Massive rental car shortage in Orlando more than quadruples prices for travelers next week

[Rob562]

Well that was an idiotic thing for the rental car businesses to do. Instead of having inventory sitting on their lots simply being unused much of the time, they got rid of it. Now that travel demand is quickly climbing back up a year later, they (as well as their potential customers) are in a tough spot.

While I don't know all the ins and outs of the rental car business, having a fleet of cars sitting idle isn't quite the same as other industries having a supply of unsold products. There are costs to the rental company for every car, whether they're rented or not. Insurance, registration, inspection, perhaps excuse taxes. There's also the depreciation of the value of the car on the used car market.

I'm sure there were many 2-car families the past year having to decide whether they still could afford to keep two road-ready cars when one or both weren't being driven much. Now expand that to many thousands of cars sitting around idle, but still paying costs associated with them, and companies have to make the same decisions.

-Rob

 

[aliceismad]

While I don't know all the ins and outs of the rental car business, having a fleet of cars sitting idle isn't quite the same as other industries having a supply of unsold products. There are costs to the rental company for every car, whether they're rented or not. Insurance, registration, inspection, perhaps excuse taxes. There's also the depreciation of the value of the car on the used car market.

I'm sure there were many 2-car families the past year having to decide whether they still could afford to keep two road-ready cars when one or both weren't being driven much. Now expand that to many thousands of cars sitting around idle, but still paying costs associated with them, and companies have to make the same decisions.

-Rob

Agreed. There are definitely maintenance costs even if a car isn't being driven. Plus you really don't want to let most cars sit for that long without being driven. Most rental car companies only keep cars to a certain age (1 year for Enterprise) or mileage (up to 40K for Hertz) anyway. If you've ever shopped at Carvana or CarMax, a lot of those vehicles are former rental cars. Also a lot rental cars are fleet leases rather than owned.

Hertz applied for Ch 11 last year.

 

[Lilofan]

Some tips to get a rental car are

- Book a reservation for a week or more. Rental companies would rather you book for a longer duration rather than a 3 or 4 day where rentals are hard to come and the prices may be higher. Then return the rental early and the rental agent will refund you the difference.

- Book a rental outside the airport where rates are cheaper and avoid paying airport tax. Then just Uber to the airport or going to the rental place. Just check the hours of operation since MCO has 24/7 hours and outside rental location may not.