SUV cheaper than Compact?
 

So, I'm Hertz Gold like many.. I'm a frequent customer, but this one has me stumped... I booked a 4 day rental 3 weeks ago pickup/drop off TPA. The rates were somewhat pricey at the time, $38 for a compact class and up from there. As it's a short trip, I went ahead and booked the compact rate. Today, for some reason I went in and chose to modify my reservation. When I went back to the list of vehicle classes and prices, Midsize SUV was $1 less per day than my current compact rate. Naturally, I switched classes and reconfirmed. I went thru the entire list, and the Midsize SUV was the cheapest option available -- cheaper than all of the rates listed (Compact, Interm, Full Size Sedan, etc).

Is this a glitch? I could understand if it was a one way rental and they had an influx of SUVs they needed to get moved to somewhere.. but a standard round trip? Seems like an error that I lucked out on.

Anyone have a similar situation?

Yeah that happens occasionally. I assume that it's just a side-effect of their demand/pricing algorithm. Several times I have booked SUV, Premium and Luxury for less than a Mid-Size.

booked an Elite suv for the price of a standard suv. Can't complain.

Month or two back a Hybrid was the cheapest thing to rent for one of my rentals from SFO by a significant amount (>$10/day cheaper than anything else).

Booked one, was assigned a Ford Fusion Hybrid, but had no issues simply picking something better from Ultimate Choice.

It happens occasionally. Run with it and don't ask questions.

This is common. It happens all the time. Occasionally you'll see a Minivan or Fullsize SUV for less than the price of an economy car. It depends on inventory levels, competition, etc. Always worth checking all vehicle types and booking where you get the best bang for the buck. Also keep in mind that prices can change multiple times a day, so you want to check frequently or use a tracking service like AutoSlash to get the best deal.

Yes, yes, yes.

Sometimes this question gets asked here on FT and sometimes people answer that it must be due to the rental agency trying to get rid of a surplus of SUVs or something, but having been on the other side of setting rates, I can corroborate what mnic and m907 said. It's a mistake. No rental rate manager would ever intentionally offload a more expensive car for less--what happens if/when they oversell on SUVs? There's no upgrade path. Far easier to oversell on cars (even if you're tight on cars but have lots of SUVs) and then have SUVs as a fallback to upgrade people into than vice versa.

Hmm, well not sure I agree that it's a mistake per se. It may be an unintended consequence resulting from their rate management system. For example, a company called Rate Highway offers a tool that allows rental locations to monitor competitor's rates and automatically adjust their own rates in response to price changes at the competition. More info on this here and here. Lower prices for higher vehicle classes could be a mistake, but I would counter that this is definitely not always the case.

These sorts of quirks have also become more useful with the launch of Ultimate Choice, since they can be a ticket to a car you actually want. Previously, if there was a quirk where (for example) a convertible was cheaper than a midsize, I might not take it, if I actually needed something with four doors and/or a trunk. Now, that convertible is just a ticket to the UC selection.

The one area where under-pricing expensive cars would make sense is when there is a big corporate event or conference, etc. but relatively low demand otherwise. My travel policy says we have to rent a compact and should turn down upgrades due to the potential for increased fuel costs.

If Hertz knows about that, or anticipates that kind of rule, it wants the non-corproate travellers in big cars so it doesn't have to swap the (numerous) corporate travellers; meanwhlie, they're all paying a pre-agreed rate per day so the fact that the walk-up rate for a compact is high won't bother them.

I have seen full-size priced lower than mid-size.:)

My travel policy says we have to rent a compact and should turn down upgrades due to the potential for increased fuel costs. If Hertz knows about that, or anticipates that kind of rule, it wants the non-corproate travellers in big cars so it doesn't have to swap the (numerous) corporate travellers.

Judging by the very many triumphant, list-your-upgrades type of posts here, I highly doubt such a policy is really that numerous. In some cases people who work for small companies are required to reserve a compact, but they often use a free upgrade coupon to avoid squeezing into an uncomfortable econobox for a long business trip. They say with apparent envy how they wish they could choose a fun car from the Emerald Aisle or Ultimate Choice, but that would require paying for an intermediate, which their employer will not let them do.

I rent at RSW about 5 times per year. Around half the time, the Midsize SUV rate is the cheapest.