# Car rental price gouging in Tampa and Orlando



## rickandcindy23 (Sep 7, 2009)

So much for the cheap car rentals in Florida.  I have been checking our October travel dates for months, and the best deal I can get for a two-week rental, full size car is over $600.  I tried Costco.com codes at Alamo, and every code I could find, and no good deals out there.  

I am looking at Rent a Wreck, or any other alternative rental car companies that can get us a cheaper rental.  It would have been MUCH cheaper to just drive our own car.  We would have saved on airfare, as well as the car rental.  I am just disgusted.


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## dmbrand (Sep 7, 2009)

I have noticed the price increases as well.  As I searched the web, this article(which is from June, 2009) may explain a little..

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

It makes some sense, anyway, especially the supply/demand reasoning.


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## bnoble (Sep 7, 2009)

It's been like this in several markets, not just Florida, for all of '09 and a bit before.

Mary Waring, at MouseSavers, usually has a line on some of the better deals for Central FL:

http://www.mousesavers.com/rentalcar.html


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## pcgirl54 (Sep 7, 2009)

Rick and Cindy

If you can rent off site from the airport location it's cheaper. Not everyone can do that though if not using a hotel shutle. I have noticed the big jump to rent in Orlando earlier this year. I have never seen it this high. Close to $400 from the airport with discount codes for a week midsize car.

We are staying at VWL in Disney and renting nearby because it's cheaper. Using National and coupon codes from Entertainment book this time is  cheaper than II, RCI, Marriott and AAA codes.

In May I rented a car in Savannah mid size for under $120 with fees using codes direct from AAA website. This has changed so much since I booked that rental last February.


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## urple2 (Sep 7, 2009)

I searched high and low for a decent price at Reno airport for this month...
Compact cars were running 700-800 for a week...(on every site).Finally got lucky and stumbled on an intermedite for 234 total direct thru Budget. I would have never thought the rental cars would be the deal breaker.


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 7, 2009)

Too bad we are flying into Tampa this time.  We are staying at VWL and AKL for two weeks starting 10/23, and we must have a larger car because there are five us going.  We would have used Magical Express, had we known cars would be so expensive.  

I put in tomorrow's dates (9/8-9/22) to compare for rental prices and came back with rates more in line with what we are used to paying, under $300 for the two weeks with taxes on a full-size car.  I wonder if I should reserve the best deal as I find them, and then try again the day before our trip, in case I can get a price in line with what I am willing to pay.  

Alamo comes in at $753 with the discount codes.


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## urple2 (Sep 7, 2009)

I'd book the best deal you can and check back often. Even that last day technique isnt a sure thing anymore.


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 7, 2009)

I already rented our car for Maui in April, and the price was so much better than Tampa.  Amazing!  I am paying around $378 with fees for 2 weeks out of Kahului Airport.  That's significantly lower than Tampa.


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## pcgirl54 (Sep 7, 2009)

We  will also be at VWL same time but starting 10/25 and will be at Port Orleans 10/24. We rented from National at the Dolphin or one can also book at the Disney Car Care Center. Car care center is open later than rental desk at the Dolphin. 

Found great info on Mousesavers on rentals. We normally do very well with Hertz but not this time.


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## hajjah (Sep 7, 2009)

Don't even mention the rates in Orlando during Xmas.  The cheapest rate I've been able to find during the holiday time for a mini-van is about $750.00.  The rates last year during this time were also sky high.


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## rickandcindy23 (Sep 7, 2009)

hajjah said:


> Don't even mention the rates in Orlando during Xmas.  The cheapest rate I've been able to find during the holiday time for a mini-van is about $750.00.  The rates last year during this time were also sky high.



It seems like a better plan to drive.  You can pay for a lot of gas for $750, and you can even afford a hotel room or two for the trip.  It's ridiculous to pay this much for a car rental.


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## CMVer (Sep 7, 2009)

$450 for 2 weeks full size on hotwire.  We usually do pretty well with priceline.  We have a week at Sarasota starting 10/24 and got a full size car for $210 for the week.  They should be cheaper at a larger airport.


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## silverfox82 (Sep 12, 2009)

I needed a car in JAX next month and the prices were way high, did priceline and  got it for 1/2 any other price I found, worth a try.


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## Talent312 (Sep 12, 2009)

In many destinations, it could be cheaper to use taxis, even daily, rather than rent.
However, in Tampa, Orlando and Jax, if you want to leave the resort, you're better off renting.


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## camachinist (Sep 12, 2009)

The best HLE rates I could pick up for Orlando for random October dates was ~177 per week with no PC's on a midsize. Fullsize was about 30 more. Usually, there is a 30-50 off PC floating around somewhere. 130-150 per week isn't too bad.

Pat


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## anne1125 (Sep 13, 2009)

We have a full size in Tampa for next Jan. and got for $271 through Priceline.  At the time I was hesitant but now I'm glad I did it.  The rental car websites are showing $500 & up.

I usually look around as soon as we purchase flight tickets (as soon as they are available) and look for a good rental car price.  Usually I do the rental car company so I can cancel if a better price shows elsewhere.  It's a gamble to use Priceline or Hotwire.  This time it was worth it.

Anne


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## riverdees05 (Sep 13, 2009)

We are going to be in Orlando for two weeks over Thanksgiving of this year.  Any recommendations for off airport car rentals?  We have one person that is driving down so getting to and from an off site rental agency, shouldn't be a problem, if it is fairly close to the airport.


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## pcgirl54 (Sep 13, 2009)

Found out since that you can rent from Shades of Green at WDW Florida even is you are not military. If I was paying to rent at SOG Hertz with AAA and a $35 coupon code I could get a Toyota RAV 4 for $216 plus tax was $263.

However since we can use SOG Hertz I have enough pts for a free fullsize rental. All we had to pay was tax $39.00. So I cancelled the National Rental for $270 for fullsize. 

I use mix varying codes for the best deal.

FYI-Entertainment book had the pretty decent coupons for renting in the Orlando book. Some even had a free day. I paid $5.99 for the 2009 book.


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## rickandcindy23 (Jan 2, 2010)

What a difference 3 months can make.  I have been watching car rental rates for the same trip we took in October, from Tampa, 2 weeks, and the prices are so much less!  I bid $11 a day for a compact on Priceline and the bid was accepted.  A total of $242 for two weeks, 1/22-2-5.  

What a difference!  We did end up with a decent deal on a full-size for October.  I think we paid $449 from National for that trip.  That is still high.  

I wonder if those sky-high rates will be an issue for our October of 2010 trip.  If so, I will just wait and wait until I get the best price possible.


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## dougp26364 (Jan 2, 2010)

dmbrand said:


> I have noticed the price increases as well.  As I searched the web, this article(which is from June, 2009) may explain a little..
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/travel/28prac.html?_r=1
> 
> It makes some sense, anyway, especially the supply/demand reasoning.



This past year I've noticed a huge increase in many car rental prices. I had a tough time last March finding a decent price in California. We ended up getting a fair price through Priceline the week before we arrived.

I made a comment about the poor shape of the car and the ridiculous pricing I was seeing on the websites. The attendant told me they were having trouble selling the cars so they were keeping them longer and, they were increasing the prices because they were renting fewer cars but wanted the profits to stay the same. 

If that statement was true then that's corporate thinking at it's finest. Lower the quality and increase the prices so that you need to do less to make the same amount of money. I'm not sure a CEO could see the problem with that logic but I bet the car renting public might.


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## Kel (Jan 2, 2010)

*Priceline*

We've been using Priceline for our rental cars lately and we've been saving a lot of money.  We pay in advance and it's worth the savings.  This year, we got a full size car in Kauai for a week at $13 a day plus tax and we got a standard size car in Miami in for $15 a day plus tax.  Check it out.  

Have a good trip!


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## ChrisH (Jan 3, 2010)

rickandcindy23 said:


> What a difference 3 months can make.  I have been watching car rental rates for the same trip we took in October, from Tampa, 2 weeks, and the prices are so much less!  I bid $11 a day for a compact on Priceline and the bid was accepted.  A total of $242 for two weeks, 1/22-2-5.
> 
> What a difference!  We did end up with a decent deal on a full-size for October.  I think we paid $449 from National for that trip.  That is still high.
> 
> I wonder if those sky-high rates will be an issue for our October of 2010 trip.  If so, I will just wait and wait until I get the best price possible.



Try rentalcarmomma
http://www.thrifty.com/programs/businessspecials/Rentalcarmomma.aspx?iata=10668685&campID=15
We have used them before for HI etc - they have deals for Thrifty which might be cheaper and can be booked now.  

Remember if you book this far in advance and find a cheaper rate much later, you can always cancel. 

Good luck


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## dougp26364 (Jan 3, 2010)

ChrisH said:


> Remember if you book this far in advance and find a cheaper rate much later, you can always cancel.
> 
> Good luck



Just be sure and watch them when you pick up your car. Thrifty doesn't actually cancel the reservation even though you get a cancelation number. When we picked up our car in Palm Beach last November, they attempted to charge us the $450 on the canceled reservation rather than give us the $150 reservation I'd changed it to. From now on, I'll make sure I hand them the most current reservation # and look at the price rather than just assume I'm getting the correct price.


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## cvelasco (Jan 3, 2010)

Kel said:


> We've been using Priceline for our rental cars lately and we've been saving a lot of money.  We pay in advance and it's worth the savings.  This year, we got a full size car in Kauai for a week at $13 a day plus tax and we got a standard size car in Miami in for $15 a day plus tax.  Check it out.
> 
> Have a good trip!



I used priceline for Kaui and did welllast summer but the prices for orlando in Feb are outrageous 82/day!  Will keep looking


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