absolutely no rental cars at YUL next Monday?
Jul 13, 2022, 12:18 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 14
absolutely no rental cars at YUL next Monday?
I've been trying to book a car YUL-YUL for Monday through Saturday of next week for 36 h. At first, through our company travel tool which queries the big four rental companies. Then today through the Hertz website. Then through two touristy metasearch sites that look at niche companies in addition to the big ones. Absolutely zilch. When I keep the times and change to YOW or YYZ, I get on the order of 900 hits in those metasearch sites.
System hickup only for Montréal? And two days in a row?
System hickup only for Montréal? And two days in a row?
Jul 13, 2022, 2:34 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,190
I've been trying to book a car YUL-YUL for Monday through Saturday of next week for 36 h. At first, through our company travel tool which queries the big four rental companies. Then today through the Hertz website. Then through two touristy metasearch sites that look at niche companies in addition to the big ones. Absolutely zilch. When I keep the times and change to YOW or YYZ, I get on the order of 900 hits in those metasearch sites.
System hickup only for Montréal? And two days in a row?
System hickup only for Montréal? And two days in a row?
Last time I had to rent a uhaul. No cars.
Jul 14, 2022, 10:47 am
#11
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: YEG
Programs: Table scraps from Aeroplan and AmEx Plat
Posts: 901
Had a similar thing happen to me on a last-minute trip to Vancouver some months ago. Was able to find a no-name local car rental company operating out of some industrial area, but with a mileage limit. Luckily I didn't need to drive that much. Perhaps search google for these types of car rentals in Montreal.
Jul 14, 2022, 2:40 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2016
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 1,506
This is par for the course all over the world right now. And lots of the cars you do get have odometer readings far higher than normal. It’s yet another manifestation of the problems with supply chains, etc.
As others have said, get creative with trying smaller off-airport locations, longer and shorter rental periods, and so on. You may get lucky eventually.
As others have said, get creative with trying smaller off-airport locations, longer and shorter rental periods, and so on. You may get lucky eventually.
Jul 14, 2022, 3:45 pm
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2022
Posts: 14
Well, I did try Montréal city with a large perimeter, even Cornwall, ON. I found one small company at YUL airport calles Routes but they open only 8 am - 5:30 pm with no keybox and no late drop off.
Then suddenly Budget cars of all sizes from economy started turning up at some aggregate sites I had tried before but not all (e.g. priceline and our company travel system didn't show them), The offers were all through resellers, not directly from Budget. I ended up booking through Opodo after checking directly with Budget which was slightly more expensive.
Yes, the price was ridiculous, about CAD 1000 for 5 days and with minimal differences between car sizes. It was also about twice as expensive as the car I had reserved with Avis from YOW including the one way fee. Aren't they the same company?
Econ 101 would teach that if YOW is teeming with cars and they can be rented out at more than double the price two hours down the road, they should be paying people to drive them to Montréal.
Then suddenly Budget cars of all sizes from economy started turning up at some aggregate sites I had tried before but not all (e.g. priceline and our company travel system didn't show them), The offers were all through resellers, not directly from Budget. I ended up booking through Opodo after checking directly with Budget which was slightly more expensive.
Yes, the price was ridiculous, about CAD 1000 for 5 days and with minimal differences between car sizes. It was also about twice as expensive as the car I had reserved with Avis from YOW including the one way fee. Aren't they the same company?
Econ 101 would teach that if YOW is teeming with cars and they can be rented out at more than double the price two hours down the road, they should be paying people to drive them to Montréal.