Rental car prices

I looked up rental car prices a few days before my trip on hotels.com. Many budget rental services offered cars for $25/day. When I checked the prices on the day of my trip, they jumped to $60. The only company that was in the previous price range was Payless that offered a sedan for $26 on orbitz.com. The rental company was off the airport premises, had it's office in the foyer of an Econolodge. When I arrived the Payless customer rep. wasn't there, and the Econolodge suggested I check the Payless website in the mean time to see if I could get a better deal. I thought it was funny the Econolodge guy was trying to get me a better deal, and he offered 20% off a room, also. I wasn't sticking around, so I didn't take him up on the offer. While the Payless website certainly looks professional, the Oakland dealer seemed more like amateur hour. The car I rented had about 50K miles on it, but I guess I can't complain about the price.