011)

northwoodsgal said:


> I'm hard pressed to see a downside with this site.



Yes, all upside and no downside.  Plus, now that we're tracking your rental, your rate may even go lower, so the upside continues...


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## northwoodsgal (Nov 12, 2011)

I just received an email if I wanted to book at a lower price.  I had to email back with a "YES" answer to have it become effective.

Autoslash, it would be helpful to know how/where you would like the YES anwered.  In the main body of the email, in the Subject line, or does it not matter?


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## AutoSlash (Nov 12, 2011)

northwoodsgal said:


> I just received an email if I wanted to book at a lower price.  I had to email back with a "YES" answer to have it become effective.
> 
> Autoslash, it would be helpful to know how/where you would like the YES anwered.  In the main body of the email, in the Subject line, or does it not matter?



It doesn't matter.  Each email response is reviewed by a human to ensure that the quoted rate is still available, so no need to conform to any specific format.


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## dumbydee (Nov 12, 2011)

Just interested.....What is in this for AutoSlash?  I am going to try the service and understand it is free and how it works but just curious why it is free?  

I think it is a great service to have....


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## siesta (Nov 12, 2011)

dumbydee said:


> Just interested.....What is in this for AutoSlash?  I am going to try the service and understand it is free and how it works but just curious why it is free?
> 
> I think it is a great service to have....


The internet is like TV, it is funded by advertising, paid subscription, donations, or a combination of all the above.

If you go to autoslash.com, and look at the bottom left corner, you will see "Advertise with us". the more popular a website is, the more companys will pay to run their ads. Just like tv shows, and specifically the superbowl.

btw, great idea for a site/service and good luck to you. I look forward to trying this service in the future.


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## dumbydee (Nov 12, 2011)

siesta said:


> The internet is like TV, it is funded by advertising, paid subscription, donations, or a combination of all the above.
> 
> If you go to autoslash.com, and look at the bottom left corner, you will see "Advertise with us". the more popular a website is, the more companys will pay to run their ads. Just like tv shows, and specifically the superbowl.
> 
> btw, great idea for a site/service and good luck to you. I look forward to trying this service in the future.



Thanks Siesta...If I had used my brain I would have figured that out.  LOL.


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## dioxide45 (Nov 12, 2011)

AutoSlash said:


> It doesn't matter.  Each email response is reviewed by a human to ensure that the quoted rate is still available, so no need to conform to any specific format.



This is a downside. Why not just book at the lower rate? When the person responds, either cancel the newer lower rate if they say NO or cancel the old higher rate if they say YES.

Just took some of the automatic out of the deal and added manual back in.


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## AutoSlash (Nov 13, 2011)

dioxide45 said:


> This is a downside. Why not just book at the lower rate? When the person responds, either cancel the newer lower rate if they say NO or cancel the old higher rate if they say YES.
> 
> Just took some of the automatic out of the deal and added manual back in.



98% of our price reductions happen automatically since they are dropping the rate on the same car company and same class of vehicle.  We will only ask for confirmation when we find a better deal with a different car company or higher car class.  We used to auto-switch people, but we found that some people had a preference for specific car class (not wanting to move from an economy car to a premium car for less money) or company.

Hope this helps to explain things.


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## AutoSlash (Nov 13, 2011)

dumbydee said:


> Just interested.....What is in this for AutoSlash?  I am going to try the service and understand it is free and how it works but just curious why it is free?
> 
> I think it is a great service to have....



While we do have advertising on the site, the majority of our revenue actually comes from the rental companies.  We get a small commission on each car rental booked through AutoSlash.com.


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## Pit (Nov 13, 2011)

AutoSlash said:


> 98% of our price reductions happen automatically since they are dropping the rate on the same car company and same class of vehicle.  We will only ask for confirmation when we find a better deal with a different car company or higher car class.  We used to auto-switch people, but we found that some people had a preference for specific car class (not wanting to move from an economy car to a premium car for less money) or company.
> 
> Hope this helps to explain things.



Great idea for a web service... hope you are successful.

However, I think you missed the point of dioxide's suggestion. Instead of auto-switching or waiting for email confirmation from the user before booking a better deal, why not double-book to capture the better rate. Then cancel whichever reservation is not needed, once the user has time to respond.


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## AutoSlash (Nov 13, 2011)

Pit said:


> Great idea for a web service... hope you are successful.
> 
> However, I think you missed the point of dioxide's suggestion. Instead of auto-switching or waiting for email confirmation from the user before booking a better deal, why not double-book to capture the better rate. Then cancel whichever reservation is not needed, once the user has time to respond.



Thanks!  It's a great suggestion and one which we intend to implement eventually, however our current booking system is not as flexible as we'd like, so it makes this difficult.  We are working a next-gen solution though that should address this issue as well as many others.  We've really only scratched the surface of what's possible here.  Stay tuned!


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## HatTrick (Nov 13, 2011)

dioxide45 said:


> My guess is that if you have a rental through say Alamo and it finds something cheaper through Avis, it rebooks you through Avis.



Unfortunate choices, since it appears that neither Alamo nor Avis is a participating vendor.


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## AutoSlash (Nov 13, 2011)

HatTrick said:


> Unfortunate choices, since it appears that neither Alamo nor Avis are participating vendors.



Yes, unfortunately both Alamo and Avis have decided not to participate in our service at the current time due to the deep discounts that we provide.  I hope that they will change their stance at some point in the future.

In the meantime though, you can track rentals made elsewhere through AutoSlash, and this includes all companies including Alamo, Avis, Enterprise, etc.  Just click on the tab labeled "Track a rental" on our homepage and enter in the details of your rental.  Then we'll alert you if we find a lower rate with the company you're currently booked with or any of the companies that we support.  It's a free service, so really nothing to lose.


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## travelguy (Nov 14, 2011)

AutoSlash said:


> Yes, unfortunately both Alamo and Avis have decided not to participate in our service at the current time due to the deep discounts that we provide.  I hope that they will change their stance at some point in the future.
> 
> In the meantime though, you can track rentals made elsewhere through AutoSlash, and this includes all companies including Alamo, Avis, Enterprise, etc.  Just click on the tab labeled "Track a rental" on our homepage and enter in the details of your rental.  Then we'll alert you if we find a lower rate with the company you're currently booked with or any of the companies that we support.  It's a free service, so really nothing to lose.



I've already had this happen with Autoslash.  I made an Alamo reservation through the Costco travel site and entered the reservation information into Autoslash.  After several weeks, Autoslash sent me an e-mail informing me that a Thrifty reservation was available at a substantial discount to the Costco/Alamo reservation!


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## talkamotta (Nov 14, 2011)

Thanks for all the information.  I will check you out for our next vacation. 

The rules change.  Costco used to always be cheaper.  The last couple of times Priceline has beat them hands down.  There have been times when a code got me the best price.  It just depends on the place, time, etc etc etc. 

Its nice to have options.


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## beach_bumz (Nov 15, 2011)

After reading this thread I plugged my res info for my upcoming Puerto Vallarta trip into autoslash and today received a lower rate.

Check this out - 8 days for $35! Unbelievable! 

There are so many travel sites/services these days I tend to ignore them.

Autoslash is a keeper!


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## siesta (Nov 15, 2011)

beach_bumz said:


> After reading this thread I plugged my res info for my upcoming Puerto Vallarta trip into autoslash and today received a lower rate.
> 
> Check this out - 8 days for $35! Unbelievable!
> 
> ...


 for $35 you might have to hand crank it to get it started.


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## beach_bumz (Nov 16, 2011)

siesta said:


> for $35 you might have to hand crank it to get it started.



I was thinking a Flintstone footmobile


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