Originally Posted by
jackal
But the attitude around here seems to be that the rental companies are screwing us and are involved in some giant conspiracy to swindle the traveling public out of their hard-earned dollars and fatten their profits up, when realistically, the rental companies are just trying to stay in business and are responding to market conditions.
I think people here understand that car rental companies' costs are increasing and that rental rates must go up. What some of us are reacting to is that rates have suddenly jumped on the order of 70 or 80%, at least in some markets, rather than the 10 or 15 or even 20% we might have expected.
I've never had to pay more than $200/week for a compact in Sacramento, and usually less than $175. It might be $139 or $149 in a slow week and $189 or $199 when demand is high. It's been that way for years. Different companies have the best price different weeks but someone was always under $200, and usually several companies were. Now suddenly the cheapest compact is over $300.
There's no special event in town. Fewer people are flying into Sacramento than a year ago. When I rented on Saturday none of the rental companies had lines (the six biggest operate in a shared facility) and there were hundreds of available cars on the lots. So "supply and demand" by itself doesn't explain it for me.
You and ezmonee have done a good job describing the substantial costs the rental companies have to bear. But those costs have always been there. I think most renters understand that rental companies' costs are increasing and they expect and accept reasonable rate hikes. The question is why have the rates suddenly gone up so MUCH, at least in select markets?