I’ve been using AutoSlash for longer than I can remember. There was a time, shortly after the pandemic, when rental car pricing went absolutely crazy. During that stretch, my corporate rate often beat anything AutoSlash could find. But now that prices have (mostly) stabilized, I’ve found we’re back to the days when, more often than not, AutoSlash beats the competition.
Things aren’t exactly the same as they used to be, though. Back in the day, AutoSlash mainly checked all the available discounts to find you the lowest price. It sure beat having to key in code after code to compare rates.
These days, AutoSlash sometimes acts as the booking agent—meaning you’ll pay them directly for certain rentals. I’ve booked through them and had no problems at the rental counter, but personally, I prefer to pay when I pick up the car, not in advance.
AutoSlash also offers rates by directing your booking through Priceline. And let’s not forget one of AutoSlash’s best features: monitoring your rental and alerting you if they find a lower price, right up until the last minute.
The In-Flight Rate Drop
It’s been a while since I’ve had a last-minute price drop alert, but it just happened again—and this time, the timing was wild. We were on the plane to our destination when AutoSlash found a rate that was 25% lower than our original booking.
This was our first rental where we actively avoided Hertz and its affiliated brands because we knew they had rolled out new AI damage inspectors at the airport.
That meant renting a more expensive car from Alamo. But while we were in the air, we received an email from AutoSlash:
I checked the pricing and saw the lower rate was with Avis—an acceptable alternative. We already have an Avis account set up (here’s why you should have an account with every rental car program), so it was easy to switch.
Just to be safe, we didn’t cancel our Alamo reservation until we were at the airport rental car center. Most rental car companies only require you to cancel before the official rental start time.
Another Last-Minute Save
Back in May 2022, we needed a quick, 2-day rental in San Francisco. An initial AutoSlash search yielded a rate of $185 with Budget, which felt like a win. We booked it and thought we were set.
Then—just 8 hours before pickup—AutoSlash emailed us again. Prices had dropped even further: Thrifty and Dollar were offering the same rental for only $115. Without hesitation, I booked through Priceline, saved $70, and canceled the Budget reservation (no penalty since we hadn’t prepaid or left a card on file).
You can read the full story here: AutoSlash Looks For Cheaper Rental Car Prices Right Until The Last Minute.
When Savings Are Smaller, But Convenience Wins
In August 2024, I experimented with my usual three-step process: check Kayak, submit to AutoSlash, and compare with my corporate rate. This time, the cheapest initial quote came from AutoSlash—around $233 via Priceline with Thrifty—which was a fair price but not spectacularly low.
I then cross-checked everywhere: Thrifty’s own site quoted $248, BJ’s Travel came in at about $222, and AAA (using their discount code) offered $216. That means my most thorough search only saved about $17 compared to what AutoSlash had already found—and after spending over an hour hunting those rates.
Read the full details here: Does AutoSlash Still Give the Lowest Price? Here’s What I Discovered.
Even when AutoSlash isn’t the absolute rock-bottom, it often gets you very close—with a fraction of the time and effort. If you’re looking to save time, AutoSlash is still one of the best options out there.
Final Thought
Even though AutoSlash has changed a bit since the early days, it’s still one of my go-to tools for rental cars. Between their initial price searches and the ongoing monitoring for better deals, it’s saved me hundreds over the years—sometimes even in the middle of a flight.
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3 comments
we dont use it for 1 simple reason , No CC CDW coverage, they use their CC for the res = we arent covered by our CC. A couple of months ago a rock cracked the rentals windshield, $700+ damage our own auto didnt cover it but our CCs CDW sure did, had we used Slash wed be out $700+ from our own pockets
@Isaac That is 100% incorrect. Where did you get that impression? For the vast majority of rentals booked through AutoSlash, you don’t even need to enter a credit card. You just pay at the counter with your card as usual. You can even enter your loyalty number, like Hertz Gold, Avis Preferred, National Emerald Club, etc., to skip the counter, earn points, get upgrades, etc.
For the rentals where you pay directly to AutoSlash, you are charged on your credit card at the time of booking as “AUTOSLASH” (that’s what appears on your card statement). As long as you use the same credit card at pickup for the deposit, you are fully covered. It works the exact same way with prepaid car rentals, and even when booking with a bank portal like Chase and using points for the booking–you just need to present the same card at the counter to be fully covered. At no point is an “AutoSlash credit card” ever passed to the rental company.
Meant to say, “It works the exact same way with *other* prepaid car rentals…” above.