Hotwire Car Rentals

[caq55]

If you've used Hotwire to rent a car before, what company did you end up with? Their mystery rates are less then half of what I can get by booking directly with one of the companies, but I've had bad experience with Thrifty/Dollar before and are worried I would be stuck with them - so I'm wondering if there is a decent chance for one of the big names!

(We'll be renting at the Ft Myers airport if anyone has a specific experience!)

TIA!

[GilliC]

I've had at least one bad experience with every major car rental company, so I wouldn't really let the risk stop you from using Hotwire. They always use one of the major brands you find on other consolidated travel search sites.

According to the Hotwire site:
www.hotwire.com/helpcenter/cars/searching-and-booking/rental-agencies/work-with-Hotwire.jsp

"If you book a Hotwire Hot Rate, you are guaranteed a car rental from one of these leading agencies: Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Europcar (International only), Hertz, National, or Thrifty."

So there is a chance that you could end up with Thrifty. If you're boycotting them altogether on principle, you probably don't want to risk it, and even if you got something else, you're still promoting Thrifty by using their partner. Some of the money you give to Hotwire might be going into a pool that partially ends up in Thrifty's hands anyway.

[GilliC]

PS - You can find past wins by searching for "myers" on the BetterBidding.com Hotwire Car Rental forum:
www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=185
I saw wins listed for Avis, Budget, and Alamo

[hz80408]

You didn't ask, but for Priceline we've ended up with Budget