(NUI) - Just in time for this year's heavy travel season, Budget Rent a Car is introducing the car-rental industry's first online car-rental bidding system -- a program that can make your vacation a lot more affordable.

Besides savings and value, BidBudget offers consumers convenience. Placing a bid with BidBudget is as easy as a click of the mouse on the program's dedicated icon. Customers simply fill out a short form, indicating the location and dates they will pick up and return the car, the type of vehicle they want, and the price they want to pay.

Within a day, BidBudget e-mails the customer whether their bid was accepted. The bottom line: BidBudget customers can take control of their travel planning, and book the vehicles they want from Budget's world-class fleet at rates that match their pocketbooks.

BidBudget is a response to increasing customer demand for this type of service. An Internet study by Opinion Research Corporation International showed 44 percent of the people polled said they would like to be able to name their own price for rental cars.

In general, online travel is booming. According to Forrester Online Travel Report, online travel is the number-one and fastest-growing e-commerce category. One-third of people who have not made an online purchase say they plan to buy travel, Forrester said.

"The new service is another example of how Budget Rent a Car provides customers with a great product at a good value through a medium that is increasingly popular with travelers," Budget Group Chairman Sandy Miller said.

"According to the Travel Industry Association of America, travel planning on the Internet has increased 1,000 percent in the last two years," Miller said. "As a known innovator in the industry, it seems only natural for Budget to be the first car rental company to offer an online bidding program to meet the changing needs of consumers who embrace Internet technology."

BidBudget, which went online June 2, is available at www.drivebudget.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week.