Huh. I just booked a hire car for while we’re in Australia, and I found this comparison shopping site called Oodles.com.au. And lo and behold they found me a car on Budget that was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than anything I could find on budget.com.au. But I’ve never heard of oodles.com.au, and when I googled them, I couldn’t really find anyone else saying anything about them, and while the site looked thorough and well-designed and had lots of information and a link to Verisign confirming it really was secure, I suddenly got worried – cos you know, how does one know placing an order there will really result in a booking being made with Budget?
Well, I obviously haven’t got the car yet. But at least I got a confirmation email from oodles with a link to budget.com.au where I can change or edit my booking. And yes, the link works, and really goes to my real booking at budget.com.au. So I guess Oodles.com.au is cool.
Great name, anyway. And the deal was far cheaper than the alternatives. And now an actual customer has linked to them so future customers who wonder and google can find out what this customer, at least, thinks of them. I’ll update this when I’ve actually got the car…
Lesley
Hope you don’t have the same experience as me. I hired a car with Alamo via Whizz (sounds a bit like Oodle) but when I arrived at the Alamo desk at the airport they said, oh, look Whizz have made a mistake, they’ve rented you a Fiesta as a category C car when in fact it’s a category B car so that will be £40 more.
Elin
Perhaps you could call Budget to confirm your reservation in advance?
Jill
Yeah, I will – and of course the official Budget website does show my reservation, so I should be right – unless tehre’s a rpice thing, like Lesley experienced. I’ll let you know how I do (but probably not until after I’m home…)
Jill
It worked perfectly, and I got the advertised rate. So from my experience, yes, I’d recommend Oodles! Their rate was much lower than the one on the official Budget website.
Anne
I recently hired a car through Avis via Oodles. Avis didn’t have a car in my category, but upgraded me at no extra cost. Perhaps it’s the individual car hire firm that has the discretion, not the booking site.