Car Rental Prices Doubling (March 2021 thread)

[VictorB]

Sorry to hear that. Probably another reason to pay in full (reason #1 was a 25% additional discount). Priceline guarantees lowest price so we'll see what the next few months brings regarding pricing.

 

[bugzapper]

My niece’s reservation was cancelled two days before her vacation started. She received a call from Dollar that they were over sold. Luckily her son lives in Orlando and they were able to borrow his fiance’s car

I heard they're doing that here on Maui. We rented from Kihei car rental and they've kept the same prices even with the spring break shortage. They said they don't believe in jacking up prices just because they can. Their cars are a little older (ours is a 2016) but it's doing the job.

 

[dioxide45]

Sorry to hear that. Probably another reason to pay in full (reason #1 was a 25% additional discount). Priceline guarantees lowest price so we'll see what the next few months brings regarding pricing.

Not sure paying in full would prevent your reservation from being cancelled. All they would have to do is provide a full refund.

 

["Roger"]

I take it that these car rental companies must have cut their inventories to near zero during the pandemic. I just got back from a trip where I first went to Fort Myers and then Columbus, OH. About a week before the trip I tried to rent a car through Avis in Fort Myers. (I waited to make sure that I was actually going to go on the trip.) No cars available. Okay, try Costco. No cars available. Fortunately, Hertz had cars although at what I thought was a very high price.

On to Columbus where I did have a prepaid car through Avis. When I got there, there must have been about two cars in their lot. The person at the counter calls and asks if there were any small SUV's (what I had signed up for) recently returned that I could use. There was one although I had to wait about a half an hour for them to clean it. (Wonder what they would have done if there were no car of the type that I had prepaid for. Make me wait a couple of hours or tear up the contract and make me take whatever they had.)

This reminds me a little of the power shortages in Texas. The companies misguessed on inventory. So, the response is for them to profiteer with extraordinary high charges.

 

[folgema]

We went to Fort Myers Beach last week. We had decided we didn't need a car and would Uber. About a week in advance I had second thoughts, checked priceline, and it was over $400/day. We also found out the hard way that Uber/Lyft have also been affected, when we pulled up the Uber app at the airport, there were no drivers available, and the line for taxi's was over an hour long. I won't bore you with details, but we ended up hiring a service to take us to airport at end of trip, for less money than the Uber (I eventually got one) cost on the first trip. We heard lots of horror stories while we were there of people who booked Uber/Lyft in advance to take them to airport, and no one showed up. So, lesson learned... for a while book the rental car early or call resort and get a good "limo" service lined up.

 

[Synergy]

Was just able to find a Compact SUV for the price we'd booked a compact car for. Still about double what I'd had in mind, but at least we'll be a bit more comfortable. I'll keep checking, of course - $1000 just seems crazy to me.

 

[Ken555]

(Wonder what they would have done if there were no car of the type that I had prepaid for. Make me wait a couple of hours or tear up the contract and make me take whatever they had.)

I've had this happen several times in the past. In those instances, I was offered the car they have available regardless of type - I've always just said yes, thank you.

 

[AZSadOwner]

Heard on the news that you better make 2 or more reservations as reservations are being cancelled at the last minute for lack of cars. Inventories were reduced during the pandemic and it seems there is a shortage of new cars available from manufacturers because of the shortage of those microprocessors coming from China I believe.

 

[dioxide45]

Also realize Hertz filed for bankruptcy and had to sell off a lot of cars. They own multiple brands. There was also the loss of 4,000 rental cars in the fire at the airport in Ft Myers. Good thing for us, we moved to Florida in 2019 and have been able to get around without the need for a rental cary anymore. Though we did end up buying a Dodge Caravan, so I am sure it cost us more than had we just rented instead. That van was a car rental company sell off.

 

[Talent312]

I'm thinking that I may use transport for SLC to Park City, instead of a rental.
But that would seriously limit what we do there.
.

 

[bogey21]

The companies misguessed on inventory. So, the response is for them to profiteer with extraordinary high charges.

I don't think they misguessed. I suspect they sold a bunch of their cars to raise cash in order to stay in business when few were traveling when there was no demand for rental cars...

George

 

[littlestar]

Just had friends land today in Orlando to a sold out situation on their car reservation. Their flight was significantly delayed so that didn’t help. They were supposed to drive to Clearwater to stay at the ocean but were able to switch their hotel points reservation to an Orlando resort. They are relying on taxi’s and Uber. Their little girl is happy - she is in the Magic Kingdom having fun. They rolled with the punches. LOL

 

[Synergy]

Just had friends land today in Orlando to a sold out situation on their car reservation. Their flight was significantly delayed so that didn’t help. They were supposed to drive to Clearwater to stay at the ocean but were able to switch their hotel points reservation to an Orlando resort. They are relying on taxi’s and Uber. Their little girl is happy - she is in the Magic Kingdom having fun. They rolled with the punches. LOL

We would be 100% up the creek without a paddle if we land in bozeman and there's no car to take us through Yellowstone and then Glacier. Suppose I should figure out which brands are separate there and book a cancellable backup.

 

[rickk]

I saw that and that is why I rechecked my quotes and the autosalsher quote went from $444 to $890

These kind of prices would cause me to cancel my vacation or not go anywhere.

 

[bogey21]

These kind of prices would cause me to cancel my vacation or not go anywhere.

Back in the days when I had 6 weeks at 6 resorts (all HOA Independents with relatively low MFs) there were times I would not go if airfare and/o car rentals were outrageous. I would pretty much decide forfeiting my $500-$600 MF was better than paying outrageous amounts for airfares and/or car rentals...

George

 

[dougp26364]

It seems as if my practice of reserving early and continuing to check prices is paying off..... sort of.

Our last car rental was a standard SUV that we returned yesterday. The weekly rate was $250. We reserved that vehicle nearly a year in advance. I thought prices would go down. They didn’t. As I posted earlier they kept going up until there was no availability. For a rare moment I was worried I’d have trouble getting my car, but that was unfounded as there wasn’t any issues.

Currently I have 4 rental reservations. Typically between $250 and $350. Until this thread I was thinking this was incredibly expensive. Prior to CoVid I was paying between $100 and $225.

I hope this is an anomaly rather than the new normal. If prices remain this high, it will eventually have an affect on where we travel with destinations that require renting a car a convenience instead of a necessity. Only time will tell and my bet is it takes a couple of years before we see much of a change.

 

[VictorB]

It seems as if my practice of reserving early and continuing to check prices is paying off..... sort of.

Our last car rental was a standard SUV that we returned yesterday. The weekly rate was $250. We reserved that vehicle nearly a year in advance. I thought prices would go down. They didn’t. As I posted earlier they kept going up until there was no availability. For a rare moment I was worried I’d have trouble getting my car, but that was unfounded as there wasn’t any issues.

Currently I have 4 rental reservations. Typically between $250 and $350. Until this thread I was thinking this was incredibly expensive. Prior to CoVid I was paying between $100 and $225.

I hope this is an anomaly rather than the new normal. If prices remain this high, it will eventually have an affect on where we travel with destinations that require renting a car a convenience instead of a necessity. Only time will tell and my bet is it takes a couple of years before we see much of a change.

Unfortunately they do not have to honor your reservation. I have gone back into my reservation from January 28th for August and they said that car and rate is no longer available.

 

[dougp26364]

Unfortunately they do not have to honor your reservation. I have gone back into my reservation from January 28th for August and they said that car and rate is no longer available.

Perfect.

I see another class action lawsuit against car rental companies which does nothing except change a few minor rules, extends a few worthless coupons to plaintiffs and makes a law firm or two even wealthier.

Maybe when they contract through Costco they have an obligation to honor the agreement. All of my current reservations are through Costco.

 

[bigeyes1]

We had this same experience when trying to find a car rental for our upcoming South Dakota trip in July. I refuse to pay $800-$1000 for 6 days. Luckily, I did a search on Kayak and they found a week at Car Rental 8 with Budget for a little over $300. Booked that reservation.. pronto.

 

[Clifbell]

I ended up getting a compact car for $600. Never thought the most expensive part of a vacation would be the car rental. Silver lining is I will spend a good portion of my time without a car just sitting on the beach.

 

[sfwilshire]

Costco Travel has a disclaimer on their rental car page mentioning the shortage of cars due to the chip issue. I booked early for $600 for an October week in Albuquerque. Usually by now there would be a few decreases until availability hits a certain point and then the rates start going up. I usually pay around $400 or change to an SUV for around $500. Looking now, the rates are over $800 for a car. Tried my Hertz Gold account and they were over $1000. Any hope the rates will start coming down by the fall?

Sheila

 

[bogey21]

I haven't rented a car in years so my question results from total lack of knowledge how rental cars work today. My question is can you pay one of the majors (Hertz, Avis, National, Budget, etc) in advance for your rental. I'm not talking about renting from the likes of Priceline, etc but directly from the Rental Company. If you can, wouldn't they have to have a car for you and stiff those who merely hav a Reservation...

George

 

[jtp1947]

In a word, no. Remember the Seinfeld episode re: rental car reservations? They'll just refund your payment if no car available.

 

[tahoe]

I have not personally used this site, but there are reasonable prices here:

Turo | The world's largest car sharing marketplace

Skip the rental car counter and book the perfect car on Turo, the world's largest car sharing marketplace. Got a car? Earn extra cash by sharing it on Turo.

turo.com

 

[Sicnarf]

I've used Turo a few times and they are not always as competitive when delivery and other fees are taken into consideration.