Car Rentals?

[disneychrista]

Has anyone had to rent a car recently? I was in a car accident about 2 weeks ago. When I went to get the rental car all they had available was a mini-van. They said they would call as soon as they got something else. I had the van for a week and they never got anything different. Well my car ended up NOT being fixed and had to be taken back to the shop. I called to get another car yesterday and they weren't able to get me a rental until tomorrow afternoon. I am worried they won't get anything and I will be without a car all weekend. Is this normal these days? That car rental agencies DON'T have cars to be rented?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Purely location IMO.

My husband just got back from Sacramento yesterday they had a rental car from Monday-Wednesday with Avis.

We had a rental car in Vegas over Labor Day weekend with Avis no issues.

We had a rental car booked through car insurance with Enterprise due to a car accident in early August and didn't have a problem although because the accident happened in the evening of the day before they weren't ready to rent him a car first thing in the morning and he went back in the early afternoon to get one; we kept that for almost 2 weeks.

None of these were mini-vans that's for sure.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Rental companies sold off large parts of their fleets during the pandemic, no business. And for the past year plus, and still currently, supply chain issues (chips) have made a much reduced number of cars available for the rental companies to purchase and replenish their fleets.

 

[disneychrista]

Purely location IMO.

None of these were mini-vans that's for sure.

I am sure you are correct about it being location dependent. Sacramento, Vegas are both much larger areas than where I am at.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I am sure you are correct about it being location dependent. Sacramento, Vegas are both much larger areas than where I am at.

Where I'm at even in suburbia there's not a big issue at the moment, my husband had a corolla or camry due to the car accident. I do think there were more out of state plates than in the past in my direct area for rental cars. Normally you see Missouri plates (you don't see Kansas plates for rental cars really) but I think our rental car was from the east coast IIRC and I saw more various states; typically that means someone drove from there to our area.

I *think* you live in a smaller community which probably doesn't help

 

[disneychrista]

I *think* you live in a smaller community which probably doesn't help

Yes, I am in what is considered rural Northern California. I was very surprised at how difficult it is to get a car.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have rented over a dozen times this year in multiple states across the country. I've never had a situation where there hasn't been a vehicle. Now, I am renting at airports. Not sure what's close to you, but you may need to consider going to another location.

 

[lanejudy]

I was also going to suggest trying another location if your local rental agency doesn't have adequate supply. Or ask if they are able to get something different from another location.

I had an accident last winter and needed a long-term rental. Going through insurance, I was limited to agency and further limited to location (no airport locations). I had to pay OOP for the first rental to get home from out of state because the accident occurred on a Saturday night and we needed to be home for work/school on Monday. The only agencies open on Sunday were at airports (and the airport locations don't accept insurance vouchers). Then I went to swap it at my "local" agency (30 minutes away) and they had limited options - so I ended up keeping what I had for a week. But the extra cost was a waste so I went back to downgrade the rental, and again limited options. That location is connected to an airport rental, though, and they were willing to get me a different vehicle if I could wait.

 

[disneychrista]

This is through insurance so I am limited to where I can get the rental and this is the only location in my area.

I was able to get a car today. Nothing fancy, just a small economy car, which is perfect for me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is through insurance so I am limited to where I can get the rental and this is the only location in my area.

I was able to get a car today. Nothing fancy, just a small economy car, which is perfect for me.

I'm not sure how your insurance is set up. For ours we have Loss of Use coverage and you select different pricing levels. On our old car we had up to $40/day and I forget the max dollar amount OR up to 30 days whichever was less dollars overall. With the new car we got (which is a lease) we actually have up to $50 per day (new car is a Santa Fe old car was a Mazda 3 so I know why we bumped up the rental car amount). My car still has the up to $40 per day. That can limit your options there too due to car categories and their daily cost but again don't know how your insurance is set up.

With ours Enterprise was the preferred rental car agency but you could opt to go outside of of that however you would pay out of pocket and have to get reimbursed through the insurance company instead of having the insurance company handle it all but with just Enterprise.

Glad you were able to get a car and don't have that added stress.

 

[disneychrista]

I'm not sure how your insurance is set up. For ours we have Loss of Use coverage and you select different pricing levels. On our old car we had up to $40/day and I forget the max dollar amount OR up to 30 days whichever was less dollars overall. With the new car we got (which is a lease) we actually have up to $50 per day (new car is a Santa Fe old car was a Mazda 3 so I know why we bumped up the rental car amount). My car still has the up to $40 per day. That can limit your options there too due to car categories and their daily cost but again don't know how your insurance is set up.

With ours Enterprise was the preferred rental car agency but you could opt to go outside of of that however you would pay out of pocket and have to get reimbursed through the insurance company instead of having the insurance company handle it all but with just Enterprise.

Glad you were able to get a car and don't have that added stress.

I'm not sure if I have an option to go elsewhere or not but there really isn't much of an option either. I only get $25/day up to $750 (30 days). But Enterprise gives a deep discount on the rentals (like $29/day plus taxes). I should be able to put in a claim for the additional to the other parties insurance. So I shouldn't be out anything out of pocket.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We did a car rental over the summer for vacation. At the time at least they were plentiful. So much so that that DH didn't like the one we got (something about a caution light was coming on and it was dirty), so he turned around and brought it back within a few miles and they gave us another one that was similar immediately.

 

[EACarlson]

I haven't had any issue renting a car in the half dozen times I've rented this year, but those have all been airport locations around the country with no two in the same place. I've seen reports of some issues getting rentals at neighborhood locations, but usually it's only a few hours to get one from somewhere else.
The availability issues are pretty much gone, now it's capital issues to pay for the new cars. In addition to selling off all the cars in 2020, there was a huge fire in Fort Myers that took out something like 1,500 rental cars. Chysler started making a rental only minivan this year.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We did a car rental over the summer for vacation. At the time at least they were plentiful. So much so that that DH didn't like the one we got (something about a caution light was coming on and it was dirty), so he turned around and brought it back within a few miles and they gave us another one that was similar immediately.

Now that you mention that I forgot we did a rental car in July twice, one at a location by our house to drive to Chicago and one in Chicago to drive back home. The car in Chicago was at the airport and had a service engine soon light but also a low tire pressure light as soon as we turned the car on. We swapped it out for a different car.

 

[barkley]

it's enough of an issue where we live that the local websites (hotels, visitor's bureaus, convention centers...) have verbage cautioning people to make very advanced arrangements and offering suggestions for alternative means of transportation (though the most commonly used for nicer hotels-their shuttles to a wide variety of locations-has seemingly not recovered/returned post pandemic).

i know it's easier to get an airport short term rental vs. anthing else.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

I rented a car in January for a funeral and the standard agency prices were insane so we used Turo which is kind of like air bnb but for cars. It was a great experience, very affordable and is highly suggest it.

 

[RoseColored97]

I had to rent a vehicle for a couple days because my car was in the repair shop this summer. Our selection was pretty limited, as well. It was between Teslas or sedans. I am most comfortable in SUVs so was very glad that after a few days the dealership had a nice high-end loaner SUV that they let me use for the last two weeks since we had to wait for a part to come in.

Are you able to use another company? Hertz was odd to work with.

 

[disneychrista]

It sounds like airport locations are the way to go, if you have a choice. Which makes perfect sense.

With my first rental I get that they didn't have anything because they only got my reservation at 8am when they opened and I was picking up at noon. What I don't get is that they couldn't get me anything else in the 5 days that I had the mini-van. YET, they were able to get a car for me to pick up on Friday when I called on Thursday morning. I do know I am NOT giving up this rental until I verify that my car is fully repaired. Being without a car for 3.5 days was not fun.

 

[sk!mom]

I rented a car in January for a funeral and the standard agency prices were insane so we used Turo which is kind of like air bnb but for cars. It was a great experience, very affordable and is highly suggest it.

I’m glad it worked out for you, but I do not recommend Turo due to limited options and protections if something goes wrong.

My sisters recently used Turo in San Francisco. They picked it up upon arrival and stopped in Sausalito for brunch on their way to Sonoma. The window was smashed and 5/6 backpacks stolen. None of that was Turos fault, of course. Just a bad start to their vacation.

And then… they called Turo and could not get any help getting a replacement car. Then the police officer breaks the news that driving it with the broken window wasn’t an option as the plates on it were not for the vehicle they were driving and when he ran the Vin the registration was suspended so the officer had to impound it. They had to make very costly last minute transportation arrangements.

A week after returning home my sister was still arguing with Turo trying to get a refund. All she was getting from them was, “it was the owners fault.” Sure but how are renters protected?