Car Rental Prices with booking.com for Canada

iwaddo77

Hi, I booked a car through Booking.com with National Car Rental in Canada.

I found out when in Canada that I had been charged almost double for the same rental had I just turned up at the counter. Even the agent at the desk was surprised how much I had paid.

I might expect to pay a little more for the ease of booking a potential support of booking.com should I need it but not nearly double.

Is this just my own stupid fault, should I have done more due diligence or should I be able to trust booking.com have my best interests at heart.

I have raised a query, it is not getting me very far yet, they are just blaming their partner.

Thank you for your thoughts.

heatherw_01

This is the downside with booking via third parties.
They can charge more.

Not much you can do as you booked and paid the price stated.

iwaddo77

Quite, I shall not be making the same mistake again.

It's quite interesting because it seems I cannot find any availability now going direct so I'm wondering if there is some skulduggery going on. I'm. going to try a VPN to see if the results are different!!

Westin

Are you sure everything was like-for-like?

Car rentals for ‘locals’ in the USA (and possibly Canada) can exclude certain insurance as the domestic renter can use their own car insurance.

The car rental rates will be set by the car rental firm (or broker) with booking.com just taking a commission. 

eskbanker

iwaddo77 said:

Is this just my own stupid fault, should I have done more due diligence or should I be able to trust booking.com have my best interests at heart.

Answering 'yes' to both of the first may seem harsh, but it's an emphatic 'no' to the third - never engage with a large commercial organisation on the basis that they'll prioritise your needs over theirs!

iwaddo77

Yes, I've double-checked and had quite a helpful conversation with the local booking agent.  I was told that in Canada a local has a CAD$500 excess which they cannot insure with the rental company. My UK driving licence means I automatically had a CAD$1500 excess which I insured with Zurich through booking.com. This extra insurance is not included in my comparison. I was told the rate for the car is CAD$45 whereas I'd paid $135 CAD. Trying to workout how they justify such a huge mark-up other than ripping off the tourists.

iwaddo77

eskbanker said:

iwaddo77 said:

Is this just my own stupid fault, should I have done more due diligence or should I be able to trust booking.com have my best interests at heart.

Answering 'yes' to both of the first may seem harsh, but it's an emphatic 'no' to the third - never engage with a large commercial organisation on the basis that they'll prioritise your needs over theirs!

Yep, learnt the hard way. The rate for the hotel was very competitive.