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Whoever had bad things to say about Thrifty, I have to disagree, they are the best so far for us, no crap,, we did sign up for the "blue chip" program, but they don't fool around, and we have had nothing but good experiences, and can compare as in Dec. we tried Enterprise, OMG,,, forget them, when you arrive back to return your car(at Thrifty) they are all about running up to you and getting paperwork and scanning the little bar in the windshield and send you on your way, at Enterprise, the man was busy about 3-4 cars ahead of us, and we were anxious cause we (wrongfully) waited too long to get to airport and were in a hurry, but he was up there just shooting the "chit" while I stood there all impatient like, looking at my watch etc., and we needed to get onto the airport. Anyway, Thrifty is our choice!!

I wonder if the Hotwire thing is US vs Canada?

From the US Hotwire come up with a price bur not the rental company until you book. There is also the following disclaimer:

You're guaranteed a car from a major car-rental agency: Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Europcar (International only), Hertz, or National. You save big: because you agree to learn the car-rental company after you book. Once you make your booking, we immediately complete your reservation and show you the rental agency details.

Bringing you rock-bottom priced rental cars means bookings are final (no refunds, no changes, non-transferable).

No I don't think there's a difference between US and Canada, Steveng. I am in Canada and the Hotwire site I bring up has exactly the same wording you are quoting.

Anytime I have used them, my credit card has been charged immediately upon making the purchase, and the booking is non-refundable.

Not really sure why DavidBrent has had a different experience with Hotwire, that's intersting, however I am pretty sure the rest of us are not .... "literally retarded" ....

My, my ....

Hotwire has 2 types of prices.

1) Hotwire Special Rate - You see the price, but you don't know which car rental company. It's usually very cheap...around $10-$12 a day. You can't cancel this one. These show up in RED.

2) Regular pricing which you can get directly from the Car Rental place or other Online agencies. I think these show up when the regular prices are lower than the Hotwire Special rate. These usually show up in Gray. I'm guessing these you can cancel.

Whre I find you can sometimes ( not always) "bargain" is that we always chosose the smallest car we are willing to live with ( unless they have a posted special on some larger model. )

Then . on arrival, we are sometimes asked if we want to "upgrade " to a larger size for an additional fee. I always decline the first offer - but more than once , the agent has come down considerably on the upgrade price- or twice admitted that it was the only size they had left and they have to upgrade me for free anyway- but tried to sell it to me first. Only works if you are entirely willing to accept what you reserved and willing to say no to an upgrade unless it is just a dollar or two more- or free- as it sometimes ends up being if all the cars in your category are gone. In gas guzzling days , the big cars were always left on the lot and you could get them free or very cheap- but I'm not sure if that is still true- someone enlighten me! We haven't rented lately.

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