Rental Car Ripoffs - How do they get away with it?
 

I'm trying to reserve a car in Myrtle Beach in mid-November for 4 days. Checked with Hertz, Avis, and Budget. With my corporate discount and without taking any additional insurance, they want up to $240 for the 4 days. What infuriated me were the taxes & fees they tack on renting at the airport:

12.5% Tax on the car.
10% airport recovery fee.
$16 airport fee.

One of the 3 majors (Hertz) has an offsite rental place about 4 miles from the airport. Their charge for the 4 days is only $110 (picking up from them/drop off at the airport). Maybe they'll pick me up at the airport? Either way, a $7-8 taxi makes it well worth it.

I guess I could try priceline or hotwire to see if I could get a better rate.

I've rented before from Myrtle Beach airport many times before for similar car/timeframe, and the costs were less than $100.

How do they get away with these taxes/fees? Because we let them? Where's the outrage?

Thanks for letting me vent. I guess the lesson here is to check with local rental options if possible to avoid all these airport fees. ((b))

It's not the rental car agencies it's the government. Check out Orlando, like 30-40% of the cost of a rental are taxes. It's basically a tourist tax and Orlando, in particular, can get away with it. Myrtle Beach is another good example. The only thing you can do is vacation elsewhere and write the board of tourism and tell them why.

Loki--That is not what I want to hear! We are headed to Orlando in Dec. and will need a rental car. Any suggestions for places there?

Budman, when are y'all arriving? I'd be more than happy to pick y'all up from the airport and drop you at hertz.

Budman,

National Car Rental is the only company that allows you to stack contract numbers and coupons in order to reduce your rate.

They are located in Myrtle Beach (I just checked). It might be worth your time to go to www.flyertalk and get some information there.

I'm renting a full size one-way rental Oct. 25-28 with pick-up in Miami and drop-off in Ft. Lauderdale. The price started off at $211, I now have it down to $108.

If you need contract numbers or coupon codes, please let me know.

I just plugged in my dates with National -- They want around $200. Here are some of their fees:

Mrytle Bch Arpt Cntrct Fee4usd/dy $16.00

Concession Recoup Fee 11.11 Pct $15.97

Sc Rental Vehicle Surcharge 5 Pct $8.78

County Hospitality Fee 2.5 Pct $3.59

Sales Tax (5.0%) $8.78
Subtotal $53.12

It's incredible. I appreciate the offer of the coupon/contract info. budmanbudman at hotmail dot com.

GoT, thanks for the offer. We are coming in around Noon on the 17th. One of my brothers will probably pick me up.

Looking forward to the oysters and the "shucking lesson." :-) ((b))

Budman,

I just sent you an e-mail message.

Hi bman! Vent, rant, go ahead. Not only are there all the hiddens, some times they don't even have a car for you. Happened to us 3 times now. Grrrr

ps...your petite syrah was dy-no-mite
((8))

Budman, did you check hotwire? I did and got $140 for the four days on a mid sized car including all taxes and service charges.

Visitors don't vote in local elections.

i_am_kane, will check it out when I get home this evening. Thanks.

GoT - I think I will stick with the $110 Hertz unless I can find something cheaper. Pick up offsite but return to airport. Only a tad inconvenient.

Linda, thanks, the PS did come out good -- I can imagine what it will be like next year. You'll have to try to make one of the NJ/NY GTG's. I normally bring a variety. :-)

I'm an Apple user. Their latest software has a application called widgets. One of the programs is for car rentals (www.widgetizer.com) I typed in my needs and checked daily to get up-dates. One Sunday morning I caught a deal. An ecomony car from Hertz for $48.99 a week. I flew into BDL and they didn't have an ecomony car so they up-graded me to a mid-sized Dodge, Total cost for 14 days in Augusr $120.00

mms,

I always rent from Dollar in Orlando but I use their Express service (see the website). If you don't, the lines are long and they will hard sell the insurance and try and convince you that your insurance policy won't cover it and that you won't be able to buy gas near the airport... Once you're in the Express program, it's smooth sailing there. And FYI, if you book through Costco.com (if you're a member) they'll cover the first additional driver free of charge.

Loki--Thanks!!! Yes, we belong to Costco so I will check that too. Our dates will be in limbo til the last minute, so that doesn't help, but oh well, that's life!