When did car rentals become so expensive?

[ajwilhorn]

We have a January trip coming up with a planned stay at POP. With all the changes going on to attendance it almost seems less of a benefit to be staying on than off. Went to try and price things out and seemed like the car rental part of it was a lot higher than what I remember from years ago, when we stayed off and rented a car for the week. Extra fees and taxes added over $100 to the bill. Is this a recent thing or am I just forgetting from years past?

 

[kda]

I, too, remember the good old days with discount codes that enabled us to rent a full sized car for a total of $100 - $110 for 8 or 9 days. We used to go an average of twice a year, so rented many times. It changed dramatically right after 9/11. Not sure that it became as high as it's been the past few years, but it was definitely a lot higher after 9/11.

 

[AlohaNow]

Due to COVID many rental companies got rid of about half of their fleets. We've rented cars three times since all this began and I have been shocked at the prices. And that's even booking through Costco, which any other place has yet to beat price-wise. Expect rentals to be more expensive for quite some time to come!

 

[gatour]

We have a January trip coming up with a planned stay at POP. With all the changes going on to attendance it almost seems less of a benefit to be staying on than off. Went to try and price things out and seemed like the car rental part of it was a lot higher than what I remember from years ago, when we stayed off and rented a car for the week. Extra fees and taxes added over $100 to the bill. Is this a recent thing or am I just forgetting from years past?

I think you are just forgetting from years past.

Around 25 years ago, local gov't started tacking on fees and taxes for car rentals, hotels etc. They claim the fees/taxes are for tourist infrastructure improvements. Lets just say these claims are a bit dubious as some of the projects I have seen financed by these fees/taxes have very limited value to the tourist side.

 

[ParrotBill]

The other things that happened in the Orlando market: Disney's Magical Express, expanding grocery delivery and Uber/Lyft popularity. These combined to drive demand way down and car rental fleets were reduced over time.

Now, with Covid, demand is actually rising as people don't want to be on a bus. So supply is low and demand is high and prices are up.

 

[Cynt]

Prices are crazy. $350 for our dates. I told DH we might have to wing it this trip without a rental car. I told him if we have to go off site we'll use Lyft. I reserved a car and will continue searching for a better deal.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Don't panic. Car rental companies change their prices constantly. I randomly check prices during each day as soon as I have dates, I do reserve a car right off, but always cancel, rebook, cancel until I get what I consider a fair price. I have always been able to get a decent rate. I also check for coupon codes which are mostly junk, but once in awhile are amazing. It takes a bit of patience, but I'll gladly spend a few minutes a day in order to save hundreds of dollars for my rental.

I always print a copy of my final rental price as I have had agents dispute my rates at the counter. Out comes the quote and that is the end of that argument!

 

[Bullseye]

OP you're not going until January so rates will get better when you are about 1-2 months out than what you are seeing now. That being said rates have been considerably higher for several years now. We're going in mid October and already rates have bottomed out as low as they are going to go and are now climbing back up.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

The closer you get to your travel dates you will see prices drop. I always look and see several months out and the prices are high but as it gets closer they are cheaper unless it is a holiday

 

[spiders]

We have a January trip coming up with a planned stay at POP. With all the changes going on to attendance it almost seems less of a benefit to be staying on than off. Went to try and price things out and seemed like the car rental part of it was a lot higher than what I remember from years ago, when we stayed off and rented a car for the week. Extra fees and taxes added over $100 to the bill. Is this a recent thing or am I just forgetting from years past?

The extra fees and taxes have always been absurd and the airport ends up making more money than the car rental company ever will. The high sales tax is already one thing but then add in the daily passenger facility charge & the airport concession fee and it adds up quickly.

 

[Leigh L]

We rent a car from MCO at least once a year. Prices for this summer have been definitely higher than norm. In the August car rental thread, many of us were seeing higher prices this summer.
I recommend checking daily (I also use Costco) and even did this before COVID, I usually end up changing my rentals at least five times, lol.

Right now I have DH booked for a car for his trip to TPA for 5 days in October that was hovering around $200. It dropped down to $167 one day and I grabbed it and it was up again by the next day. It's been sitting at $214-221 now for days.

The kicker with our trip to WDW last month was all the flight changes. Even if you find a good rate, if your flight is moved, it throws off everything else. About 2 months out, you might want to look at different scenarios of what your airline is currently doing with cancelations (and if using Costco, you can book a couple of different car times and easily cancel the one you don't use).

 

[shafke]

We have a January trip coming up with a planned stay at POP. With all the changes going on to attendance it almost seems less of a benefit to be staying on than off. Went to try and price things out and seemed like the car rental part of it was a lot higher than what I remember from years ago, when we stayed off and rented a car for the week. Extra fees and taxes added over $100 to the bill. Is this a recent thing or am I just forgetting from years past?

I haven't rented in years but from what I remember, fees and taxes can easily add up to 40% of the rental cost. So if the car was $100 for the week, add $40 to cover fees and taxes.... and that is without insurance.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

Just started checking for the end of January and the cheapest I could find for a intermediate SUV is $352 (through Costco)
I would usually agree with those says not to panic because the prices come down the closer you get to the trip but that does not seem to be true this time. I checked several saturday to Saturday dates before my trip and they are all at or above $350 for the small suv.

we tend to go off property for meals at least once a day and have no desire to wait an hour plus for a bus to get us to where we want to go on property so a car or a lot of uber/lyft rides are required.

I looked through my previous Disney rides and the average cost was around $12 per ride, add in a $3.00 tip, and I am going to use $15 for my example.

with a rental price of $352 + Approximately $40 in gas, the total rental price would be $392. If I divide that by my $15 average ride cost, I can take 26 rideshare rides if I divide that by 7 days, I can take 3.7 rides per day and be in the same price range as renting without the hassle of actually driving myself.
The only big downside to my rideshare example is we would have to take to ME to and from the airport to stay within budget.
decisions,decisions.

 

[ricosuave]

We're going next week and the cheapest I found was $402 for a minivan (6 of us). Not used to paying these prices!
I found a minivan through Budget for $330, but have been hearing horror stories of people waiting for 3 hours because there's no Fastbreak kiosk. I'll stick with Alamo!

 

[EACarlson]

I got a AAA rate two weeks ago for a standard SUV for $238 that I booked in July, I kept checking and two weeks before I left a compact was going to be $402. I've got a minivan booked for a four day trip to DEN in three weeks with Alamo for $258, I just looked and Hertz is $652. Whatever thoughts and conventions have been true in the past are just not true this year.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We were in Orlando last week.. the lady could not believe my rate... but I booked on priceline in June.
They said they have half the amount of cars and they are all booked... so high prices.
The part that was upsetting me was paying parking at the resort on top of the rental fee.
We are going back in a few weeks and we will be using uber xl.

 

[gharter]

We noticed that for our October trip. Usually, the prices drop about 2-3 weeks before our trip and then go up about a week before. This year, never dropped.
Next spring, so far, is not looking any better.
As others have mentioned, a lot of the rental companies cleared out their inventory due to Co-Vid and decreased rentals. Hoping they are replaced by spring, so maybe prices will dip again.

 

[EACarlson]

Here is a story from Tampa about some of the reasons prices are insanely high. https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2020/10/28/rental-car-shortage-orlando-and-tampa-areas