I was looking at rental car costs and found that the top two car rental companies cost about twice as much as their thrifty, budget-oriented competitors. Are their cars that much better or newer that they can charge nearly double? Is there any reason I should NOT rent from the lower cost companies?
No reason you shouldn’t rent from other companies. I’m sure their cars are safe.
Some differences you might find:
[ul]
[li]Selection of cars available[/li][li]Number of locations rental company can be found (ease of renting and returning)[/li][li]Ease of getting and returning the car (e.g. park the car and walk away when returning or walk a mile, catch a bus, walk a mile and fill out ten forms for the next 15 minutes)[/li][li]Average age of the cars (new cars vs. older cars)[/li][li]Cleanliness of cars (are they well cleaned or smell like a sweaty, chain smoking coffe drinker?)[/li][li]Tie-in promotions (e.g. earn airline miles)[/li][/ul]
Any company can charge whatever they like for their product. If they can charge twice as much and get away with it then good for them. Hopefully they offer something for that extra money. You’re the consumer though…it’s up to you to decide what your willing to pay for a given service.
[sub]P.S. Watch out for the taxes on your rental. When I rented in Phoenix they added sales tax, entertainment tax, maybe luxury tax (I forget) and a baseball tax to pay for the then new Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. That last REALLY pissed me off…I’m just a visitor to their city! Why the hell would I want to pay for their baseball team and stadium? Anyway…the end result was nearly another $100 added to my rental. Ask ahead of time what the taxes will be on your rental so you’re prepared…as you can see from my example above the taxes can vary drastically from place to place.[/sub]
I’m gonna WAG some possible answers…
- Reputation: Are you going to trust Avis or Crazy Joe’s House O’ Cars?
- Age: Enterprise is one of the few companies that’ll rent to 18-25 year olds (in most states), so they charge more for it.
- Service: Will they pick you up in the car, or do you have to go get it?
- Ease: Is there one right around the corner, or just one or two locations?
- Selection: Can you rent everything from a Geo to a Mustang convertible to a full-size van? Or is it just a few cars?
- Mileage: Some of these places charge twice the rate, but you get unlimited mileage.
The price of a rental car is based on supply and demand.
Because they can.
I use Hertz, except in Orlando, because Avis is on-airport but Hertz requires a bus. I don’t agree with the premise of the OP in that even when traveling on vacation (i.e. paying myself), I often use Hertz and find them fairly competitive on price alone. So why do I go with the big company? As stated by others:
- (apart from Orlando) if anyone is going to have the most convenient location (no buses) it is Hertz
- I walk straight to my car and drive off. No waiting for an inspector to look for dings and scratches when picking up and dropping off
- good customer service
- have been reliable for me
- clean, well-maintained cars.
If you travel a lot, convenience and reliability becomes something you are prepared to pay a little extra for.
The premium rental companies are worth it just for those Neverlost GPS systems.
Why go to the Four Seasons if you can stay at the Westin? Service.
Also name recognition. I only rented a car once in my life. If there is only a few dollars I would go with Hertz as I don’t know what to expect and don’t want issues.
I fly American. Why? Because I have NEVER had an issue with them(Ok I’m sure others have but not me). I am a nervous flyer and I don’t need any worries at the Airport. When I compare American is usually 10.00 or so more. It is worth that to me. Plus I get can get more miles with American thru credit card deals.
With me, I’ll probably always go with Enterprise cause they rent to people under 25. I’m not going to give my money to people who didn’t want my money before, dontchaknow?
They’re pretty useful if you follow their instructions. But if you don’t, watch out! We had to make some turnoffs and whatnot when we rented a car recently and that computerized bitch yelled at us halfway down the Florida keys! "Right turn. In. 200 feet. RIGHT TURN. IN. 100 FEET! RIGHT GHODAMNED TURN, YOU MORON, NOW!
I’m still traumatized.
FYI: The same car at the same company at the same time can be rented for a different amount, even to the same customer. I once called the airport Hertz/
Avis/Whatever, got a rate for a certain car, then went out to the airport to get it. The rate had gone up considerably. Why? Since I didn’t reserve it over the phone – walk-in rates are always higher, they said.
So I went over to the phone, called the booth, got the cheaper rate, walked back to the counter and picked up the car. Lesson learned, surely, but WTF?
Brilliant, Crafter. I think the OP knew that. I suspect the real question is “what establishes the higher demand for agencies like Hertz?” (And the price is definitely higher – in my fair city of San Francisco, renting a midsize at the airport costs $60/day from Hertz or Avis, but $34/day from the next-highest priced agency (Thrifty). Thrifty and Dollar charge $60/day for a luxury car that costs $85/day from Hertz or Avis.)
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Reputation. Hertz and Avis spend a lot of money to make sure that their names are well known, and associated with being “better” than other car rentals.
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Convenience. More often than the others, Hertz and Avis have shelled out the bucks to get a desk inside the terminal, and parking close to the exit so that you don’t have to take a bus.
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Hi, Opal! That’s right, there ain’t no #3. The cars aren’t any better, and in my experience neither is the service, but many of these loyalists never check out the cheaper companies, or they seldom use them, and they justify paying the higher price by making things up about the cheaper firms.