So long time readers know that I am a huge fan of Autoslash. If you haven’t heard of Autoslash, it’s a site where you can enter in your car rental reservation. Then periodically over the next few days / weeks, Autoslash will check your reservation and very often will reply back with a reduced rate.
(SEE ALSO: Using Autoslash to save a ton off your next rental car)
Last year, when we did our March Mayhem tool to determine the best travel tools out there, Autoslash came in at #2 – just behind #1 AwardWallet
Using Autoslash on my trip to Sacramento
I’ve had so much success with Autoslash that I don’t even really bother doing any type of searching for car rentals anymore. I just put my trip information into Autoslash and then just go with whatever they told me. For my upcoming trip to Sacramento, I had entered in my information into Autoslash.
[Family of 8 spends a week in California for under $600]
Autoslash originally quote me $244.95, and then a few days later dropped the price nearly $10 (ok!)
Of course, keep in mind that for all these totals, our family has to multiply it by 2 because we’re a “2 car rental family”
Revisiting my car rental
So fast forward a few weeks and the trip was coming up. I realized that I wanted to change the booking dates for our rental car and keep the car for one extra day. I went out to Kayak and found…
A price $30 less! I’m not sure why Autoslash didn’t pick that up – perhaps it was due to it being a “manager’s special”. In any case, I ended up booking that car through Hertz, and when I went to pay, the price had dropped further, down to $197 total. The “manager’s special ended up being a Toyota Yaris and then that was the only one they had of that so our second car was a Toyota Camry
[Why you’re foolish to book a “standard” car]
Readers – ever had an experience like that with Autoslash?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
The reason is that this is a special vehicle type (hence the Economy “Special”) where you get any vehicle on the lot from an Economy car to a Minivan to a Pickup Truck. Since it’s not a standard vehicle type, it’s tough to search it using our normal methods. It’s an enhancement we hope to add a some point in the future. Glad you got a great deal though!
Thanks for the feedback! I figured it was something like this
Yes, over the last month they seem to have partnered with Priceline where they just hawk affiliate link now to Priceline instead of whatever the lowest pricing is.
It was a good run, but looks like they sold out.
Ahem… Those Priceline links are embedded with discount and coupon codes that should yield the same discounted rates we offered before.
Because of the fantastic deals that we find for our customers, a number of car rental companies have recently refused to allow us to book reservations directly with them. We are disappointed by their very customer un-friendly stance.
For vendors that we can no longer book direct, you’ll see a link in our offer emails to book at the discounted rate through an alternate site. While we understand that this may not be as convenient for our customers as booking direct with AutoSlash, we nonetheless remain 100% committed to helping our customers book at the lowest rates available.
We are STILL ABLE TO FIND AND OFFER THE LOWEST RATES. Additionally, reservations booked on a site other than AutoSlash can be tracked for price drops and better deals by going to autoslash.com/track (autoslash.com/track) and entering your rental details, or clicking on the tab labeled ‘Track a rental you’ve booked elsewhere’ from our homepage.
Rest assured that AutoSlash is working hard to ensure we can continue to find our customers the best deals, and provide the most seamless booking experience possible. We appreciate your support!
I usually use the tracking system like you said and I’ve never had a problem with it until now, but once you explained it (the manager’s special thing), it made sense
I loved the Priceline service and saved several hundred dollars in the last couple of years using the service. Unfortunately I now seem to be routed to Priceline for all “offers”. Not sure why I would go through AutoSlash instead of simply going to Priceline directly. Will return immediately if/when AutoSlash returns to the old model of direct quotes.
I meant “loved the AutoSlash service” …
We’re not just directing you to Priceline. Those Priceline booking links are embedded with discount codes that yield the same rates as if you would have booked direct with us. They are NOT the normal Priceline rates nor are they Express Deals or bid type deals that require prepayment. Simply put, the rates we offer through Priceline are far lower than if you just searched Priceline on your own. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Try it yourself on a test reservation and compare the rates side-by-side and you will see.
Thanks for weighing in – when I saw the original comment I was hoping that you would!
Anyone know if I book car rental via Chase ultimate Rewards if I would be able to use elite benefits (actually National)?
B appears to be correct. Recent AutoSlash prices have just linked to Priceline. To my mind, the site is dead.
I have had many positive experiences with Autoslash and I do always check elsewhere to verify it is the cheapest and I do sometimes find cheaper but it is for a “mystery car” and you have to Pay Now and it usually is Priceline which I dislike. I want to know what I am getting and have the opportunity to change my mind up until the reservation and will pay a few dollars more for that flexibility.
Just a note that the deals we offer with Priceline, in addition to being discounted, are also all “Pay Later” / “Pay at the Counter”.
You really need to utilize autoslash and kayak. Also researching discount codes you may me eligible for. I feel when I have already a cheap reservation that autoslash is tracking it does usually come up with a cheaper rental at some point. I wouldn’t say autoslash is dead to me. But Dan made a good call and was proactive about checking around himself. Glad you still were able to save money dan!
My experience is that AutoSlash eventually stops checking for new discounts. I always make a new AutoSlash reservation at the 1-week mark to get a fresh price.
I have found that in 2017 autoslash did not automatically rebook at the lower prices. I had to find my own lower prices, then cancel the autoslash rate. No reservation I made in 2017 thru autoslash ever came back a 2nd time automatically at a lower price. My experience is showing autoslash no longer works to automatically book the lower price.
That is correct Anton. Because of the fantastic deals that we find for our customers, the major rental companies have pressured us to change our business model. We are disappointed by their very customer unfriendly stance.
We are no longer able to book customers direct, so we’re referring them to partners to book at discounted rates. The side-effect of this is that it’s no longer possible to automatically re-book since we don’t have control over the reservation.
You’ll now receive an email from us to book at the discounted rate through Priceline (our primary provider at the moment) at our typical discounted rates (NOT Priceline’s standard rates). The deals we offer through Priceline DO NOT require bidding or any sort of prepayment. You’ll pay at the rental counter.
Reservations booked on a site other than AutoSlash (like Priceline) can be tracked for further price drops and better deals by going to autoslash.com/track and entering your rental details or clicking on the tab labeled ‘Track a rental you’ve booked elsewhere’ from our homepage.
In short, we will continue to get you the exact same low discounted rates as before, it’s just that booking will happen on a different site, and you’ll track your rental with us so we can notify you of lower rates/better deals. Slightly more work than before, but the good news is that the deals will be as good or better than they were before.
I hope this helps. Feel free to contact us at supportautoslashcom if you have any additional questions or need further assistance.
We look forward to saving you money on future rentals!
I just had my first great experience with autoslash. Got a standard car for $108 after taxes for five days for our upcoming trip to Banff. Way easier than checking lots of OTAs and discount codes myself.
I did also look for a one-way rental with Hertz for another trip, and found that I could get a better deal booking direct if I opted for “pay now”. Which I’m sometimes willing to do.
I recently discovered Autoslash through reddit discussion. Incredible website. I have compared their bookings to many, many other deal sites and if you are looking for a fully REFUNDABLE booking and know which type of vehicle you’re after (not some “mystery booking”), then it’s hard to beat.
I realize that this is a 2 year old article, but I just wanted to come here to comment and thank the developers of the website for offering such a service.
Thanks for the kind words Basim! We work hard to get our customers the best deals possible so it’s nice to hear that folks are getting good value out of it.