supamaki
Drinkin' around the world!
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2001
I just read this article in Forbes, thought I'd share
Remember the good old pre-pandemic days, when you could plan a trip somewhere, then show up at the airport car-rental counter upon arrival and find a cheap last-minute vehicle for your trip? Or even during the pandemic, when there was a virtual fire sale on rental cars? Those days are gone.
Welcome to 2021, when a last-minute car rental might cost you $700 a day for a lowly SUV. And yes, that actually happened. According to Jonathan Weinberg, CEO and founder of car-rental site AutoSlash, that was the lowest price a customer could find for a trip this coming weekend in Arizona. Spoiler alert: They didn’t rent the SUV. “I think there was a bit of sticker shock,” says Weinberg, whose company specializes in getting the best possible deals on rental cars and tracking prices in case they drop.
But even deal wizards like AutoSlash can only make so much magic. According to Weinberg, the U.S. is experiencing a major rental car shortage that has been driven by the pandemic, which walloped this sector. “It all started with Covid, going back a year,” explains Weinberg. “The rental car companies were forced to go into survival mode and they sold off as many vehicles as they possibly could.” On top of that, 2020 witnessed major companies like Hertz (which also owns the Dollar and Thrifty car rental brands) and Advantage Rent A Car declaring bankruptcy, plus Europcar entering a restructuring.
For the rest of 2020, it wasn’t an issue. Demand was low, so car-rental companies kept their vehicle fleets at a very low level. But with people getting vaccinated in record numbers and travel starting to pick back up, the industry hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand in 2021—and it has all added up to a pretty grim situation for travelers, with sky-high prices and no inventory.
According to Weinberg, things hit a boiling point over President’s Day weekend. “Entire airports and entire cities were getting sold out in big cities like Tampa, Orlando, Denver. So if you hadn’t booked a couple of weeks in advance, you basically just weren’t going to have a vehicle at all,” says Weinberg.
And the worst is yet to come: “It’s become less of an occasional thing and more of a trend that has now escalated into an epidemic,” says Weinberg. “And we just see it getting worse and worse as time goes on.”
Complicating all of this are several factors: Americans are taking road trips in record numbers, driving instead of flying, renting cars instead of taking taxis and Ubers. Plus, people are taking more domestic trips, including places like San Juan, Puerto Rico, which has seen big supply issues, too. “Another thing that’s really pressing on demand is the fact that all these people who might’ve in other times gone [abroad] just can’t go there because of travel restrictions. So they’re all staying home and planning trips within the U.S., which is also putting a lot more pressure,” says Weinberg.
On top of it all, it’s expensive and challenging for the car-rental companies to increase their vehicle fleets due to the semiconductor shortage that is delaying car production and making it difficult to acquire new vehicles. “Car manufacturers typically sell to rental car companies in what they call ‘fleet sales’—where they’re basically selling at a cut-rate price. But why would they do that if you can sell to consumers who are willing to pay full-price for those vehicles?” says Weinberg.
So what’s a traveler to do in the face of all this apocalyptic news? “My advice to customers is to book as early as possible,” says Weinberg. Even if you’re just thinking about a trip, Weinberg advises looking into rental prices before you book your plane tickets or think about making speculative reservations. “The great thing about car rentals is that you can reserve without a credit card. We like to say that you don’t really have to have any skin in the game,” he says.
And don’t think it’s going to resolve itself anytime soon. “I really do think it’s going to get so bad that people are just going to give up and say, ‘I really want to travel, but this is just going to cost me too much. And I just can’t afford this car, or I literally just can’t find the car,’” says Weinberg. “It’s going to take people by surprise.”
Remember the good old pre-pandemic days, when you could plan a trip somewhere, then show up at the airport car-rental counter upon arrival and find a cheap last-minute vehicle for your trip? Or even during the pandemic, when there was a virtual fire sale on rental cars? Those days are gone.
Welcome to 2021, when a last-minute car rental might cost you $700 a day for a lowly SUV. And yes, that actually happened. According to Jonathan Weinberg, CEO and founder of car-rental site AutoSlash, that was the lowest price a customer could find for a trip this coming weekend in Arizona. Spoiler alert: They didn’t rent the SUV. “I think there was a bit of sticker shock,” says Weinberg, whose company specializes in getting the best possible deals on rental cars and tracking prices in case they drop.
But even deal wizards like AutoSlash can only make so much magic. According to Weinberg, the U.S. is experiencing a major rental car shortage that has been driven by the pandemic, which walloped this sector. “It all started with Covid, going back a year,” explains Weinberg. “The rental car companies were forced to go into survival mode and they sold off as many vehicles as they possibly could.” On top of that, 2020 witnessed major companies like Hertz (which also owns the Dollar and Thrifty car rental brands) and Advantage Rent A Car declaring bankruptcy, plus Europcar entering a restructuring.
For the rest of 2020, it wasn’t an issue. Demand was low, so car-rental companies kept their vehicle fleets at a very low level. But with people getting vaccinated in record numbers and travel starting to pick back up, the industry hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand in 2021—and it has all added up to a pretty grim situation for travelers, with sky-high prices and no inventory.
According to Weinberg, things hit a boiling point over President’s Day weekend. “Entire airports and entire cities were getting sold out in big cities like Tampa, Orlando, Denver. So if you hadn’t booked a couple of weeks in advance, you basically just weren’t going to have a vehicle at all,” says Weinberg.
And the worst is yet to come: “It’s become less of an occasional thing and more of a trend that has now escalated into an epidemic,” says Weinberg. “And we just see it getting worse and worse as time goes on.”
Complicating all of this are several factors: Americans are taking road trips in record numbers, driving instead of flying, renting cars instead of taking taxis and Ubers. Plus, people are taking more domestic trips, including places like San Juan, Puerto Rico, which has seen big supply issues, too. “Another thing that’s really pressing on demand is the fact that all these people who might’ve in other times gone [abroad] just can’t go there because of travel restrictions. So they’re all staying home and planning trips within the U.S., which is also putting a lot more pressure,” says Weinberg.
On top of it all, it’s expensive and challenging for the car-rental companies to increase their vehicle fleets due to the semiconductor shortage that is delaying car production and making it difficult to acquire new vehicles. “Car manufacturers typically sell to rental car companies in what they call ‘fleet sales’—where they’re basically selling at a cut-rate price. But why would they do that if you can sell to consumers who are willing to pay full-price for those vehicles?” says Weinberg.
So what’s a traveler to do in the face of all this apocalyptic news? “My advice to customers is to book as early as possible,” says Weinberg. Even if you’re just thinking about a trip, Weinberg advises looking into rental prices before you book your plane tickets or think about making speculative reservations. “The great thing about car rentals is that you can reserve without a credit card. We like to say that you don’t really have to have any skin in the game,” he says.
And don’t think it’s going to resolve itself anytime soon. “I really do think it’s going to get so bad that people are just going to give up and say, ‘I really want to travel, but this is just going to cost me too much. And I just can’t afford this car, or I literally just can’t find the car,’” says Weinberg. “It’s going to take people by surprise.”
I wonder if there are more like me.?
A Ford Explorer was at least $700. I didn’t bother to check the price of the Lexus 
