rental car deals or prices at MCO

[Canadian Tom]

Has anyone rented a car lately at MCO and or SFB for a good price? Thoughts and ideas? Thanks Canadian Tom

 

[EACarlson]

www.autoslash.com I've got a midsize from Thrifty for $150 for a week starting in 10 days. They'll look at all the companies and tell you what is the best deal right now, you book it, let them know and they track it to see if it goes down. My rental for this trip started at $460.

 

[_19disnA]

Rental car prices have been high due to a number of factors some of which relate to covid. I suspect once more of covid is behind us prices will return to their normal levels. One thing to avoid regardless of where you travel are any of the 'no name' brands who seem to have dubious ways to charge you more money. Make sure to check online reviews of any rental company with offers way lower then others to avoid unwanted surprises. Some try to push high priced and unnecessary 'insurance' on you or ask for documents you don't generally carry (like your insurance policy). Rental cars are a commodity and if something is too good to be true, it probably is. Some only have locations off-site from the airport and/or limited hours. Need to be aware of those things before making a reservation.

 

[EACarlson]

Rental car prices have been high due to a number of factors some of which relate to covid. I suspect once more of covid is behind us prices will return to their normal levels.

Really the only thing COVID related is the fluctuating demand and the staffing issues. Supply saw a major hit and with so few new vehicles online to replace the ones lost it's going to take a long time to get fleets back where they were in 2019. I don't think we'll ever go back to the majors having cars for $100/wk. $200-$300 is going to be a good deal and some folks out there will be paying $600 or more.

 

[Doug7856]

We have a trip coming up later this month. When I originally booked an Alamo standard vehicle in November the rate was $411. Since Christmas, that rate has dropped to $211. Not all at once, I re-booked it several times. It's worth watching. My booking was through Costco Travel and I have a preference for Alamo and am willing to pay a few more dollars.

 

[_19disnA]

The computer chip shortage is clearly covid related since more people being at home for school/work meant higher chip demand for various electronic devices. Car companies have had trouble competing for their chip requirements since there are a finite number of chip manufacturers. Supply issues remain with many other companies (absenteeism, labor shortages, transportation, etc.) and the ports where large cargo ships dock have impacted the availability of many items, including components used to make cars. It will likely take many months or perhaps into next year before all of that is behind us.

Rental car companies all compete with each other for the same renters, so prices will likely go down, even if slowly as things stabilize. If one rental company tries to keep their prices high, they will just lose business to some other brand who is able to lower their prices.

 

[EACarlson]

The computer chip shortage is clearly covid related since more people being at home for school/work meant higher chip demand for various electronic devices. Car companies have had trouble competing for their chip requirements since there are a finite number of chip manufacturers. Supply issues remain with many other companies (absenteeism, labor shortages, transportation, etc.) and the ports where large cargo ships dock have impacted the availability of many items, including components used to make cars. It will likely take many months or perhaps into next year before all of that is behind us.

Rental car companies all compete with each other for the same renters, so prices will likely go down, even if slowly as things stabilize. If one rental company tries to keep their prices high, they will just lose business to some other brand who is able to lower their prices.

Supply was seeing a major hit and chips were tight before the pandemic hit, the fire that took out 4,500 rental cars didn't help any either.
Prices will go down from where they were in April and May but won't go back to what they were. Costs have gone up and continue to go up, labor costs, insurance costs, fleet costs, rent are all going up. In industries where they can get away with it, many companies are using "shrinkflation" to keep prices the same, that isn't an option in the rental car industry.