Fuel Prices Shifting Rental Preferences
Back when fuel was below $3 a gallon, renting a car was like playing Wheel of Fortune. Though you usually got the car you rented, once in awhile, a big prize like an SUV or a Cadillac DeVille came up. ABC News reports that rental customers are now avoiding upgrades to bigger cars and SUVs because of high fuel prices. In turn, they've created a shortage of rental compacts, forcing rental companies to respond with more aggressive tactics to "upgrade" the customer to bigger and more fuel-thirsty options. The oversupply's sending SUVs daily rental rates downward, to the point where renting an SUV is becoming cheaper than renting a compact. As ABC notes: "an Internet search by ABC News this week found Budget Rent A Car offering a daily rental of an intermediate SUV from Newark airport in New Jersey for $66. An economy vehicle was $76, and a compact car cost $77." [NB: TTAC could not duplicate these deals on AVIS.com or Nationalcar.com.] One frequent renter has a word of advise for rental car companies: deal. "[They] need to anticipate what's coming. If Avis came up tomorrow and said, 'Our vehicles are fuel-efficient vehicles,' they'd see a surge in people wanting to rent from Avis." Oops! Looks like Hertz's Green Collection PR team dropped the ball.
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Seems like the fuel costs would impact the holiday traveller more than the business person. Funny thing is, if you will be doing mostly highway miles, a Buick Lucerne gets about the same mileage as a Cobalt, 30 mpg. If doing mostly urban driving, then the shitbox would use less gas.
If I was shown that list of vehicles, I'd ask if they had anything else while looking over at the other rental places.. It sucks getting a dull, crappy rental car. Had far to many of them to the point where I'll pay a bit more to have something decent to drive.
I just rented a mid size from Hertz for 40 a day a full size SUV was 97 a day! I let you know if they upgrade me at the counter!!
lol. I'm loving this article's picture. Every single one of those vehicles is a Chrysler product except for the Economy category, and that's because Chrysler does not make a vehicle in this class.