Thanks for the replies; especially about the one-way from CLT - CHS to pick up another rental starting & ending in CHS for the duration of the trip.

We are traveling through five cities in the states of NC, TN, & SC, so it's inconvenient to lose a whole day to go to CHS to pick up another rental, but I priced it anyway (both at and off-airport). $139 OW from CLT - CHS, and over $1200 for rest of trip CHS - CHS.

The pricing is crazy no matter what, so I'm going to stay with my one-way obviously at $1,044. I'm thinking though that there must be other factors in play....maybe the rental companies have sold off lots of inventory and with the reduced supply can charge more per day (supply-demand theory).

The one-way fee doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference here... it's expensive no matter what!