If you’ve been researching the costs of hotels, airfare, and car rentals for a family vacation, you may be experiencing sticker shock.
Now, renting a car is difficult, and when you do, the price is so expensive that some people are reconsidering their travel plans.
Why Are Rental Vehicle Prices So High Right Now? A Crisis Economy
Early in 2020, as the epidemic started, many global industries were negatively impacted.
Prices were frequently significantly cheaper than usual when the services reopened because they needed to attract more users to stay afloat.
Yet, throughout the epidemic, car rentals had particular issues that have resulted in a lack of rental cars in numerous locations. Although there is a greater need for car rentals, there is a limited supply. Rent rates naturally rise as a result.
But given that more people are travelling right now, why are automobile rentals so expensive? If more people are renting automobiles, shouldn’t the price decrease? There are two key issues that contribute to the ongoing high cost of renting an automobile.
The Rental-Car Delays
Rental cars that went unused at the start of the pandemic turned into liabilities rather than assets. While some automobile rental businesses completely went out of business, others sold off their fleets to remain in operation.
Big corporate rental companies with the resources to get through the difficult months did so, but with significantly less inventory than they had before. Almost 750 thousand vehicles were sold by car rental firms all at once.
Rental vehicles at airport car rentals are now much less. There are occasionally a few automobiles available, but tourists avoid paying the hefty costs. Due to the car shortage, customers expecting to hire a car on a first-come, first-served basis frequently have no alternative but to use a taxi, Uber, Lyft, or another mode of transportation.
While expanding their fleets, many rental firms aren’t doing so quickly enough or aren’t handling their reservations and inventories well enough to guarantee that clients can always pick up the car they reserved.
The Supply-Chain Problems
The auto industry’s supply chain problems brought on by manufacturing slowdowns are another factor keeping fleets from filling up with vehicles once more. Simply put, rental companies are unable to purchase and hire unavailable vehicles.
The same problems that cause orders for items like furniture and home products to be delayed for weeks or months are also the ones that slow down car production.
Also Read: On A Plane, Is Sunscreen Permitted?
Deficits In Microchips
Due to the epidemic, millions of individuals started working from home, which significantly raised the demand for technology. This pushed manufacturers to start producing microchips for laptops, tablets, and other technology instead of only electronics and microchips for cars.
This cascading effect led to a shortage of semiconductor microchips, which in turn reduced the manufacture of new cars. After all, without the microchips, manufacturers cannot produce cars that need them.
Multinational chip manufacturer Intel anticipates that the deficit will gradually get better but won’t disappear completely until 2023. IBM’s CEO believes it might last till 2024.
Rental businesses could have changed their fleets gradually at that point. But, they might not rush to assemble the number of cars they have in 2019 and earlier if they learn that fewer cars and higher costs are a more profitable model.
How To Reduce Costs While Renting A Vehicle
Even while it is helpful to comprehend why rental automobiles are currently so expensive, the sticker shock still remains. Fortunately, there are a few ways to cut costs if you need to rent a car for your trip.
It would be discouraging to pay the current rate of $80+ per day if you had intended to spend the typical $30 per day for a car rental while on vacation in Miami. You can, however, take certain actions to reduce the cost of renting.
Your rental will likely continue to be far more expensive than it was two years ago. Yet, you may still save money by using these advice on automobile rentals.
Contact Nearby Car Dealerships
This money-saving advice has been employed for years by many people who frequently rent cars. If any automobiles are available for rental, give the nearest car dealership a call and inquire.
It requires a little luck because not all dealerships do this, especially when there is a shortage of vehicles. The cost of renting a car from a local dealership will typically be less expensive than through a rental company.
Dealerships don’t have the same high demand for rentals as agencies do, thus rates don’t rise as quickly.
Employ Car Rental Deal-Finding Apps
Savings-oriented websites and applications can be very beneficial.
One such is Autos lash, which aids in locating the best offer for the dates of your rental. The website keeps tabs on the price of rentals and can notify you when they drop.
Verify Moving Rental Companies And Home Improvement Businesses.
You might be able to save money by renting a U-Haul van or truck from Home Depot or Lowe’s, depending on your needs.
Not everyone will be able to use this solution. Yet, it’s worthwhile to consider the costs if you have no choice but to rent a car.
Invest In A Peer-To-Peer Rental Service.
Peer-to-peer automobile rental businesses enable people to make money by renting out their vehicles to others. There are several options for these services in most metro regions, but Turro is the most prevalent.
You can save a lot of money compared to hiring from a corporate organization by using discounts on multi-day rentals and the personalized prices each car owner sets. There will be a wider variety, but there will also probably be a lot more automobiles available.
Uber is well known for providing ride-sharing at lower costs than the majority of taxi services, but they also offer peer-to-peer car rentals, similar to Turo. Lyft, a different ride-sharing startup, also offers the similar option through Lyft Rentals.
You can even rent cars by the hour from smaller peer-to-peer businesses like Get round, which may suit your needs while travelling.
Rejoin Costco
Members of Costco can rent automobiles from Costco Travel for less money than most other car rental companies.
If a better rate becomes available after you make a reservation, you can cancel and rebook without incurring any fees from Costco Rental.
A $60 annual Costco membership can be worthwhile if you intend to travel for more than a single day just for the travel discounts. The $120 membership offers greater benefits and 2% off of any purchases made through Costco Travel.
Costs For ride-Sharing Services Can Be Compared.
Having access to transportation constantly is one benefit of renting a car. But, scheduling an Uber pick-up to transport you where you need to go can be less expensive if you just sometimes need to utilize a vehicle.
To determine whether the inconvenience justifies the savings, compare pricing.
Book As Soon As You Can
No matter which rental car agency you go with, make your reservations as long in advance as you can, ideally many months.
Rent will be more expensive the closer you book to your vacation date because supply and demand affect price.
Also, making your reservations early allows you flexibility in case a better deal arises.
The Conclusions
Business and leisure travellers are feeling the pinch as daily automobile rental prices increased by an average of $35 in 2019.
Although rates aren’t as low as they were two years ago, if you can book early, do some comparison shopping, and think outside the box, you can probably discover lower rates.
