void wrote:
Later this month I'm going to need a car for 6 days to drive around the
SF bay area. The big name companies (e.g. Hertz, Budget, Dollar) are
charging between $300-$350 total for a small car for 6 days. I found a
car rental comparison site and they said a company called Pacific Car
Rental charges around $200. This seems dubious as the web site for
Pacific Car Rental only lets you pick 2004 and 2005 for rate checking.

So should I just go with one of the big names or is there a cheaper option?

That company sounds like a third-tier company, which should be avoided.

Use sidestep, and several of the second tier companies (Payless,
Dollar,, Thrifty) have lower rates. Sidestep is a good search engine as
it returns total cost, with taxes and airport fees added on, for all the
different companies.

I guess I'd still go with someone like Budget, for $208 or so, as I've
had bad experiences with Dollar and Thrifty.