batrm

Hi everyone.
I need to rent a car at BUF apt. However I noticed that despite using promo codes or third party websites the rates are incredibly higher than everywhere else ... I tried other locations next to Buffalo without finding a lower rate ... Any suggestion ?

sdsearch

Without knowing how far out you're trying rent (ie, pickup on what date), it's hard.

At least at Avis (but I suspect at other places too), the lowest rates are found by making a pay-later (no card charged until you pick up the car) reservation and then start checking two weeks out or so on a near-daily basis, and at many locations the price will drop (sometimes plummet), though after a few more days it may rise (or skyrocket) again.

This is assuming no special event is going on in that area at the time you're going. For example, don't plan on this technique working in whatever town hosting the Superbowl for Superbowl weekend.

In other words, rates vary over time (both the time of the pickup date, and how long a time before pickup you finalize the reservation) way more than they may vary based on anything else.

Try some completely different pickup dates and see if the problem is the specific pickup date you're trying to book.

batrm

Hi there
It will be November 2nd for a day.
Changing dates does not affect the price.

guv1976

Have you considered placing a bid for your one-day rental at priceline.com?

sdsearch

What do you mean by "incredibly higher"?

I just did a a search for Nov 2 to Nov 3, both 10:30 am to 10:30 am and again 8 pm to 8 pm on www.orbitz.com, and it finds Enterprise having a Compact SUV for $47 per day, $60 total, Alamo the same for a couple dollars more, or if you don't want an SUV at all (but you didn't say that), then Alamo has Economy for $60 per day, $77 total, and Compact for $62 per day, $79 total.

And that's with no discount codes.

The fact that only Enterprise and Alamo have these prices simply implies that the others are mostly sold out already.

That probably also explains why it's "upside down" (with SUVs for less than normal cars).

Yes, that's a couple dozen bucks higher than most big airports, but I tried a few smaller airports like Charlottesville VA and found a similar ballpark of starting prices in the $40s before taxes/fees (except not "upside down" there).

I therefore suggest you reserve one of these before these disappear too. But reserve it on a non-advance-payment rate, so that in case the rate does go down closer to your pickup date you can hopefully adjust your reservation.

One possibility, btw, I just realized: When do the chances of "lake effect" snow start in the Buffalo area? (Buffalo gets "lake effect" snowfalls like few other cities in the country.) Perhaps that's a week that many rental companies chose to "winterize" their cars (taking the temporarily out of service)? I don't know if I have the timing right, I'm just trying to think of something other than an event people could be coming for that could affect BUF more than most other cities.

And/or I don't know if the winterizing needs of BUF rental cars (more so than Chicago even, I'd think) might increase their costs which they pass on to the rates?

But again, did you really compare to a bunch of airports of BUF's size, or only to bigger airports?