I was looking for a 5 day rental in LA for February and I couldn't believe the cost. For a midsize, I'm getting something around $50.00/day!! Just a couple months ago, I was there and got it for about 25.00!! I mean, we're talking double the cost.

So I just randomly typed in other days and I was getting similar costs. It didn't seem to matter whether I went through Hotwire, Priceline, or directly through the rental car companies.

Anybody else having such experiences? And does anyone know why the prices have gone up so much?

My understanding is that they have downsized their fleets and aren't so desperate to rent their cars because of that. I posted an interesting article not too long ago about new rental car rules and info that you might read. I'll see if I can locate it. One of the things it mentioned was the grace period is no longer an hour but a half-hour.

Also, I think it pays to check the websites frequently as the rates do change. Even so, I was only able to get $40 off my 10-day Las Vegas rental, but that fluctuation only happened once in the 2 weeks or so that I was searching.


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"And does anyone know why the prices have gone up so much?"

Part of it is that they have downsized their fleets. Part of it they need to make up for the volume declines due to reductions in travel.

The downsizing fleet issue is actually linked to another issue that is far more problematic for them, the virtual elimination of price protections on cars sold to them by the auto makers. Before January of this year, GM, for example, would sell a car to Avis with a minimum price protection when Avis sold the used car after it's useful rental life was over. (Which is a relatively short period.) The auto makers have stopped that, in large part, so now the car rental companies have the risk on a resale. The creates economic problems for them because it has reduced the percentage of the cost of the vehicle, when purchased new, that the rental companies can finance through 3rd parties. Let's say they used to put up 5% of the cost of the car when new. Now, they are needing to put up 10% (not exact numbers.) They need to generate more cash upfront to finance vehicles at a time when the absolute number of rentals has declined by about 10 to 15%.

The rental companies have concluded that they are rarely the deciding factor in booking travel plans. Of course that doesn't mean in every case, but far more cases than not.

I have been looking for a cheap weekly rental car in Denver at xmas time. The best rate I'd found was on hotwire, but even that was too high. A search here led me to flytalk.com to search for Hertz discount codes. Using the codes I found, I got my rate down to $187 for a midsize car, about a $100 savings. It was a good use of my time to search out all the codes.

Those codes drive me crazy. It's been my experience that if you don't twitch your nose just right, they don't apply to you. Or you try to book using the code and the darn thing has expired or maybe never even worked.

If Southwest Airlines flies to the city where you want to pick up and return, search their website for a rental; you don't have to fly with them to rent a car through their website. Choose the company offering the lowest rate (they use all the "biggies") and check back often, even daily, to see if the rate has dropped. The rate on our rental in San Diego in July dropped a lot the day before the trip, so we easily switched rental companies from Enterprise to Budget on the SW website the day before we were to pick up.

Shop on Hotwire for the "bottom line" with taxes at your destination. Then try Priceline if your dates are definite. Don't be tied to one rental name.

Maybe you have done this, but check nearby off-airport locations.

In the Boston area, for example, the cost of renting a car from Enterprise at Logan Airport can be up to twice the cost for the same car rented from off-airport locations. Of course, the totals can vary considerably among the off-airport locations.

All that to say that picking an off-airport location, even if you have to take a cab to get there, still might be a lot less than renting at the airport. You might even be able to return it at the airport for no extra charge (which would be great). Even if you can't, though, spending $25 each way for cab fares to save $200 on a rental would worth it to some people.

Don't know how applicable this is to LAX, though.

Recently we saw rentals at an airport location at $350 per week, with FrequentFlyer discount code and coupon on the website, the local edition branch exactly 1 mile from the airport was $150 for the week. It was a $5, 3 minute cab ride to save $200.

The rental companies are coming up with all these wild reasons for tripling their prices, but then why are they still offering great prices a mile from the airport? Alamo has had $10 and $20 per day specials all year if you rent Thurs through midnight Monday.

All you need is to get away from the airport or downtown hotels and you can get one for $150/wk no problem. I would start directly at Hertz and Enterprise sites. They will both come pick you up if you get within a few miles or so and they both have branches scattered all over.

"The rental companies are coming up with all these wild reasons for tripling their prices, but then why are they still offering great prices a mile from the airport?"

Because the operating costs (rent mainly) at these locations are low, and the demand is lower than at airports, so they can keep the prices lower. All they need is a small office at a low rent strip mall or something and a dozen or so parking spaces for their vehicles.

Just remember that Hertz and Enterprise (and whoever else) will not come to the airport to pick you up if you rent from an off-airport location.

<Anybody else having such experiences?>

Yes. My solution in each instance was to rent off airport, which saved me a ton in taxes. Other than the obvious problem of sorting out transportation to and from the off airport location though, many off airport locations have closed down too.