Car Rental rates have gone down A LOT

[mystang52]

DW and I going to Fort Lauderdale at end of the month, for one week. Booked the flight and hotel about 2 months ago. I reserved a car (fully able to cancel) at the same time, and the rate was something like $650. I just made new reservation, for higher class car, for $315. I should add this was with a legit company, Dollar.

 

[Montecfo]

Yes, things beginning to catch back up. I'm seeing the same.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Yes, things beginning to catch back up. I'm seeing the same.

I think it's more related to the reduction of travel yet again. Flights are much cheaper, too.

 

[Bamaman]

When we were in Vegas and visiting 3 national parks in June, we realized that much of the Florida rental car fleet have been moved to the Far West. The snowbirds didn't show up in Florida in 2021, but the rental cars did. SUV rentals were running $700+ a week in Vegas.

New car lots are essentially empty of new vehicles right now. Covid shut down components factories and there's a shortage of electronic components. Therefore, rental cars are not being replaced, and the fleet is aging--with more miles on them.

I'm still piggybacking on a Hertz Gold Card from my ex-MegaCorp and get a big discount on rentals. I was paying $425 for a GMC SUV, and felt glad to get it.

Hertz is having a terrible time in Vegas getting anyone to work their rental desks. And big hotel rental agents are only part time--Thur., Friday, Sat. and Sunday. Hertz is also in a reorganization bankruptcy with maybe 4 different rental brands they own. I'm very surprised that rental car rates are dropping.

 

[Sunset]

This was one case, perhaps lucky for OP on the timing and location.

But I'm glad OP brought it up, as it reminds me if we are going to do a long drive trip, first check if a rental car + airfare makes more sense than driving 1,500 miles each way.

 

[dp226]

Something I noticed when I rented an AVIS car (Nissan Pathfinder with Florida tag) last week in PIT. It had 41,000 miles on it. Now I have not traveled much in the last 4 years but this was the first time I had a vehicle with that many miles from wither Hertz or Avis.

Price that I paid was in line with what I paid several years ago but corporate contract rate I used was for 5 years per my recollection.

 

[Sunset]

This was one case, perhaps lucky for OP on the timing and location.

But I'm glad OP brought it up, as it reminds me if we are going to do a long drive trip, first check if a rental car + airfare makes more sense than driving 1,500 miles each way.

I went a checked last night for a place in the middle of nowhere , and it was $269 for a mid-size car for a week. So maybe rates have come down, or nobody wants to go where I do

 

[CaptTom]

My understanding was that the rental companies sold off a lot of their fleet during the initial COVID lockdowns. I wonder if the lack of new vehicles is now affecting their plans to re-stock inventory. Auto manufacturers have largely switched to high-end SUVs and trucks for the few chips they're able to source. Rental fleets usually seem to have a lot of small and mid-sized vehicles.

 

[Midpack]

True. I’m driving a rental car right now that cost us $56/day. I had booked the same car, same dates, both from Budget in late July and it was $133/day! Fortunately I checked again in mid August, cancelled the first reservation (with no penalty) and made a new reservation at the lower rate. The delta resurgence of Covid resulted in lots of cancellations and supply and demand quickly brought prices back to semi normal.