# What has happened to costco travel auto rentals??



## winos2 (Mar 15, 2015)

Tonight I did my usual check on car rentals for two trips and found the field had changed.  There were no cars available for Enterprise and Alamo was even on the offering page.  I hope they aren't losing Enterprise and Alamo. Has any one found this limited choice?. SK


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## matbec (Mar 15, 2015)

I think it's an issue with Alamo & Enterprise. If you go to the Alamo website, entering a search of any kind results in an error message. Going to the Enterprise website, all I get are messages that the cars are sold out, and that was trying several different airports (MCO, SFO, LAX, ORD, MDW).


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## dioxide45 (Mar 15, 2015)

I have seen different companies fall off the offering page only to show back up again at a later time.


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## ace2000 (Mar 15, 2015)

Just got done booking an auto rental.  I found the best deal at Hotwire this time ($100 lower than Costco's best price).


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## dioxide45 (Mar 15, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> Just got done booking an auto rental.  I found the best deal at Hotwire this time ($100 lower than Costco's best price).



My only issue with placed like Hotwire and Priceline is that you prepay. If it is far enough in advance, you might be able to beat that Hotwire price with the book and watch technique. If a cheaper price comes up, book and cancel the old one. I wouldn't use Hotwire or Priceline unless it is only a few days before travel and it beats all other sites that allow cancellations.


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## topmom101 (Mar 15, 2015)

I booked a rental car with Payless using Hotwire and was not required to prepay. In fact, I was able to cancel a few days before my scheduled trip with no problem whatsoever. The only time I have had to prepay was when using Priceline's name your own price and my bid was accepted.


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## ChrisandBeth (Mar 15, 2015)

Just checked my dates for Palm Springs. Enterprise and Alamo were on the grid(and significantly cheaper than Budget and Avis)


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## matbec (Mar 15, 2015)

*Costco car rental site back to normal*

To the OP - checked the Costco site and it's showing all four rental agencies again. You might have just been looking while Alamo and Enterprise were doing maintenance on their sites.


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## DaveNV (Mar 15, 2015)

I agree that the Alamo/Enterprise group was probably doing system maintenance.  If it was a Saturday evening, that seems to be when it's most often missing.  Checking again on Sunday morning, they'll be back online.

A trick I stumbled across for those of you who "book and watch" for a lower rate:  Check the Costco site on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  I've found the rates on those days tend to be lower than any evening or weekend/Monday quotes. Not sure why it would matter, but it seems to. See if you find the same thing.

Dave


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## BocaBoy (Mar 15, 2015)

dioxide45 said:


> I wouldn't use....Priceline unless it is only a few days before travel and it beats all other sites that allow cancellations.



I agree for the cancellation reason, but also for the reason that Priceline's name-your-own price is usually lower in the last week or 10 days before you travel.


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## rfc0001 (Mar 15, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> Just got done booking an auto rental.  I found the best deal at Hotwire this time ($100 lower than Costco's best price).





dioxide45 said:


> My only issue with placed like Hotwire and Priceline is that you prepay. If it is far enough in advance, you might be able to beat that Hotwire price with the book and watch technique. If a cheaper price comes up, book and cancel the old one. I wouldn't use Hotwire or Priceline unless it is only a few days before travel and it beats all other sites that allow cancellations.


AtlasChoice (basically a UK Priceline -- available for the US as well) has much lower prices that Priceline Name Your Own Price or Hotwire IME.  Similar in that you don't know which company you are going to get (but they only use the majors) and you have to prepay, but you save an amazing amount of money (e.g. full size car in Hawaii for a week for < $200).


topmom101 said:


> I booked a rental car with Payless using Hotwire and was not required to prepay. In fact, I was able to cancel a few days before my scheduled trip with no problem whatsoever. The only time I have had to prepay was when using Priceline's name your own price and my bid was accepted.


Hotwire and Priceline and now full service brokers in addition to offering Name Your Own Price or Hotwire reverse auction format.  If you book through them as a full service broker you don't get the significant discounts, but do have a cancellable reservation.  You actually have to look quite hard on Priceline to find the Name Your Own Price now.


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## Ken555 (Mar 15, 2015)

rfc0001 said:


> You actually have to look quite hard on Priceline to find the Name Your Own Price now.




Yeah...so difficult to find the big "For Deeper Discounts Name Your Own Price" button on almost every page... 


Sent from my iPad


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## rfc0001 (Mar 15, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Yeah...so difficult to find the big "For Deeper Discounts Name Your Own Price" button on almost every page...


Touché.  I just went there and see what you mean.  In fairness, there for a while it was not front and center on the home page and definitely was not on each page for the search results.  It was a separate tab (along with Airfare, Cars, Hotel, etc.) -- if you just clicked on one of those, it would not show name your own price as an option.  Looks like the pendulum has swung the other direction -- they must be making more margin on name your own price now .  Note, if you plug in the _advertised_ price on AtlasChoice into Priceline Name your Own Price it will reject them (keep in mind Priceline plays dirty with taxes and fees, so even if you enter the same pre-tax amount from AtlasChoice into Priceline, Priceline will be higher after taxes/fees - which it does disclose before you make the offer, but you would think the taxes would be the same for everybody -- they aren't; Priceline has hidden fees on top of taxes, so you need to pay close attention and reverse engineer the max price based on the after tax amount compared to your next lowest offer).  I'll still throw Priceline a bone and cross reference it, but it hasn't been cheaper last couple trips.


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## sfwilshire (Mar 15, 2015)

I just lowered my (already decent) Costco car rental price for Albuquerque during the International Balloon Fiesta in October. That makes three times they have gone down since I originally booked. At some point, they'll start soaring up and up, but it's fun seeing how low they will go before that.

Sheila


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## Luanne (Mar 15, 2015)

We picked up our minivan for two weeks on Maui yesterday.  Price was $493 all in.  I booked that several months ago with Costco (Budget).  I had continued to check prices and by the time of our trip there were no minivans available and a large S U V would have been $3000 for the same period.


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## jtp1947 (Mar 16, 2015)

An oddity I have found with Costco car rentals is that when I book for an airport location pickup on the half hour it is a little bit cheaper than if I book the pickup on the hour.


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## easyrider (Mar 20, 2015)

WOW. The best Im finding today is about $40 a day for Maui for a compact. Costco seems a bit high.

I just booked an intermediate for OGG through the II travel portal for about $30 a day.   

Bill


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 20, 2015)

what is II travel portal?


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## MabelP (Mar 20, 2015)

Yes, what is that?


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## dioxide45 (Mar 20, 2015)

DavidnRobin said:


> what is II travel portal?





MabelP said:


> Yes, what is that?



Travel tab when you are logged in to your II account. I have found them to be quite good for cruise prices.


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 20, 2015)

dioxide45 said:


> Travel tab when you are logged in to your II account. I have found them to be quite good for cruise prices.



Thanks.
II prices are higher (>$40) that Costco prices for OGG for my week (mid-Aug)
Same for LIH for the next week (end-Aug)
FAIL


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## DaveNV (Mar 20, 2015)

DavidnRobin said:


> Thanks.
> II prices are higher (>$40) that Costco prices for OGG for my week (mid-Aug)
> Same for LIH for the next week (end-Aug)
> FAIL




Have you checked Discount Hawaii Car Rental? I've often found they are lower if Costco is running higher.  Worth checking out. (Then come back to Costco later and keep checking - they will usually come back lower later on. It's a weird kind of dance.)

Dave


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## dioxide45 (Mar 20, 2015)

With II, it looks like you can only rent at airport locations? Also must return to the same location as pickup? Am I missing something?


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 21, 2015)

BMWguynw said:


> Have you checked Discount Hawaii Car Rental? I've often found they are lower if Costco is running higher.  Worth checking out. (Then come back to Costco later and keep checking - they will usually come back lower later on. It's a weird kind of dance.)
> 
> Dave



I have checked out Discount - not much better. In the past I have seen Costco prices drop over time (4-5 months ahead) - this year they seem to be stuck, and even rising.  Right now basic autos are well over $300/week for OGG in mid-Aug. Same for LIH in late-Aug.

I am playing the waiting game, but in the past I have at least locked in a lower rate at this point.


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## DaveNV (Mar 21, 2015)

DavidnRobin said:


> I have checked out Discount - not much better. In the past I have seen Costco prices drop over time (4-5 months ahead) - this year they seem to be stuck, and even rising.  Right now basic autos are well over $300/week for OGG in mid-Aug. Same for LIH in late-Aug.
> 
> I am playing the waiting game, but in the past I have at least locked in a lower rate at this point.




You probably want to take the best reservation you can find right now, and then rebook/cancel if things drop. If things continue to rise, it won't be a good thing, and you could end up paying a lot more than you'd like. 

Dave


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## dioxide45 (Mar 21, 2015)

We are currently pricing two trips; Boston and Orlando. Boston seems kind of high at $135 for only two day rental. It recently dropped from about $150 since it appears that a coupon became available.


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 21, 2015)

BMWguynw said:


> You probably want to take the best reservation you can find right now, and then rebook/cancel if things drop. If things continue to rise, it won't be a good thing, and you could end up paying a lot more than you'd like.
> 
> Dave



I usually do this, but going to take a taxi/shuttle (prefer Uber, but Maui county is trying to ban - of course), and then WKORV shuttle - we barely use our car in Maui - so not worth to spend >$300/wk.  For Kauai (WPORV) we will need a car - so I will reserve.


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## Ken555 (Mar 21, 2015)

Maui has been working out for me but when the fares change has been different than in past years.

At the moment, I'm considering a rental in Portland, OR in June for five days. Rates *start* at $50ish per day for a compact and quickly go up from there, plus lots of taxes. Worse, downtown overnight parking at the Westin is now $39 per day, though I've seen options around $25 and even less if I feel like walking. I think this may be my first visit to Portland without a car, seems like it will likely be less expensive if I just take a cab everywhere.


Sent from my iPad


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## DaveNV (Mar 21, 2015)

DavidnRobin said:


> I usually do this, but going to take a taxi/shuttle (prefer Uber, but Maui county is trying to ban - of course), and then WKORV shuttle - we barely use our car in Maui - so not worth to spend >$300/wk.  For Kauai (WPORV) we will need a car - so I will reserve.



Makes sense. And I'm not really surprised Maui county is trying to ban Uber. There are likely money grabs happening from car rental agencies and tourist outfits that benefit the county or state, and Uber doesn't fit the model very well.  

I've recently been in negotiations with the State to get a permit to conduct a private wedding on a Big Island beach in June. The process itself isn't hard, but it seems a little crazy to require a permit not only for me, as officiant, but also for my spouse, who will take pictures of the event.  It's a private wedding that will last only a few minutes, only six people will be there, I'm not a professional officiant, nobody is being paid for their work, and the groom is my brother.  But I still have to get a permit for the event, with proof of liability insurance, no less, or face up to a $5000 fine.  I'm still shaking my head over this one, because it all boils down to making money for the State. 

Dave


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## Southerngirl528 (Mar 22, 2015)

I was going to recommend precisely what BMWguynw said, and particularly for Hawaii. 

We have to book our MOC Napili 13 months out and I book air at 10+ months. At this same time frame I book the best car rental rate I can find for our dates and the type of car we want, even if that price is NOT one I'm happy with. As mentioned, Costco Travel and www.discounthawaiicarrental.com are 2 of my very favorite sites for finding great car rates. But I also check individual car company's sites. 

Grab a rez that works at the best price you can find and make certain it is one that does NOT require pre-payment or commitment. Then continue to check on a regular basis car rental rates. I have had my car rates drop numerous times over the approximately 11 months until our trip. BUT since we stay about a month, and often visit 2 islands, we usually have from 2-4 different rez's for car rentals. And had I not booked months and months out, there are certain rez's that NEVER went down. In fact, those rates sky-rocketed. Better to grab something that will work for protection against increase. When you find better rates, just go back and cancel the former rez's.  If you are going to Maui in February or thereabouts, it is all the more important to follow this plan if you want to save some $$.


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## DavidnRobin (Mar 23, 2015)

I have done what you recommend every year since 2006.  However, this year they do not seem to be changing with the same time horizon (started tracking in January for mid-Aug to early Sept). There seems to be a shift in the car renting paradigm.
However, I am not going to reserve a car in Maui at these prices - I'd rather forego a car than to give them the impression that I accept these levels.


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