There was a time when I worked for this rental car company, and there was a big storm that kept a bunch of people out.

Tons of people tried to rent cars from us, but we didnt give em to them because we were sold out.

The very next day, TWO DAYS worth of reservations showed up, those reservations less than 24 hours old were guaranteed a car, the rest we were giving on a space available basis. PLUS people who WERE supposed to GO OUT that night were not returning their cars as they should have, because their flights were cancelled, some drove the cars directly to another airport, some drove it all the way back to their home location.

from 9-11, it took as long as two years for some cars to get back to their home locations. More cars went west than went east, therefore causing car fleet mismatches for the better part of 2 years, even though travel was down.


Morale of the story, just cause you see cars on the lot, doesnt mean its not spoken for or needed.