Dealing with the New Trend in High Car Rental Prices
It's the strangest thing wherever you see - industries in recession are trying to get more customers by paring their prices - take your pick - hotel rates, airplanes and cruises - everyone is open to negotiating for discounts. Everyone that is, except car rental companies. When they find a recession and people unable to afford their services, their first thought seems to be, "Let's raise our car rental prices! That'll teach them to come to us." Last year in spring, putting your name down for a hatchback to rent for seven days, booked a week in advance, on average, would set you back about $350 - and that's nearly twice what was the previous year. In the very next month in June, prices rose a further $10. No one seems to understand what on earth is going on. With the economy tanking, and people losing jobs, how come it doesn't seem to get to the car rental industry?
The answer is, that the car rental industry has been preparing for this eventuality, and has been downsizing for a while now. They've been selling their fleets on the used car market; if there aren't enough cars available to rent around the country, of course that drives the prices up, a situation that suits these guys just fine. And they aren't buying new cars either; for all the money you're paying, you're usually getting a car that has about 40,000 miles on the clock. And you're getting a car that's about a year old on average (it used to be that they were no more than six months to nine months old).
This introduces a little lopsidedness in your travel plans. In the airline industry and the hotel industry, where it isn't so easy to put on or shed capacity, they are stuck with so many vacant seats and free rooms that they have to let them go at rock-bottom prices. You could waltz into the airport about 20 minutes before your flight and still get a great bargain - or into a hotel after you get off the flight and ask at the desk for a room, and still not have them stick it to you. The following morning when you need that rental car, you had better have thought about it and made your reservation about a month earlier, if you don't want your hotel and flight savings wiped out and then some. If you get a car at all, that is. Any holiday that turns up - take Independence Day - if you don't have your reservation in by May, you'll probably not even get a car, no matter what car rental prices you're willing to pay.
So if this is how they do business, where do we go looking for alternatives? One good way would be, to make it to town from the airport on your own (maybe using that free transfer they offer at the hotel) and then rent a car in the city. Right away, that could save you something like 40%. The longer you need to keep the car, the bigger your savings will be. And further, what with everyone hankering for a fuel-efficient compact or subcompact, or maybe even a Prius, the demand for larger sedans is not what it used to be. So curiously, the larger the car your rent, the cheaper it's going to be. And while you're at it, why not pick a little car rental agency over the national chains like Hertz or Thrifty? In fact, if you pick a site like Priceline, they will show you the price you need to pay first (and have you pay for it), and only then give you the name of your rental agency. If you don't mind renting from an agency thatisn't big time, you'll get a really favorable car rental prices.
One of the best ways though, is to use virtual coupons for the lowest possible car rental prices. Try googling for coupon codes and see what you get. You can go to CouponWinner too; or use your airline's rental car partnership- you'll probably save 20% on your car rental prices.