Car Rental Prices

[Patrick425]

Can anyone explain what is happening with Car rental prices? Every year around this time, we plan our trip to spring training. Normally, I can get a full size car rental from one of the major carriers (Alamo, National, etc) for about $250 or sometimes less (I usually use an Entertainment book coupon that saves me $25 to $30). Yesterday, I went on to check prices at just about every carrier and could find nothing less than $415. Finally I found a smaller car rental place (Fox - limited locations, mostly in the West) for about $300. What is going on? All the other prices are down (Air fare, hotel, etc). Why are car rentals so much more expensive now?

[chadomac]

I could use some advise on this topic, too. Do you always have to pay mileage when renting a vehicle? My band is palying in Minneapolis and I was thinking about renting a minivan... but paying mileage for Milwaukee to Minneapolis would be expensive.

[ewizabeff]

Patrick, I noticed the same thing when looking for car rentals in Phoenix. I don't have an explanation - I was holding off in hopes that prices would drop.

 

On another note, I used Fox one of the years I went to Spring Training, and they were great.

[Patrick425]

ewizabeff wrote:

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Patrick, I noticed the same thing when looking for car rentals in Phoenix. I don't have an explanation - I was holding off in hopes that prices would drop.

 

On another note, I used Fox one of the years I went to Spring Training, and they were great.

ewizabeff, Most car rental sites (including Fox) let you book without securing with a credit card. In fact, I would never rent a car from a site that requires a credit card up front - unless there is some really great bargain they are offering. So, it doesn't hurt to book now and then keep checking (which is what I plan to do). If you find a lower price, you can cancel your original booking with no penalty. In fact, sometimes if you check the night or two before, you can get some really great rates if they are having trouble renting cars at that time (usually not the case during March in Phoenix however.)

 

Another "trick" I heard is that sometimes the car rental sites outside of the airport provide cars at much lower rates and it might be worth it to take a taxi to the rental car place. The only issue with this, other than inconvenience, is most "off site" locations are not open on weekends and close at 5pm on weekdays. Also, Enterprise will not pick up at an airport if they already have an airport location.

[Godspeed]

Here you go: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/travel/28prac.html?_r=1

[pretendastronaut]

The Soaring Cost of Car Rentals

[pretendastronaut]

Haha, wow, what are the odds on that? Posting the same link, in the same minute.

[hawing]

Haha, wow, what are the odds on that? Posting the same link, in the same minute.

Such is the power of Brewerfan synergy.

[LouisEly]

Not only are rental cars cheaper off-site ("neighborhood" locations not at airport), the airport locations charge a lot more fees. I've seen almost $20/day more in fees at some airport locations. The other thing is type of vehicle; SUVs and convertibles are cheaper during the week, and midsize cars are cheaper on weekends. There is more of a demand for midsize cars from business travelers who usually return them by late Thursday afternoon. Weekends technically start around 5PM for rental cars, so try a pickup after 5PM on Thursday or on a Friday.

 

If you don't care who the vendor is, try Priceline.

 

Edit - just checked Expedia and with pickup the morning of Friday 3/12 and return Tuesday 3/16, Enterprise, Thrifty, and Dollar had midsize cars for $47/day from PHX. Some company called Advantage has midsize for $35/day. I'd check offsite though, as the facility fees and other airport fees can add $15/day with airport pickup.

 

Edit 2 - just checked Avis and an off-site location (3233 E. Chandler Blvd), and a four day midsize rental from 3/5 to 3/9 was $166 including taxes and fees, or about $40/day.

[Patrick425]

LouisEly wrote:

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Edit - just checked Expedia and with pickup the morning of Friday 3/12 and return Tuesday 3/16, Enterprise, Thrifty, and Dollar had midsize cars for $47/day from PHX. Some company called Advantage has midsize for $35/day. I'd check offsite though, as the facility fees and other airport fees can add $15/day with airport pickup.

 

Edit 2 - just checked Avis and an off-site location (3233 E. Chandler Blvd), and a four day midsize rental from 3/5 to 3/9 was $166 including taxes and fees, or about $40/day.

Yes, but how do you get to the "off site"? Maybe you are saving $10 a day ($50 for 5 days), but if it's a $20+ one way cab ride (with tip) - which would be $40 (including the return trip), then that really cuts in to your savings, not to mention that it's not as convenient. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, the off site locations are not always going to be open when you want them to be.

 

Also, I have noticed a lot that many times there is no difference beween the cost of a mid-size car and a full-size car, or the cost difference is very minimal ($5 - $10 for a week).

 

That NY times artical makes the car rental companies sound like OPEC.

[John Brew]

I've had good luck with Thrifty's Wild Car. They assign you a car when you arrive, so you don't know what specific type of vehicle you'll be getting, but it's mid size or higher, and it's significantly cheaper. I used it a few times this summer and the worst car I got (IMO) was a PT Cruiser.

 

chadomac, a lot of places have unlimited miles or a set number of miles included. Some will have odd restrictions about taking it out of state (although how would they really know?). Just be sure to ask and read the fine print.

[FVBrewerFan]

I travel fairly often for business, and just about every trip I've had this year the rental car has cost as much or more than the airfare! But if you think rental cars are expensive, try returning it to a different location than the one where you picked it up!!!

[RightFieldCoder]

I've worked in rental cars for 12 years. I haven't read the links posted yet, but here is what I know from the inside.

 

1) The first thing the auto makers did to cut losses was to slash discounts car rental companies get when we buy cars. Increased price of our cars means we have to pass the price on.

 

2) We are different than a hotel or airline. Hotels have X amount of rooms to rent every day of the year for years on end. Airlines can't buy and sell planes quickly. In the car rental business, we only keep a car for 6 months on average, meaning we can change our fleet size significantly within a year. Every company knew travel would be down, so every company started lowered it's fleet size. When supply reduces faster than expected demand drop, it produces higher prices. Besides, car rental prices have not kept up with inflation over time. In the 70's and early 80's the cost of a compact car was the same as staying at the local hotel. I know people that set prices back then, that is actually how they set them. Somebody sees a hotel price of 70/night now and they can't believe the deal. 40/day for a car and they want to know how they can lower the rate. This explains the high cost of one-way rentals (dropping it off in a different city). It makes it really hard to plan fleet sizes for reservations if people are taking the cars all over.

 

3) Be careful of the Wild Card, Lock Low and Go, or other we pick them cars. We will give you whatever crap vehicle we have too much of that day. This can include big SUVs or Minivans. If you don't want to drive one of those, pay the extra $2/day or so and reserve the midsize.

 

4) Don't prepay for anything before you arrive at the location. The biggest problems are when people prepay for the vehicle with Priceline or Expedia. It will work most of the time, but if there is a problem you can't threaten to walk to the next counter. It also makes it hard to get your money back. If you haven't prepaid and you don't like what you're getting from company X, go to company Y and try there. Also, don't prepay for insurance. You are buying it from the website, not the rental car company. If something happens to the car, we still go after you. It is your responsibility to pay us and get reimbursed from the website.

 

5) Read the fine print or call and ask questions before hand. Know how much you need on your card. Know the policy of renting with a debit card. Too many people make reservations on Expedia and yell at us that they didn't know our rules. This can and has prevented people from renting a car because they did not meet our requirements.

 

6) I won't say here whether you need insurance. Every situation is different. But do the grunt workers a favor. If you know you will not be taking insurance, won't pay for an additional driver or pay for an upgrade, sign up for the frequent renter's program. We get punished financially (lower commission) and might lose our jobs if we don't sell a high enough percentage of these products. But frequent renter program rentals do not count against our average. For the company I work, all that is needed to sign up is for you to go to the website and give us the info on your license and credit card.

[Brewtacular]

i've had good success with

http://www.rentalcarmomma.com/

[LouisEly]

Yes, but how do you get to the "off site"?

 

It's not uncommon for some hotels to have rental car centers in them or next to them, and if the hotel has an airport shuttle you can get there easily and cheaply. Also there might be a bus that takes you near the location. The fare may only be $10-15 per day less, but my experience has been that airport locations often charge an additional $10-15 in fees per day (SFO it's closer to $20), so the real difference may be $25/day, or $150 for a week.

[RightFieldCoder]

Or just take a taxi. Prices off airport (like in downtown) are not based on airport prices, but the amount of local demand. Taking a taxi to a different part of the city can save way more than the price of the taxi. Plus the airport taxes. In Milwaukee, there is a 11% tax by the county on all business at the airport, plus a $1 fee the county charges you for using the airport facility.

[LouisEly]

So here is why you rent from a non-airport location:

 

Rented a car from Enterprise at the Tucson airport - got a full-size car (Honda Accord) for 3 days at $21.59/day - $64.77. Pretty good deal, huh?

 

Well... add to that:

 

Consolidated facilities charge - $4.50

Cactus League charge - $3.50 (it's January - spring training hasn't even started yet!)

Tucson airport access fee - 11.10% - $7.19

Vehicle license tax - 5.00% - $3.82

Transaction privilege tax - 6.10% - $4.67 (what, it's a privilege to do business with them???)

 

Total fees and taxes above the rental rate - $23.68, or roughly an additional 35% in fees. Now, the total of $88.45 isn't that bad for three days, but if the rental was $49/day for five days for spring training... that's a lot in fees.