Hertz - South Florida in late December

I'm going to a rental car for the end of December and the first day or so of Jan. I was thinking no problem, and then checked the rates online and nearly had a coronary...we're talking $90+ a DAY for a Focus, even using whatever codes I could come up with, from either FLL or MIA.

Other companies are equally as bad....

Anyone know what gives? is this the norm? I can't even imagine paying $500 for 4 days of a Taurus, I don't know what to do...

I know there were extreme rental car shortages in the fall-winter last year in Florida due to the hurricanes. (Relief agencies, insurance companies, and government employees had much of the inventory booked on a long-term basis.)

This year, there could be some similar effect as agencies move their inventory up to the Gulf Coast. Or...it could be totally short-term demand for the Orange Bowl. Since that is a major corporate event, rental agencies can probably set prices at $90/day and still sell out.

Maybe try checking the neighborhood locations in Ft. Lauderdale and/or Miami. Might be worth the cab ride... Another standard strategy (if it's a Wed-Sun rental) is to break it up into two rentals to capture weekend rates. But in this case that probably won't help you much at all.

try rental locations near to the airports eg coral gables or (bit further) miami beach - this will also avoid the airport tax. especially useful if you arrive in pm as you can taxi to hotel near a rental station (or has a desk in it), relax, pick up car in morning and save on total rental time.

I also rented at a good rate from a local company earlier this year which has a rental desk in the airport embassy suites (which of course has a free shuttle) - cant remember the name

also try using orbitz to compare rates

I'm going to a rental car for the end of December and the first day or so of Jan. I was thinking no problem, and then checked the rates online and nearly had a coronary...we're talking $90+ a DAY for a Focus, even using whatever codes I could come up with, from either FLL or MIA.

Other companies are equally as bad....

Anyone know what gives? is this the norm? I can't even imagine paying $500 for 4 days of a Taurus, I don't know what to do...

You are coming during New Year's along with half the country. New Year's Eve in Miami is huge, and just about everybody who vacations in Miami rents a car. While I bet if you search around you can find a cheaper rate, you aren't going to find any bargains. As others have suggested, see what you can find at non-airport locations, the further from the urban core the better.

Good advice on the neighborhood locations---though many are closed on Jan. 1 when I need to return. Still, I think Hertz has a few that are open and less than half the price of the airports.

I certainly wouldn't expect any bargains, but...I rented an automatic midsize for a 10 days in Ireland for less!