A Car Rental Apocalypse Is Coming: Here’s What You Need To Know

[pinkgirlmommy]

Several months ago, I booked a reservation for an intermediate car for 6/5-6/21 with Alamo (via Costco) for $723. I check regularly to catch any price drops, but the price just keeps on going up and up. That same reservation now costs $1272, a 76% increase in price. All other options through Costco are similarly priced.

yeah, that is crazy! Usually it's the opposite and you can grab it for less not more!

 

[pinkgirlmommy]

We are finding this same issue with both our rental in Orlando in June and Hawaii in November! Has anyone booked a cheap ticket like movie ticke through Undercover Tourist to get the 1/2 price rental through Undercover Tourist? This seems to be the only way that I can get a reasonably priced car in Orlando. And it seems to be Budget that I can find the best deal from. I have always used Alamo or National and am nervous about using Budget.

 

[Bullseye]

This is definitely a thing and is all over the news. They are saying it will last a while because there will not be much availability for a while for rental car companies to add to their fleet due to the the semiconductor shortage.

Sometimes I feel so out of it... I wasn't even aware there is a semiconductor shortage, but from what I just read it sounds like it's greatly affecting the automobile industry.

The same rental in 2019 cost me $330 that cost me $620 this year. So an increase of $290 (88%) in just two years. Plus I'm hearing in other threads that people are showing up to find no cars available despite booking months ago. Right now I wouldn't be as worried about booking through a third party like UCT as I would be scheduling my pick-up in the late evening or nighttime.

In any case as the affects of Covid on the economy diminish I'm confident car rentals will return to the status quo... although I doubt they will fully return to pre-covid pricing.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

We are finding this same issue with both our rental in Orlando in June and Hawaii in November! Has anyone booked a cheap ticket like movie ticke through ****************** to get the 1/2 price rental through ******************? This seems to be the only way that I can get a reasonably priced car in Orlando. And it seems to be Budget that I can find the best deal from. I have always used Alamo or National and am nervous about using Budget.

I've seen this referenced a few times and am thinking about trying it. So just to verify, you're talking about buying like an AMC ticket or popcorn for like $6.45 on UCT and then you should get emailed a code for a 1/2 price car rental, is that right? TIA!

 

[LuvDisney09]

I purchased the cheapest ticket and was able to do car rental reservations and make changes with no issues.

I've seen this referenced a few times and am thinking about trying it. So just to verify, you're talking about buying like an AMC ticket or popcorn for like $6.45 on UCT and then you should get emailed a code for a 1/2 price car rental, is that right? TIA!

 

[pinkgirlmommy]

I've seen this referenced a few times and am thinking about trying it. So just to verify, you're talking about buying like an AMC ticket or popcorn for like $6.45 on UCT and then you should get emailed a code for a 1/2 price car rental, is that right? TIA!

Yes! I read about it on a FB post or in one of these threads and am thinking about tyring it. I have an AMC movie popcorn ticket in my cart, and then it lets me click on the option to add a rental car for 50% off. It makes me nervous, though, because I am assuming it is a 1 and done kind of thing and modifying it will be complicated. It definitely saves me quite a bit of money so I am probably going to try it!

 

[LuvDisney09]

I had to modify my reservation and I contacted them and they canceled my existing reservation and sent me a link to be able to process another reservation with the discounted rate. Hope this helps.

Yes! I read about it on a FB post or in one of these threads and am thinking about tyring it. I have an AMC movie popcorn ticket in my cart, and then it lets me click on the option to add a rental car for 50% off. It makes me nervous, though, because I am assuming it is a 1 and done kind of thing and modifying it will be complicated. It definitely saves me quite a bit of money so I am probably going to try it!

 

[Sandiz08]

Our local enterprise has a one month waiting list currently. It’s crazy.

 

[starry_solo]

I had to modify my reservation and I contacted them and they canceled my existing reservation and sent me a link to be able to process another reservation with the discounted rate. Hope this helps.

I already bought tickets from them but didn't book a rental yet. Maybe I should... I don't need it the entire time we are there, just a few days, plus a return to a different location...

 

[joe-aka-papabear]

I have a midsize at the CCC being picked up this Friday for a week.($275) I actually received a call yesterday from the CCC just wanting to double check and confirm my reservation as they were completely booked with no extra cars available.

 

[Leigh L]

I have a midsize at the CCC being picked up this Friday for a week.($275) I actually received a call yesterday from the CCC just wanting to double check and confirm my reservation as they were completely booked with no extra cars available.

Thank you for sharing
Our reservation isn't until June at CCC and it's a minivan so I'm a little anxious. Normally we'll take the smaller cars but there are 6 of us this trip and half of it is off property. Glad to hear they are double checking!

 

[spiders]

Our local enterprise has a one month waiting list currently. It’s crazy.

Local Enterprises need to keep a decent amount of cars on the lot for insurance replacement rentals (e.g. You got in a wreck and your insurance is going to get you a car). The rates aren't nearly as good as retail rates but they pay the bills in the winter months -- it's probably a good idea to maintain those relationships.

With that being said, I reserved the highest car I've ever paid for. 4 days in Denver...$500 for a standard at Avis. That was a prepaid rate too.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

We waited 2.5 hours at Budget fastbreak in MCO for a car last month. They were simply out of cars. Everyone in line with us also had reservations. The line inside the terminal was twice as long. Every company I checked whole in line had zero cars avaialbe for MCO. We didn't get to Disney's gates until just before midnight. All the stores were closed except 7 11 and WaWa.

Going to AZ next week and paying a heft price for a car at Avis (someone I hardly use because it was the cheapest).

Paying over $100 for ONE DAY in July to rent from MCO to WDW. Fullsize. And I know my way around rates, coupons, etc...

 

[rick1zoo2]

I have a code from my employer to get a discounted corporate rate from Enterprise, and we rented a car from MCO for trips to WDW in Aug 2020, Nov 2020, and Dec 2020. Odd thing was that for the August trip, the Enterprise rate was better, and for the other trips, the corporate rate was better. Now for our upcoming trip in June, we probably won't rent a car, but the corporate rate is about half of the regular rate. Just nuts.

 

[easyas123]

I thought I'd share my experience of last week:

I had booked a mid size SUV via Enterprise/Corporate account. Booked it about 8 weeks prior to my trip, which was BWI-RSW Monday-Thursday. Same type of vehicle I get each time I fly into RSW. My rate was $228, which I thought was pretty good hearing some of the higher costs of renting!

Get to RSW (not first time I've flown into/out of or rented a car at), and Enterprise counter was closed, with a sign to go to Alamo counter. Alamo counter was closed with a sign to go to National Counter. Went there, agent indicated there was no issue, sent me to the garage to get my car. When I got there there was a 30 minute wait - which turned into 45 minutes - there were no cars, they were turning them around as soon as they came back in and they told us we could either wait until what we booked was returned or take what came in when it was our turn. I opted to take what came - which was perhaps the worlds tiniest SUV! We each had a hard case bag -both would quality as carry on luggage, and only one fit in the back, the other had to go on back seat but at that point I just wanted to get out of there. I don't even recall the brand of car, it was truly like they jammed 4 doors onto a 2 door clown car. By the time I got the car the wait was at least 90 minutes.

 

[irt9206]

Question for the people who have had to wait for cars, what time did this happen? I'll be at MCO around 10am for our rental and wasn't even concerned about this till reading this thread. TIA

 

[MIChessGuy]

I'll be picking up my third party prepaid Avis in mid-May, around 3:00 in the afternoon. Unfortunately I cannot risk trying to connect the rental to my Avis Preferred account, due to reports I have seen about losing a discount if that is done. So my plan is just to head for the main counter and hope for the best. My guess is that 3:00 is a little early to be completely out of cars; if I have to wait around while incoming cars are cleaned/washed/whatever, that's fine assuming I actually do get one.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Question for the people who have had to wait for cars, what time did this happen? I'll be at MCO around 10am for our rental and wasn't even concerned about this till reading this thread. TIA

We landed at 8:30 p.m.

 

[easyas123]

4:30 PM

 

[andigomeep]

I'll be picking up my third party prepaid Avis in mid-May, around 3:00 in the afternoon. Unfortunately I cannot risk trying to connect the rental to my Avis Preferred account, due to reports I have seen about losing a discount if that is done. So my plan is just to head for the main counter and hope for the best. My guess is that 3:00 is a little early to be completely out of cars; if I have to wait around while incoming cars are cleaned/washed/whatever, that's fine assuming I actually do get one.

I called and had mine connected. When did the issues occur? At pick up?