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WHY are rental cars in December in Florida so expensive?

WHY are rental cars in December in Florida so expensive?

Old Aug 21st, 2011, 04:18 AM
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WHY are rental cars in December in Florida so expensive?

My family is planning a trip to Disney World in Florida the week before Christmas, and I am absolutely apalled at the rental car prices I am finding! $125 per day for an ECONOMY car?! The car rental is going to be close to $1000 for a week! Can anyone shed some light on why the cars are so expensive? At these rates, we may have to drive to Florida to avoid having to rent a car.
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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 04:29 AM
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try kayak. I just found economy cars for $34 per day.
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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 05:04 AM
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It's called supply and demands. Florida in December equals high season, high demand, few cars will be available = charge more.
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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 05:46 AM
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Rental cars in general have gone up dramatically in price. Do you belong to COSTCO? They may have a code for better prices.

But as Mike says, that is the start of prime time in FL so prices will be higher.

Also try mousesavers.com for codes to get a better price.
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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 05:46 AM
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I think that you should do a more rigorous search and you'll find better rates.

For example, I did a dummy booking for an economy car from December 17-January 7 and I got a base rate of $198/week with unlimited miles. This was with Thrifty using corporate # 004M001010 (the Orlando Magicard rate and available to all). Pickup and return location was MCO.

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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 06:12 AM
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Thanks for the hints! I am a COSTCO member so I will see if I can find their discount code.

We will be flying in/out of TPA since airfares there are cheaper than MCO. My family has rented a house in Clermont, FL, so TPA isn't much further away than MCO.

Has anyone evr used E-Z Rent a Xar, or U-Save Car Rental from TPA? Both of these have decent rates but I've never heard of these companies.
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Old Aug 21st, 2011, 06:26 AM
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Those sound like local companies that may have older cars, more mileage, more prone to car troubles. And if you are not staying in Tampa, they may not have ability for road service if you have a problem and if your car becomes undrivable, they may not have another car to swap for yours. And they may not be free unlimited miles. Need to consider all the pros and cons.

I think using codes, you should be able to find something with a major company that is competitive.
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Old Sep 13th, 2011, 11:42 AM
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By any chance are you staying at a Disney Resort? You really do not need a car to get around Disney as they provide excellent bus/boat/monorail transportation to every sight on WDW. If so, i would call Disney and inquire on their airport transfer services. I know they offer pickup/dropoff from the airport to their hotels. It would be a shame to pay that much $ for the car to sit in the parking lot the entire time. By opting to use Disney transportation you wont need to pay parking fees at each park as well.
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Old Sep 13th, 2011, 02:18 PM
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LGarabito, I re-read the Op's most recent post and they have rented a house in Clermont, so they will definitely need a car. I don't know why they picked Clermont, but they've got a 45 - 60 minute drive to Disney from there.
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Old Sep 13th, 2011, 04:01 PM
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It is much less expensive if you are able to rent a car at a place other than the airport. Even if you take a taxi to another area, it can more than pay for itself.
We found a great deal for a car rental on hotwire.com last year. It was Hertz, but hotwire offered the deal. It was funny because when we got to the Fort Lauderdale airport, none of the other car rental places had a line but the line at Hertz was very long. That's because the prices were anywhere from $11 to $13 a day!
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Old Sep 13th, 2011, 04:42 PM
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Supply and demand.
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Old Sep 13th, 2011, 05:09 PM
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That ugly C word: capitalism
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Old Dec 6th, 2011, 05:54 PM
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We just got a rental car for our son and family over Thanksgiving, rented, at Tampa Airport. Got a Hertz mid sized car through Hotwire for $242 or something for 8 days. If you go this route, flying into Tampa, rent from TIA (in airport rentals). VERY convenient and maybe less expensive than Orlando rentals. It certainly beats driving! Direct flights through AA's website, DFW-TPA.
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Old Dec 6th, 2011, 06:44 PM
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I also had good luck by doing a bidding on Priceline. I was surprised to get Hertz for a much lower rate than their website was quoting.
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Old Dec 7th, 2011, 05:55 AM
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"I don't know why they picked Clermont, but they've got a 45 - 60 minute drive to Disney from there"

Not true, only 20-30 minute drive down US-27.
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Old Dec 7th, 2011, 06:00 AM
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The same reason hotels are more expensive during certain times of the year. Florida is one of the few warm places in the US (without flying to Hawaii) in December and there will always be companies trying to take advantage of that. Keep looking, you'll find better prices.
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Old Dec 7th, 2011, 06:12 AM
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We did opt to stay at a Dworld resort for the first half of our trip and Universal for the second half because when we penciled out rental car, parking, gas, it was about the same or less to stay at a Dworld moderate resort.
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Old Dec 8th, 2011, 05:39 PM
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I've mentioned this in another post, but you also need to consider insurance - CDW/LDW coverage. Most US credit cards offer this and as long as you book and pay for the rental car on the card you don't need to purchase coverage from the rental car company, which is at least $30/day. However, I have read that if you book through a 3rd party such as expedia or hotwire that you are not purchasing directly from the rental car company and therefore there is no coverage with your credit card. I'm not certain about this, but it is something that you should check with your credit card provider.
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Old Dec 9th, 2011, 05:55 AM
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I know my personal car insurance covers me on rental cars so don't forget to check into that also.
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Old Dec 9th, 2011, 06:45 PM
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gmoney, you lead-foot, you! ;-)
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