How to use Codex to find seven-seat rental car deals
The author reports finding an Avis reseller discount and describes $1,000 in savings for both cars. The quoted $600 versus $1,100 pricing is ambiguous about the booking total.
news.ycombinator.com
Prompt to try
Editorial adaptation, not the source author’s exact prompt. Replace bracketed inputs and review tool permissions first.
Find rental options for [two vehicles] each seating [seven people] in [destination] on [dates]. Compare [memberships and booking channels], queue CAPTCHAs for me, and use a sub-agent to research deal approaches. Present verified terms and prices before any booking.
Reach people exploring AI agents
See placements →What happened
The author reports finding an Avis reseller discount and describes $1,000 in savings for both cars. The quoted $600 versus $1,100 pricing is ambiguous about the booking total.
Reported by Xcelerate on Hacker NewsHow the agent did it
- Prompted Codex to search for two seven-seat rental cars for Maine.
- Configured Codex to queue CAPTCHAs for the traveler to solve.
- Assigned a sub-agent to research rental-deal approaches on Reddit.
Where a person stepped in
The traveler wrote the prompt and reserved CAPTCHA solving for themselves; the post does not describe a booking or final offer review.
A person approved each step before the agent continued.
A traveler needed two rental cars for a trip to Maine, each capable of carrying seven people. They had access to several memberships and travel services, including Avis, Hertz, Costco and Chase Reserve Travel, and described the combinations of searches as too time-consuming to investigate manually.
The traveler used Codex with direct browser access to search for options. They instructed it to queue CAPTCHAs for them to solve, keeping those interruptions with the human. They also set up a sub-agent to search Reddit for other people's approaches to finding rental-car deals.
According to the post, the search found a third-party Avis reseller offering a discount code. The author gives a $600 price versus $1,100 for the cheapest direct Avis option and describes the total saving for both cars as $1,000. The wording around the quoted price and both cars is ambiguous, so the excerpt does not establish a precise booking total. The author says writing a decent prompt took 20 minutes; no completed booking is described. Who it's for: travelers comparing complex rental options across memberships and discount sources.
Prompt
Suggested prompt (written by Agents In Use, not the author's)
Source: Hacker News · Xcelerate
Frequently asked questions
What did the traveler handle personally?
The traveler had Codex queue CAPTCHAs for them to solve and spent about 20 minutes writing the prompt.
Did the post confirm a completed booking?
No. It reports finding a reseller discount and a claimed saving, but does not describe completing a booking.
More details
Remaining steps
- Found a third-party Avis reseller offering a discount code.
About this account
Codex searched with direct browser access while a sub-agent researched rental-deal approaches on Reddit.
Platform: Hacker News. Attribution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49899460. Prompt: Suggested (written by Agents In Use, not the author's). Sourced by the Agents In Use pipeline.
Credit: Xcelerate on Hacker News
Source published 29 Sept 2026
Source checked 14 Oct 2026
Tools and topics
Codex · Direct browser access · Reddit sub-agent
Car rental · Deal search
Editorial completeness: 100/100. Measures documented fields, not agent performance or verified outcomes.