Car rental price drop for upcoming Maui trip

[Luanne]

I got an email today that dropped the price for our standard SUV rental for two weeks from $617 to $489. Then about 5 minutes after I re-registered the new pricing in Autoslash I got another email dropping the price another $50 to $434! This is the lowest I've seen for a two week rental in several years. The rental is with Dollar. Thrifty had the same pricing. It will be interesting to see if it drops again. I still have a few weeks.

 

[DaveNV]

Nice!

Dave

 

[Rjbeach2003]

Just saw slight drop on some vehicles for Big Island. First downward movement in a while. The van I have reserved for 17 days hasn't dropped, still $200-300 higher than when I first booked.

 

[Luanne]

Just saw slight drop on some vehicles for Big Island. First downward movement in a while. The van I have reserved for 17 days hasn't dropped, still $200-300 higher than when I first booked.

Do you have your rental registered with Autoslash? How far out is your rental? I hadn't seen movement in my rental for quite awhile, but it started dropping again about a week or so ago. Today's drop was the biggest I'd seen.

 

[zentraveler]

I hate to admit this, but I rarely check to see if prices have dropped after I book a rental - usually far in advance. Looks like I should check in far more than I do. We travel a lot and keeping on top of every trip seems almost impossible, but good to know.

 

[bbodb1]

I got an email today that dropped the price for our standard SUV rental for two weeks from $617 to $489. Then about 5 minutes after I re-registered the new pricing in Autoslash I got another email dropping the price another $50 to $434! This is the lowest I've seen for a two week rental in several years. The rental is with Dollar. Thrifty had the same pricing. It will be interesting to see if it drops again. I still have a few weeks.

I saw a drop of about $100 on my Hertz rental (which I took advantage of and rebooked at the lower rate), but in this last cycle of price monitoring, I still could save another $200 (or so) if I were willing to use Budget. I certainly have come to like AutoSlash a lot!

 

[Luanne]

I saw a drop of about $100 on my Hertz rental (which I took advantage of and rebooked at the lower rate), but in this last cycle of price monitoring, I still could save another $200 (or so) if I were willing to use Budget. I certainly have come to like AutoSlash a lot!

We started with Alamo, then went to Budget, and are now with Dollar. The only companies I am very hesitant (and don't) book with are Payless and Fox. At one point I could have saved more if I paid ahead, but I'm always reluctant to do that. I joined the Dollar program so that hopefully that means we can skip the counter and just go directly and pick up the car.

 

[Luanne]

I hate to admit this, but I rarely check to see if prices have dropped after I book a rental - usually far in advance. Looks like I should check in far more than I do. We travel a lot and keeping on top of every trip seems almost impossible, but good to know.

If you use Autoslash you don't have to keep checking. They do it for you. You can register a rental you made on another site. You can also try booking with them first and then register that rental for them to check. If they do find a cheaper price you need to cancel your existing reservation. I do that after I've booked the new one.

I think my rental for the SUV for two weeks originally started somewhere around $800 and now it's $434.

 

[DaveNV]

@Luanne, are these price drops coming from Autoslash, or from your own research?

I have three car reservations for next Summer in Hawaii (three islands over a three week period.) I have all three registered with Autoslash. I've found lower prices a couple of times on my own, with either Costco.com or Discount Hawaii. So I've rebooked to get the lower rate. Autoslash hasn't given me a lower rate yet on these. What's you secret?

Dave

 

[djyamyam]

If you use Autoslash you don't have to keep checking. They do it for you. You can register a rental you made on another site. You can also try booking with them first and then register that rental for them to check. If they do find a cheaper price you need to cancel your existing reservation. I do that after I've booked the new one.

I think my rental for the SUV for two weeks originally started somewhere around $800 and now it's $434.

I just got back from 2 weeks in Maui and originally booked via Costco but registered my rental with Autoslash. I did find that I saved money with Autoslash but I only had the prepay option for my rental (and then cancel and wait for refund) compared to the not paying first with Costco. Additionally, using Autoslash did not allow me to link my car rental membership program number to the actual rental - so no free additional driver privileges / free upgrades, etc.

 

[Luanne]

@Luanne, are these price drops coming from Autoslash, or from your own research?

I have three car reservations for next Summer in Hawaii (three islands over a three week period.) I have all three registered with Autoslash. I've found lower prices a couple of times on my own, with either Costco.com or Discount Hawaii. So I've rebooked to get the lower rate. Autoslash hasn't given me a lower rate yet on these. What's you secret?

Dave

Autoslash of course. Every so often I will check Costco, but I've never found them to beat what I have on Autoslash. I don't think I have a secret. I just register my reservation and wait. When you say next summer do you mean 2020 or 2021? At this point I'm only a little over two weeks from picking up my car. So the rates have dropped very close to the date of pick up.

 

[Luanne]

I just got back from 2 weeks in Maui and originally booked via Costco but registered my rental with Autoslash. I did find that I saved money with Autoslash but I only had the prepay option for my rental (and then cancel and wait for refund) compared to the not paying first with Costco. Additionally, using Autoslash did not allow me to link my car rental membership program number to the actual rental - so no free additional driver privileges / free upgrades, etc.

I never pay up front. If Autoslash offers me that option I just don't take it. With the earlier email today I could have saved a bit by paying up front, but I opted for the "Pay Later". And I have been able to connect my rentals with the car companies I have membership with. During the reservation process there is a drop down to enter the membership number. Which car company were you not able to do that with?

Also, when you are setting up your search, or tracking, there is a box where you are asked what affiliations you have. If you check Costco you will get all of their benefits, such as a spouse as a free driver.

 

[DaveNV]

Autoslash of course. Every so often I will check Costco, but I've never found them to beat what I have on Autoslash. I don't think I have a secret. I just register my reservation and wait. When you say next summer do you mean 2020 or 2021? At this point I'm only a little over two weeks from picking up my car. So the rates have dropped very close to the date of pick up.

August 2020. I just confirmed each of my reservations is registered with Autoslash. Maybe I'm just impatient.

The rates I have are decent, all things considered. But I'm always looking for a better price on a "fixed" asset, like a rental car.

Dave

 

[djyamyam]

I never pay up front. If Autoslash offers me that option I just don't take it. With the earlier email today I could have saved a bit by paying up front, but I opted for the "Pay Later". And I have been able to connect my rentals with the car companies I have membership with. During the reservation process there is a drop down to enter the membership number. Which car company were you not able to do that with?

Also, when you are setting up your search, or tracking, there is a box where you are asked what affiliations you have. If you check Costco you will get all of their benefits, such as a spouse as a free driver.

I don't remember being able to put my affiliation membership number on the reservation. I have status with Hertz, Budget and Enterprise. For this past reservation for Maui, I paid a bit more for a Hertz reservation as opposed to Dollar because of my Hertz status but it was not recognized with the reservation. When I put my tracking information into Autoslash, I don't have the option of selecting membership other than with Alamo or National. Here's a screen shot of what I have for options

 

[Luanne]

I don't remember being able to put my affiliation membership number on the reservation. I have status with Hertz, Budget and Enterprise. For this past reservation for Maui, I paid a bit more for a Hertz reservation as opposed to Dollar because of my Hertz status but it was not recognized with the reservation. When I put my tracking information into Autoslash, I don't have the option of selecting membership other than with Alamo or National. Here's a screen shot of what I have for options

View attachment 17180

The screen shot you showed is where you can check off Costco. You should be able to add your membership number for the rental company while you are making the reservation not ahead of time. There are places to add your flight information among other things. You have to click on the arrow to open up the box to make the entry. I can't add a screen shot right now.

 

[Luanne]

I don't remember being able to put my affiliation membership number on the reservation. I have status with Hertz, Budget and Enterprise. For this past reservation for Maui, I paid a bit more for a Hertz reservation as opposed to Dollar because of my Hertz status but it was not recognized with the reservation. When I put my tracking information into Autoslash, I don't have the option of selecting membership other than with Alamo or National. Here's a screen shot of what I have for options

View attachment 17180

Now I'm on my computer and can do screen shots. I put in a request for a reservation. When I got the quotes back I picked Hertz, since that is who you said you had booked with. This is the screen I am talking about. It is where you enter all of your information. About 2/3 of the way down is where you see "Hertz Rewards Points and Discounts". Click the arrow next to that and you can enter your information.

 

[Luanne]

@djyamyam I also forgot to mention that after making a reservation through Autoslash I have been able to go to the website for the car rental company and find the reservation there.

 

[hangloose]

How far in advance are your rentals dropping? I'm looking for April now....and curious on prices.

 

[Luanne]

How far in advance are your rentals dropping? I'm looking for April now....and curious on prices.

We leave in about two weeks. So this last big drop came a little over two weeks out. I mentioned the rates in my first post.

 

[bbodb1]

How far in advance are your rentals dropping? I'm looking for April now....and curious on prices.

I have been looking for late May / early June and I have seen two price drops already - even within Hertz.
As noted previously, I have a couple of offers for Budget and Alamo that are about $200 cheaper, but my experience with Hertz has been top notch.
I do wonder how often it is realistic to see / expect possible price drops. Do car rental companies adjust their rates on a weekly, semi-weekly, or some other basis? Most likely they pretty mch do what they want, but AutoSlash has been a very handy tool in finding low rental rates.

 

[Luanne]

I have been looking for late May / early June and I have seen two price drops already - even within Hertz.
As noted previously, I have a couple of offers for Budget and Alamo that are about $200 cheaper, but my experience with Hertz has been top notch.
I do wonder how often it is realistic to see / expect possible price drops. Do car rental companies adjust their rates on a weekly, semi-weekly, or some other basis? Most likely they pretty mch do what they want, but AutoSlash has been a very handy tool in finding low rental rates.

I try not to favor any particular car company. I've had good, and not so good, experiences with pretty much all of them. I would definitely not rule out Budget and Alamo.

 

[djyamyam]

@djyamyam I also forgot to mention that after making a reservation through Autoslash I have been able to go to the website for the car rental company and find the reservation there.

Thanks. I've got it working now. I think the problem I had before is that all the other offers I had previous were only pre-paid options and they were all via Autoslash as opposed to the Priceline option. I've set up some tracking for a couple non-HI bookings and had have the "pay later" option that has allowed me to do/see everything you've indicated.

 

[bbodb1]

I try not to favor any particular car company. I've had good, and not so good, experiences with pretty much all of them. I would definitely not rule out Budget and Alamo.

@Luanne - would any of your past experience include Kona?

 

[Luanne]

@Luanne - would any of your past experience include Kona?

We haven't been to Kona in awhile. I'm pretty sure we used a variety of car rental companies.

 

[hangloose]

How does this work if you use Hotwire or Priceline..which then books you into Hertz, National, etc?

Example: Book with Priceline which confirms Hertz rental. Can I still rebook on Hertz (or other) if Autoslash monitors and finds the rate get cheaper?