sdsearch

Well, I usually check several times in the couple weeks before my rental (by trying a Change Reservation) to see if the price has dropped.

Until last weekend, the price hadn't dropped but hadn't gone up either (from my booking months earlier) at SEA this coming week for a 4-day visit.

And then this weekend I thought I might want to extend my stay by about half a day.

But this weekend, when I try to do Change Reservation at Avis, it says "this location is sold out for your selected dates".

And it's not just Avis. I just checked my dates (Tue 14 Jun through Sat 18 Jun) at Orbitz cars, and they only show Dollar and SIXT as having availability, no one else. (They show plenty of other companies for later dates.)

I've never seen this before several days out anywhere. And SEA doesn't seem like a particularly high-demand location in somewhat rainy mid-June, does it?

So I wonder if perhaps the bigger rental agencies moved some cars from SEA to more "high-demand" locations, and didn't realize how that could "backfire"?

Anyway, it does seem that the "Car Rental Apocalypse" is not totally over, it's just morphing into less-obvious problems (like the inability to extend a stay at the last minute).

AutoSlash

SEA has been a recurring problem of late. We have been having a lot of trouble finding availability for customers in this area. The "Car Rental Apocalypse" is definitely not over. The patterns have shifted somewhat, and it's (so far) not nearly as bad as last year, but there are areas that literally have had no cars for months--or are priced in nosebleed territory for what little inventory exists.

m907

AutoSlash What are you seeing in terms of demand now that the national average is $5/gallon? Has demand dropped at all?

AutoSlash

We have not seen any discernable drop in demand.

GUWonder

Not sure what to make of the uptick I’ve seen in car rental locations trying to block one-way car rentals, but could it be a product of one or both of the following: one-way rentals being less profitable for the locations, and/or concern that demand is such that the chances of getting more cars to rent from incoming one-way rentals is going to be down?

randix

preserving their inventory

GUWonder

Seems some do, even when their lots remain pretty full.

stimpy

I haven't tried it in America recently, but I did a one-way in Europe last month. No extra charge.

jamiel

One-ways are strategically available (seem pretty available within extended metro areas; also along highway corridors (N. Calif<>S. Calif, intra-Florida). I think it's the more esoteric combinations that pose the problems.

GUWonder

I heard about this with regard to rural area regional and surrounding airport car rental facilities for one-way rentals to the likes of ORD and MSP — things that used to be relatively commonly available at the same rental facility pairs without issue in prior periods — and then noticed the change myself.

returnoftheyeti

How is the rental situation currently? Looks like we are headed to Seattle for Thanksgiving and we are trying to decide between driving from San Francisco and flying and renting a car. If cars are expensive, or if the chance of landing and not being able to actually get a car, we will probably drive.

4 days is looking like $350-450 in the Budget/ Thrifty camp, and Hertz is over $500

Is renting a car still a blood sport?

guv1976

Have you checked all of the various discount codes you might be entitled to use? Wholesale clubs? Membership organizations? Your college's or university's rates if alumni are permitted to use them? Does your employer have rental-car contracts that employees may use for leisure rentals?

cblaisd

And do get a quote from www.autoslash.com/quote

Auto Enthusiast

That's a lot of driving. Have you priced out one-way car and the other way flight? There might be seasonal repositioning specials right now, probably driving south.

TravelinSperry

These insane rates continue! I can't believe how long they are staying high. >$2,000 for monthly rentals in the NYC area... used to be 1/3 of that. When are these prices gonna come down?!