Have to say a few GOOD words about Hotwire

jumperabv3

I made this earlier post about a car rental booking I made with Hotwire:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5053837

Basically I paid $205 for 6 days of car rental in NY with Hotwire - it was a "Hot Rate" promotion, meaning it's non-refundable and you cannot make any changes - I was okay with that.

However a week ago my wife noticed that HappyToursUSA.com provide you with car rental from the same company (Hertz) and that comes with both CDW and LIS insurance (even with additional driver!) - for $243 !!

I read online some advice about possible options of what to do ... I decided NOT TO CALL Hotwire because talking to their agents over the phone is useless. Instead I sent an email to their manager, Amy Monfils (almonfils@hotwire.com), and initially she told me that if I find within 48 hours a cheaper price then such booking can be cancelled but it has been more than 48 hours ... but after explaining to her that I feel upset about having this "HOT RATE" price ... it's not so hot when you realize a competitor is offering you the same plus the piece of mind of insurance from Hertz itself for extra $40 bucks. I also mentioned after speaking to Hertz UK about it they told me they are okay to cancel this reservation.

She refunded the $205 back to my card, I already received it ... Hertz UK were also very helpful ... I have to say Hertz USA is different - you call them, they tell you to talk to Hotwire, they are helpless ... but if you call Hertz UK they are very helpful there, they cancelled the reservation after I got a refund, and they added the new "Hertz Gold" number that I registered for - into my new booking for only $243.

So overall I managed to cancel a non-refundable reservation, and that is thanks to Hotwire's understanding ...

During all this time I have to mention I had no problems with the "non-refundable, non-changeable" part of the deal ... my only complaint was about the price itself, having to pay extra $9/day for CDW and extra $12.95/day for LIS at the Hertz desk ... now I don't need to worry about any of those ... it's all included for $243 which is a great price!

:D

jumperabv3

By the way don't ask me how, but my wife always manages to find cheaper prices than what I manage to find. We even wanted to redeem miles for hotel stay with American Airlines, we sat by side, same IP address, just 2 different computers, I got the SAME HOTEL for 6600 miles, and her screen had it for 4000 lololol !!! By the way I'm not bluffing... this is REAL ...

Without my wife I would have probably paid over $120 for insurance at the Hertz desk, wasting over $80 that I could save ... don't ask me how, but my wife somehow manages to find the best deals out there, I told her she has British mentality of saving, saving and saving ... I'm not like that. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: