One Reason Why Rental Car Rates Went Up

[BridgetBordeaux]

I heard Clark Howard on the radio today. As the economy crumbled, the rental companies sold off their fleet and purchased fewer new cars. The supply is now limited. That has allowed them to raise rates in a down economy. Smart for them..........ouch for us!

 

[ParrotBill]

And in Orlando....

Magic Express has to have taken thousands of car renters off the road... me included...

PLUS

Now they are building a huge onsite car rental facility... surely there will be new facility fees tacked on to pay for that!

 

[StregaNona]

Just the opposite for me ... We are flying to Orlando this coming weekend for a family event. We are renting a car at the airport. The rate was originally $103 when I booked in June. I have been checking almost daily these last several days. I now have the rate down to $64 ! I am pleased with the continuous reduction.

 

[lawgs]

what size car?

what company?

what codes did you use?

what are your dates?

is if for a week or just a weekend ( weekend rates are lower usually )

all of the above might help the next renter....

smilawgs

 

[StregaNona]

what size car? - FULL SIZE

what company? - BUDGET

what codes did you use?

what are your dates? - THIS WEEKEND, FRIDAY - SUNDAY, just shy of 48 hours

is if for a week or just a weekend ( weekend rates are lower usually )

all of the above might help the next renter....

 

[dioxide45]

what size car? - FULL SIZE

what company? - BUDGET

what codes did you use?

what are your dates? - THIS WEEKEND, FRIDAY - SUNDAY, just shy of 48 hours

is if for a week or just a weekend ( weekend rates are lower usually )

all of the above might help the next renter....

There were times last year where this rate would have got one a full week rental. So prices are definitely up.

 

[kristenrice]

There were times last year where this rate would have got one a full week rental. So prices are definitely up.

Yup...I got a midsize (Chevy Malibu) from Alamo last January...Friday to Friday using the Wal-Mart code...I paid a TOTAL of $77.

Now, I have a 5-day (Thu-Tues) rental next month for a compact and the best I can find is $175.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Ditto - except nine days from National. I ended up paying about $8.64 per day for a midsize car (Kia "R"-something, SUV-ish). This year, five days in Las Vegas is costing me almost twice as much per day.

That has allowed them to raise rates in a down economy. Smart for them..........ouch for us!

I respectfully dispute this wording. It's not that smaller fleets have allowed the car rental companies to raise rates - it's that, due to the recession, they reduced fleets to cut costs and now need to charge more per rental to, well, survive. A rental agency isn't making any money on the (example) fifty cars sitting on the lot. If their figures show this is a regular occurrence, it makes economic sense not to be storing those cars.

 

[Lewisc]

MCO has already added a rental fee to cover the cost of the new building.

Rental agencies are always selling cars. How often have you rented a car (from a major agency) that was more then two years old? More then one year?

Car manufacturers used to give rental agencies low sale prices with guaranteed buy backs. Alternately they would offer great terms on a short term lease. Car mfg aren't currently offering those deals. Rental agencies are finding re-sale value of their used cars aren't as high as expected. The value of the car is diminished for cars with higher mileage.

Rental agencies are discovering it makes more sense to a car sit rather then rent it at too low a price.

It's smart not buy more cars then you can rent at a profitable price.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I always seem to get a new (under 1000 miles on it) car when I rent. In Orlando, I've rented nearly new cars from both Budget and Alamo, though I prefer the cars at Budget. One car 2 years ago had only 37 miles on it. I'm not so optimistic this year but we'll see next week...

MCO has already added a rental fee to cover the cost of the new building.

Rental agencies are always selling cars. How often have you rented a car (from a major agency) that was more then two years old? More then one year?

Car manufacturers used to give rental agencies low sale prices with guaranteed buy backs. Alternately they would offer great terms on a short term lease. Car mfg aren't currently offering those deals. Rental agencies are finding re-sale value of their used cars aren't as high as expected. The value of the car is diminished for cars with higher mileage.

Rental agencies are discovering it makes more sense to a car sit rather then rent it at too low a price.

It's smart not buy more cars then you can rent at a profitable price.