Switzerland is twice the price
Jun 16, 2016, 6:34 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2
Switzerland is twice the price
You have to love paying double to hire a car in Switzerland. I regularly pay £50+ / day to hire the smallest car out of Zurich. Thats double what I pay in Madrid or the UK or USA. Anyone have an Avis AWD or other discount code that works in Zurich?
Jun 17, 2016, 9:05 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,934
What do you mean by "works"? Are you sure the AWD you use isn't working? Have you checked to make sure that it doesn't cost even much more without the AWD you're using? (Keep in mind you may have to log out of the Avis website to see no-AWD prices. If you're Avis Preferred, there's probably an AWD which is your default that's saved in your account, and so you're never seeing "full list" price to begin with.)
A discount is just that; a discount from the "full list" rate. But the "full list" rate varies from location to location and from time to time, so no discount gets you the same rate everywhere and every time, it just gets you a percentage reduction from that "full list" price.
Have you tried airline AWDs that typically say at least 25% off?
Meanwhile, price a car in ANC (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) for this July and see if you still get prices half of what Zurich is asking. Not all of USA has the same prices, so your claim that Zurich (which is one city) is twice price of USA (which is giant country with zillions of cities) makes no sense to me.
A discount is just that; a discount from the "full list" rate. But the "full list" rate varies from location to location and from time to time, so no discount gets you the same rate everywhere and every time, it just gets you a percentage reduction from that "full list" price.
Have you tried airline AWDs that typically say at least 25% off?
Meanwhile, price a car in ANC (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) for this July and see if you still get prices half of what Zurich is asking. Not all of USA has the same prices, so your claim that Zurich (which is one city) is twice price of USA (which is giant country with zillions of cities) makes no sense to me.
Jun 18, 2016, 6:17 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,524
That's just the way things are in Switzerland. It's an expensive country ,and Avis (and the competition) charge what they can. Even with my (Swiss) corp. AWD, it's far more to rent in Switzerland than in any of the the neighboring countries.
This is most obvious in BSL: That airport is shared by Switzerland and France and has two exits- one to Switzerland, one to France. Each side has an Avis station. Renting an Avis car from the French side ( put in 'MLH' as an airport code on the avis website) is on average 40% less expensive than from the Swiss side. Same thing for Europcar, Hertz or Sixt there.
This is most obvious in BSL: That airport is shared by Switzerland and France and has two exits- one to Switzerland, one to France. Each side has an Avis station. Renting an Avis car from the French side ( put in 'MLH' as an airport code on the avis website) is on average 40% less expensive than from the Swiss side. Same thing for Europcar, Hertz or Sixt there.