Why are Car Rentals in Orlando so Expensive?
 

We are flying to Orlando next week Thursday.

The cheapest quotes for car rentals are on hotwire (over $60/d for economy - base rate), and perhaps through bidding on priceline (over $50/d for economy - base rate).

We rented a car in Las Vegas for four days from Jan 1. The hotwire rate was less than $10/d (base rate) for an intermediate size car.

I would have expected with the decreased demand of car rentals due to the poor economy, and with the relatively large number of available rental cars (relative to demand), the price of an rental car in Orlando would have rivalled the rate I was able to find for Las Vegas.

It's a holiday weekend and Disneyworld is completely sold out :)

Except for the busy periods, I find Orlando to have some of the cheapest car rentals in the country.

Often I get cars in the $12-14 daily range.

Possible explanations include:
1- Presidents Day Weekend
2- Beginning of Spring Break for some (and the beginning of high season)
3- Speed Weeks at Daytona with major events on Feb 13, 14 and culminating with the Daytona 500 on Feb 15th. Hint: Try to avoid I-4 in the Daytona Beach area before and after a race.

Generally, car rental prices in the Orlando area are very reasonable.

Agree with previous poster. Try hotwire or priceline as you get a day or two out. If there are cars, you will be able to get a better rate.

Although this is an old thread, the reason for the high rental car rates in every Florida Airport over Presidents day weekend is because of the Daytona 500.

Yeah, but I just checked for a week in August and the prices are almost like X-mas -- $300 week. Different dates in August, same prices.

Quite odd. MCO is usually one of the cheapest places in the world to rent cars. I'll hold something and check back periodically. Can't believe the demand is suddenly so strong.

Going to Orlando May 13 thru 17. Found a cheap flight and room but I sure need a cheap rental car. No luck so far.

Folks are going to be shocked at some of the rental car rates they run across at MCO these days. I'm seeing $400 week at many agencies for summer travel.

I figure it will get better -- and that priceline will probably save the day -- but in the meantime I've reserved a compact with rentalcarmomma.com for $164/week + taxes. In normal circumstances, this would be a terrible deal, but their 2009 negotiated rates are now a GREAT deal!

Does anyone know of any other pre-negotiated MCO rates? Given the skyrocketing costs, these will all likely be better.

Hotwire for a midsize car at MCO, mid-month, just came out for me at $18 a day plus fees.

Hard to complain.

Yeah, the prices seem to come down as your travel date approaches. That's why I'm holding the Dollar/Thrifty rate and just waiting for a better deal. It does not seem possible to me that it will cost $300 to rent a small car at MCO (X-mas, maybe, but not in late August).

Here's an NYTimes article explaining why car rental costs in some markets are skyrocketing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/travel/28prac.html

For my just-concluded 13-day (6/10/09-6/23/09) trip to MCO, I ended up with a midsize (Kia Rondo, not a bad car) from Alamo for $225 plus fees.

$17.30 a day plus fees during a pretty busy time, and I got 1.5 WN RR credits.

That strikes me as quite reasonable.

It sure was. For SEVEN DAYS in mid August, Alamo wants $456 for their smallest car on Orbitz at MCO, and they're the cheapest major car rental company! I'm sure you could shave 50 bucks from this rate with a code, but perhaps you can see the problem.

I assume rates go down as you get closer to arrival. Rates are certainly cheaper on Hotwire now. But this represents a sea-change in MCO car rental pricing.

Have you tried booking through WN's website? I almost always get my best price there using one or more coupons or codes. You used to have to be a WN flyer within 24 hours or pickup or dropoff, but no longer.

One-way rentals in FL often incur no drop charge, so sometimes it's worth it to fly into and or out of an alternative airport.

Good luck.