Hertz - 2.5 weeks more expensive than 1+1.5 weeks (over new year)

Hi,

I'm planning a trip over new years eve and looking for a nice ride there. When checking, it seemed to me that the reservation was quite expense. Lets take for example a FSAR in MIA. Note that I am checking from Germany so hertz.com gives me EUR prices and includes LDW/taxes by default.

The total price is
25.12 - 08.01 EUR 821.81
And if i split the rental up
25.12 - 01.01 EUR 410.90
01.01 - 08.01 EUR 200.98

So obviosuly there is something very expensive about the last week in December. But why does this also affect the total rate when booking 2 weeks :confused:. Does anyone know any way around that? Prefereable without having to go to the rental station in the mid of the vacation ;). Should I maybe just wait (I always thought booking early would be preferable)?

To make things even more complicated I actually intend to book via ADAC (German AAA) because that gives additional driver for slightly less money than when boooking directly (without coupons/Gold/whatever bonus is difficult to achieve for foreigners).

If it's any consolation to you, I see the exact same thing when I check Orbitz from the U.S. Lots of $550-600 rates for Christmas week, followed by multiple $175-250 choices for the following week. Book them together as a single two-week rental, and it's $1100+. This is a fairly well-known phenomenon with rental car rates, and we get a lot of threads here about car-swapping in the middle of rentals.

So the question becomes: are you remaining in the Miami area for the two weeks and able to do a car-swap? If so, I'd probably get the reservations made with the best CDP/PC combinations you have and then continue to check back periodically. Sometimes rental rates drop, but on a max-peak week like Christmas in Miami, they could also sell out entirely. I've actually seen that happen when I wanted a car in Miami - at least get one on hold now knowing you can cancel later.

If your plan is to leave South Florida with the car, only returning to the area at the end of the two weeks, then unfortunately you're stuck with the higher rates for the whole period. They can't do a "virtual return" in the middle of your rental.

Note that Miami at peak times can be a total mess with long queues for rental cars. There is an advantage to renting from a "major" brand agency there with a membership in their expedited-renter program (#1 Club Gold, etc.). You're on the right track looking at Hertz...perhaps consider Sixt if they have a decent expedited-renter program. (I know they're a European brand but don't know anything about their operations in the U.S.) I noticed they had decent rates on Orbitz so maybe they're also competitive booked from Germany.

Since Hertz is prevalent in Germany I would think you could join #1 Club Gold if you aren't in it already...

Thanks for your answer! I really thought I was overlooking something obvious. As a customer I can only wonder how such a phenomenon can actually persist in a competitive environment (actually National/Alamo seem to show the same pattern).

We could go for the mid-rental-return, but it limits our options for planning when there :(. Having to be there at a specific time/date during a vacation where there are a lot of options for full-day trips isn't nice. (It's actually not set that we're going for Florida, Las Vegas is another option, showing the same pattern though slightly less extreme).

I was thinking about that Club Gold. However it appears that as a German you need 3 rentals within 12 month to be eligible for Gold Plus, which I won't get that easy just renting cars for vacations. During my last experience with Alamo in Las Vegas I was able to look at and select from a few (actually two) cars, the keys were just inside ready to be picked up. And when I returned, I also just had to hand the key to an associate at the parking lot and could walk away. I was kind of hoping that this would be standard on bigger locations and also for Hertz being kind of a premium agency. While I would be fine to pay a little extra for good service, I just don't seem to qualify not renting that frequently.

Querying Vegas on Orbitz, it looks like fairly normal pricing. If you don't hold a Hertz, National, or Avis frequent-renter card, Alamo is actually the best agency to use in my opinion.

You mentioned wanting a nice ride: Alamo.com's rate for a premium car for the full two weeks for a German resident is $722 all in. That's pretty good...almost exactly what I'd pay as a U.S. resident with an Alamo frequent-renter card and a typical 10%-off promo/coupon code.

If you're considering spending two weeks in the southwest U.S., you might consider the southern California airports as well (LAX mainly, although it can't hurt to query them all). Never a problem renting cars there over the holidays and it's a good base for two weeks of exploration, even if a few days of that are into the desert including to Vegas.

Querying Vegas on Orbitz, it looks like fairly normal pricing. If you don't hold a Hertz, National, or Avis frequent-renter card, Alamo is actually the best agency to use in my opinion.

You mentioned wanting a nice ride: Alamo.com's rate for a premium car for the full two weeks for a German resident is $722 all in. That's pretty good...almost exactly what I'd pay as a U.S. resident with an Alamo frequent-renter card and a typical 10%-off promo/coupon code.

If you're considering spending two weeks in the southwest U.S., you might consider the southern California airports as well (LAX mainly, although it can't hurt to query them all). Never a problem renting cars there over the holidays and it's a good base for two weeks of exploration, even if a few days of that are into the desert including to Vegas.

The rates on Alamo when selecting 'German' are indeed pretty good ^. However I think I'll also need the Extended Protection/ LIS (don't think my personal liability insurance covers rental cars) and an additional driver. When I book through ADAC (German AAA) I get that inclusive.

E.g. for 2 weeks + 2 days around new years eve incl. add driver, EP/LIS, SCDW, TP unlim milage
$1033 /w Alamo LDAR
$1075 /w Hertz LCAR

I guess thats not a terrible deal, but just 2 weeks later the same time would be $910 (Alamo) / $871 (Hertz).

Anyway - the main reason I was looking for Hertz instead of Alamo was that apeparently Glas/Tire damage is covered with Hertz CDW, but not Alamo (or National).

I'm just not sure yet about the nice ride thing, we booked PCAR in MIA some time ago and got a Grand Marquis. We really didn't like it on so many levels. After some days we swapped it for an Altima at a differen Hertz station. So I can't really complain about the Hertz service. If Hertz phases out the Panther cars by December, we'll likely go for PCAR/LCAR.

Yeah, Grand Marq is brutal... Only thing I can suggest is that if the Premium vs. Full rates are similar, book Premium and then you can always talk your way down to a Full if there is nothing on the lot but those land yachts.

I'm not as up on the Hertz fleet these days, but I've had some other more pleasant cars in the Premium category at Alamo/National in the past year or two. Maximas sometimes show up there, as do Toyota Avalons. The Ford Taurus, if it's well-trimmed, is a nice car and a lot more driveable than the GM. The Chrysler 300 is another common National Premium car, but it's getting into the land yacht category. (Although unlike the GM, I actually like it because it's usually pretty well-trimmed...)

I suspect Hertz at least has the Toyotas and the Fords. Don't know how much Chrysler they have...if any.

Hi, Zulan.

My girlfriend and I are flying into MIA mid september. After reading many threads on here (some very helpful), I booked with alamo.

I've been checking the prices periodically over the last 6 weeks. It's amazing how much the price fluctuates.

Premium car: 14 - 27 September

Initial price: $480
High: $1200+
Low: $327

The lowest price was actually showing this evening. I've been booking and cancelling whenever I'm offered a lower price. Seems to work for me. Might be an idea to delete your cookies and see if the price changes.

I also signed up as an alamo insider (on the .com site), which reduced the price further. I live in the UK, found that alamo.co.uk was usually quiet a bit more expensive when comparing with the .com site.

2 weeks of premium for $327 is quite good. ^

Sign up for the Budget emails as well: they periodically send out $139/wk Premiums and $159/wk Luxuries...although I have no idea if you could do a .com booking from the UK or if that even matters with them.

That's good to know. I'm pretty happy with the price. I'd love something German or sporty and/or with a V8, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.

Will slip the attendant $10 and see what that gets me.

Thanks for the heads up on budget. Likelihood of them running that promotion in the next 2 weeks is probably slim, fingers crossed.

Yeah, Grand Marq is brutal... Only thing I can suggest is that if the Premium vs. Full rates are similar, book Premium and then you can always talk your way down to a Full if there is nothing on the lot but those land yachts.

We will book Luxury now, its ~85$ more than full (can't book premium for that period). And if we should get a Town Car we will definitely talk to them nicely, and rather take a Altima. Actually we were really tempted with the Altima/Camry category. I think those are nice cars with a good fuel economy (LV-Grand Canyon trip etc.). But considering 4 people* in the car a little more luxury wouldn't hurt and the additional cost for upgrade and fuel is reasonable too.

Having never driven any of the LCARs I would favor the Hunday Genesis. A 3series would certainly be a nice drive, but maybe a little cramped in the back. The other LCARs should be fine too, though I also assume the STS/DTS will be out of the fleet by then.

(* Actually 6 people in an ICAR+LCAR so the luggage wont be a big issue :))

Anyways - I also noticed that the price is fluctuating, even 4 months in advance :eek:. So we will definitely keep checking if the price goes down.

I also think $327 for 2 weeks premium is a really nice price, but I accept we can't have that around New Year ;). Have fun in MIA.