Budget Rent a Car Corp. announced the first online car rental bidding system, BidBudget. Consumers can still rent vehicles using the company's website, but now they can place a bid for a desired type of vehicle and request a specific price.

According to Susan Welty, director of public relations for Budget Rent a Car Corp., Budget's revenue management team is responsible for setting the floors for bids at all Budget locations. BidBudget also uses a yield management system to help in the evaluation process of fleet availability as well as rental rates. This system works in tandem with Budget's reservation system and both are tied into the Internet.

A response from Budget regarding whether or not a bid is accepted is emailed to the consumer within 24 hours.

BidBudget was designed to attract more customers, especially Internet savvy leisure travelers. It was also created to increase rentals, utilization and drive more business to the company's website. Welty says, "BidBudget is good because it gives consumers more control."

Welty also explains that the project is highly leisure travel oriented. She says, "BidBudget is geared for the consumer who has the time to use this and book a reservation well in advance."