Priceline for the timid

I’m a control freak, which is why booking travel through Priceline gives me the heebie-jeebies. Sure, I love a bargain—who doesn’t? But when you bid on lodging through Priceline, you don’t know in advance what hotel you’ll end up with (although you can stipulate a minimum number of stars the hotel is rated). For flights, you can’t specify a departure time. You might be leaving at 6 a.m. or 10 p.m.

But for car rentals, you can’t go wrong. After all, a car is a car is a car (with apologies to Gertrude Stein).

Case in point: I recently needed a compact car for a visit to San Francisco. The lowest rate on Travelocity and Orbitz was $71 a day—ouch! So I scooted over to Priceline, bid $25 a day before taxes and fees, and scored a car from Hertz totaling $47 after the add-on charges. Not bad.

If you do use Priceline, heeds these tips:

1. Do an online search to gauge the going rate, then bid 40 to 45 percent under.

2. Keep in mind that if your bid is refused, you must wait 24 hours to rebid.

3. Finally, if you’re feeling emboldened and want to try bidding on hotel rooms, check out this column by my colleague Tod Marks, aka “Tightwad Tod.”

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