Car Rental Prices Rise: Unintended Consequences or Collusion?
The Detroit News reports that The Big 2.8's decision to trim fleet sales is jacking-up prices down at the rental car lot. The cost of renting a car has jumped more than 20 percent in the past two years, heading for a five percent upwards jolt in '07. Manufacturers are also modding the product mix, cutting back on the dirt-cheap manual everything models the average Budget, Avis and Hertz renter has "enjoyed" in years gone by. By selling higher-priced, better featured cars, the Detroiters hope today's rental car will be tomorrow's not-so-dirt-cheap retail sale. Meanwhile, if you're not buying this explanation, if you're skeptical about car rental pricing policies, join the folks over iAfrica.com, who believe the industry is rife with "collusive and monopolistic practices."
I'm a computer security geek raised in Nebraska and recently transplanted to Atlanta. I like me some cars, got into car geekery a few years ago and haven't looked back since. I also volunteer at a local ferret shelter and participate in various charity and fund-raising events related to that.
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When the rental companies start buying Chinese cars will the prices start going down again?! I kind of doubt it! (Wonder if they'll include St Christophers for free? - we'll need every bit of help we can get with 1-star crash rating potential rental-wrecks).
Do we now equate prices of renting in Africa equel to the States? Those darn domestics!
Glenn: That's an interesting point. I wonder if the Chinese makers would go after fleet sales to build volume, and what the domestics would do if they couldn't place a bunch of cars in that market because of (what they would call) dumping? Jim
cfisch: Do we now equate prices of renting in Africa equal to the States? Practices, not prices.