I just ended up canceling a couple reservations with autoslash. I am sure it CAN work, but find that I can always do better. sometimes much better. I think one of the issues is, coupons and discounts. For example, if I go to the hertz site, I can get one rate, get another if I put in my AAA number and get another if I select a hertz AAA promo number, all for the same car, all for the same dates. Autoslash will do similar, but won't really check them all - and they are ALL going to be different and one will be cheapest. Another issue is, prices change. While I THINK autoslash must have some sort of AI engine that goes out and prices things periodically, coming back with an alert for THEM and for ME that "hey, we found the rate went down shall we rebook?" Or sometimes I WILL get the "hey, we found a full size for the same mid-size price, shall we change it for you" what I find is that I personally can go in to a hertz or thrifty, etc., re-check maybe every couple days and lo and behold ONE of those days the rate will have dropped - and I rebook it. Cancel the previous reservation and I am all done. I don't find that this happens too often or at all with Autoslash. I have purposely been booking with them to see if it will rebook and/or offer the lower rates but alas it doesn't or hasn't yet. Please don't misunderstand this post!! I think the service is doing a great service and for many/most it can provide a lower overall cost. I'm just saying that with a little elbow grease and patience an informed traveller can usually do better.
Thanks for the feedback Tivoboy. We're always striving to make our pricing engine more intelligent to get the the best possible rates for people. While it's certainly possible that you may be able to find lower than us in certain cases, some of your comments do surprise me. If you wouldn't mind, could you please PM me the trip ID's of the rentals you are referring to, and how you got a better rate than we offered? Maybe there is some process or strategy that we are overlooking which could benefit you as well as others going forward. Our hope it that we can get to a point where you won't feel that you need to spend your own time checking for a better rate. Obviously if we can automate the process, and of course achieve results as good or better than you, then it frees you up to things that are more interesting than pricing car rentals.
Usatoday does a little review of some of the alternative car rental sites http://travel.usatoday.com/digitalt...These-car-rental-sites-lack-muscle/50643168/1
I'm trying to gain as many hits for the US Airways GS promotion. I have a trip to MD for several days and need to get a car. I'm thinking I could just alternate between a couple of car rental companies each day to get 4 hits. Is there a way on Autoslash where I can set up 4 consecutive one day rentals? For example on day one rent from Hertz, then on day 2 rent from National, etc. Whatever is cheapest and as along as no two consecutive days are frm the same company. Thanks.
You can do make any sort of reservation you like at AutoSlash, but we don't support National at the current time. They are not happy about our rate discounting. Hertz works fine though.
Thanks. I don't really care what company it is as long as I can alternate between two or more decent rental agencies at the airport.
I need a rent a car from Monday 10/31 to Friday 11/4 at the OC airport ... John Wayne (SNA). Thank you.
The best thing is to just book via our website. We'll automatically discount the rate within a few hours of booking. It looks like there are some pretty good deals with Hertz for those dates after discounts.
Just had a second price drop for a rental that is still 2 weeks off. The total now for 4 days midsize in FL is $136.87 and the price has gone down around $90. My son has had similar luck for a rental in Puerto Rico in Feb. Great service!
I've had excellent results both times that I've used AutoSlash. In September the cost of a week rental in Missouri dropped by over $100 due to re-pricing by them.
With all my due respect and admiration, the prices on your website are astronomical especially the Hertz ones ... went through bookingbuddy.com and got 1/2 of the price quoted by the non-hertz sites on your website.
Does autoslash also support non-US citizens ? I get much better rates from Avis and Hertz selecting my Dutch residency/nationality, and get prices including LDW and such automatically. So far the base prices (before autoslash actually gets to work) are basically much higher (>$100) then what I get with Hertz and Avis before applying airline discounts...
As stated before, the prices listed on our site are *un-discounted*. Once booked, we will figure out the best discount codes to apply and lower your rate accordingly. Bookings are free, so there really isn't anything to lose by trying. Additionally, we keep re-pricing the rate every day, and if rates drop, when we'll re-book you to lock in the savings. At any other site, the price you book is the price you'll pay at the counter. At AutoSlash, the price you book is the highest price you'll pay.
Yes, anyone can book with AutoSlash. Our rates do not include LDW though. You may be able to get a better deal by pre-paying for the car and LDW up front if you are a non-US resident booking through a local site. On the other hand, we can sometimes reduce the rate literally by hundreds, so that would more than pay for adding LDW. We also do not make you pre-pay, and keep checking for lower rates until the rental date. It really depends on the situation.
Well, Avis.Com usually gets me the better pricing in the USA already, non-prepaid. I've made an Autoslash booking for the same dates with Hertz, let's see who wins.
I think you missed the part where AutoSlash said, "It looks like there are some pretty good deals with Hertz for those dates after discounts." The prices shown during the initial booking process are the standard rates published by the rental agencies to the GDSes. In other words, they're the same rates that any travel agency in the world (either a brick-and-mortar travel agency or an online travel agency like Expedia or Orbitz) will pull up. They're not "astronomical" any more than the rates you see on Travelocity are "astronomical"; they're the same non-discounted rate available to any travel agent. (But see my note below about the discounts you'll get after booking.) BookingBuddy's search process includes some opaque booking channels like Priceline and Hotwire, who offer some lower rates in exchange for a) prepaying the rental and b) not knowing who you are booking with until after you've paid. AutoSlash shows the same non-prepaid, non-opaque GDS-published rates that any other travel agency can see. (AutoSlash can't display lower rates on the initial search due to restrictions placed on the travel agency industry as the result of complaints by Expedia when Orbitz first came on the market, when Orbitz began to display lower fares than other online travel agencies--Orbitz was majority owned by a consortium of major U.S. airlines, and Expedia believed that to be anti-competitive behavior.) In some (fairly rare, IME) cases, you may be able to see slightly lower rates at the rental agency's website--rates they don't publish on the GDSes. In these cases, yes, it would be more advantageous to book directly on the car rental agency website than with a regular travel agency like Expedia, Orbitz, or Tammy Smith's Travel on Main Street. However, that disadvantage doesn't translate to AutoSlash. First of all, in almost every case, AutoSlash is going to review your reservation within 24 hours and find discounts that will most likely beat (and almost definitely at least meet) the slightly-discounted rate available directly on the rental agency website. Second, AutoSlash is going to watch the rates multiple times a day and catch any rate drops. You won't get that functionality on Avis.com (or any other site, for that matter). Of course, the direct apples-to-apples comparison with Avis is slightly complicated by the fact that Avis Budget Group has decided to prohibit AutoSlash from displaying their rates, so you're limited to booking with companies that AutoSlash is allowed to display rates for. Still, with how competitive the market is and how well AutoSlash's discount-finding engine works, chances are almost guaranteed that you'll be able to get a rate with another company lower than you can find at Avis.com. Regardless, because reservations booked with AutoSlash are not prepaid and can be canceled at any time, there's no risk to booking a reservation yourself with your own preferred source and booking another reservation with AutoSlash and seeing what AutoSlash can do. Then, the morning of your pick-up, just cancel whichever reservation you end up not using. I'll bet you that in at least 99% of the cases, the one you'll be canceling won't be the AutoSlash one. For those who subscribe to the tl;dr philosophy (what are you doing on MilePoint, then?! ), here are the bullet points: The rate you see when first booking at AutoSlash.com is NOT discounted and should match the rate found at any other online travel agency. The rate you book at AutoSlash.com is the highest rate you'll ever see. It can only go down from there. Within 24 hours of booking, you're virtually guaranteed to get an email alerting you that your rate has dropped (or, in some cases, an email asking if you'd like to switch to a lower-priced company). Periodically--all the way up until you pick up your car--you'll receive further alerts about continued price drops as the rental agencies adjust their rates to compete and gain more business. It seems difficult to get the idea through people's heads that the price you see on AutoSlash's search page is NOT the price you'll pay. AutoSlash cannot show a lower rate than other agencies during the initial search; the magic starts AFTER you book the reservation.
Just wanted to say thank you to AutoSlash. I just received my 3rd e mail advising me that my car rental rate has been lowered. Original cost was ~$250. New cost is ~$188. Kudos.
I have a couple of reservations coming up and decided I would take a look at Autoslash. I largely rent with Hertz, so limited my search to that. I notice that Autoslash doesn't list all the car types available? Specifically say the prestige, adrenaline collection etc. Although you can rent a Camaro, Corvette etc on the Hertz web site, I don't see what category these come up under on Autoslash? Or is it not possible to rent them through Autoslash?
They're available, but they're harder to find in the booking system we use. It's the same issue that you'd have anywhere other than Hertz.com when booking. Typically if you choose a full-size, premium, convertible or luxury car from the pricing grid, it will give you higher car classes as upgrade options. I agree that it's far from optimal and something we hope to address in a future release. The good news is that it is possible to book just about any car on our site that you can on Hertz.com. If you email us at support<at>autoslash.com with your desired car, location, and pickup and dropoff dates and times, we can send you a URL that will take you directly to a search that shows that specific car type. Click here for an example (click through to see the actual car model).
I received my 4th e mail. Read below. Thanks for booking with AutoSlash. We review each reservation daily to see if we can find additional savings for our customers. We found a better rate on your upcoming Advantage rental in Las Vegas. You were originally booked at $242.94, and the price has now dropped to $164.45. We've automatically re-booked your rental at the lower rate. You've saved $78.49 without even lifting a finger! Gotta love it.
Thanks! I might have missed a category that I didn't click all the way through, I'll try again -- otherwise will send an email.
I've been very happy using AutoSlash. Maybe I don't spend as much time searching every source for lower rates several times a day/week as I used to do. Now, I use AutoSlash and let them do the heavy lifting! In Dec 2010 originally booked 3 days, YYZ $115. Within hours it was lowered to $99 ai. April 2011, 3 days at YVR original $135 => $90 October 2011, 3 days, at YYZ original $135 => $125 => $95 (Thanksgiving weekend). All the rentals were onsite airport locations - very convenient! Now, is it possible I might save a few extra dollars if I went back to my old ways of checking rates constantly myself? Sure, it's possible but I have been very satisfied with the results so far and I can simply make the original booking and move on to other projects.
That's exactly our goal. We want everyone to get a great deal without having to go through the hassle of doing a lot of work. We're thrilled that we've been able to give you some time back for more productive things.
My one 'bugaboo' is at you still don't have a Reservation Lookup tab on the front page. I mean, once you know to go to 'Help' it's ok. I just think it's strange to make it difficult to find a booking made on your own site but there's a tab for finding reservations made elsewhere.
You make a fair point. We will look to integrate some sort of lookup link directly on the homepage in a future release. Thanks for the feedback.
