Rental Car Companies Reeling From Uptick in Travelers
Rental car companies are their own worst enemies, having sold off much of their fleets during the pandemic’s height. With travel restrictions easing in many places they find themselves with no inventory.
Consolidation is another aspect that hasn’t helped whatsoever. There’s Enterprise Holdings, which is Enterprise, National, and Alamo. Hertz and Advantage are one. Avis and Budget are another group, as is Dollar and Thrifty. In some places, you’ll find Sixt, a German mobility service provider. Other than that, there’s maybe a few regional players. The point here is that in many locations, they’ll rent you the same vehicle under one brand or another. This reduces the total number of cars they need, if demand is up at Budget, but not so at Avis because they’re generally more expensive. The same goes for Hertz, which is usually the highest-priced.
Last October, I went to Phoenix for a business meeting. While there were few passengers on board the plane, it was a different story on the ground in Phoenix. With fewer restrictions in that state, it appeared to be pretty much business as usual. The big change was instead of thousands of rental cars in this mammoth holding area that all the rental companies use, there were hundreds. Empty parking spots in the multi-tiered lot outnumbered those with vehicles waiting. All of them were rented, and anyone waiting at the airport for a vehicle was going to be there a long time.
What happened in Phoenix then has spread to other areas of the country. Friends vacationing in Florida said that they are using Uber because there were no cars to be had in Orlando, and they hadn’t planned ahead. A story today by businessinsider.com only confirmed what I knew already. Prices in some areas are $700 a day, higher than they are for airfare and hotels.
Planning ahead is the only way to avoid these horrendous rental charges. Heading to a tourist hot spot? If you don’t have a reservation, try finding a local agency within a short distance away from the airport. Some local agencies will pick you up and drop you off at the airport, saving you a taxi ride. No, they may not have the same selection of vehicles, but wheels are wheels, right?
[Images: © 2021 J. Sakurai/TTAC]
With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.
More by Jason R. Sakurai
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"If you don’t have a reservation" Just an FYI a car rental reservation doesn't mean all that much. You can and will get to the counter and they will say, "Sorry, we don't have any cars." "But I have a reservation!" "I don't know what to tell you, sir. We don't have any cars." And unlike airlines or hotels that bump/walk you and offer a financial incentive. Car rental companies don't.
I ran into the same issue last year when I flew into Manchester, huge queues and hardly any cars available. Ended up using a small local rental place a few miles away, and it actually saved me a lot of money.
It’s crazy how much planning ahead matters now. Have you ever had to switch to Uber because nothing was available?