Rental Car Rates in FLL in mid Jan 2013 seem High

[iflyrc5]

Rental Car rates in Ft. Lauderdale currently seem to be much higher than normal for the week of Jan 14-18 2013. Is anything special going on in FLL that week? I did a Google search and didn't see anything special.

 

Any one have a thought? I will keep checking and hope they go down a lot as time gets closer.

[bills blasters]

I don't think it is just FLL. I have been checking for Orlando for that same time frame, and it seems really high also. Hoping they go down a little closer to the date.

[CruiserBruce]

A common tactic around the boards is to make your reservation now. 2-3 weeks prior to the rental date, make a new test booking. If it is less than your original booking, take the new booking and cancel the old one.

 

We have done this the last 4 bookings. Never less than a 15% decrease. Over 20% is common.

[FlaMilkman]

You can also try Priceline.com. Put it a bid for a price that you are comfortable with in the car class that you want. This far in advance I would start extremely low and increase it slightly every day or so if it isn't accepted.

[janetz]

Found this on CC doing a search for rental cars. Check out some of the discounts, etc on this site.

http://www.mousesavers.com/transportation-for-disney-vacations/rental-car-discounts/

[monicajay]

Always try booking using different discount codes until you find a good rate. Costco shoppers, Walmart shoppers, AARP, AAA etc. Each car company will have multiple codes. Google will help you find them. I have only ever used codes I would be entitled to but have NEVER been asked for ID or proof that I am a member. In some cases you can have a discount code and still also apply a coupon.

 

Lots of work but generally reduces prices by at least 25%.

 

Sometimes changing the pick-up location can dramatically reduce the price too. At Easter, we took a $30 taxi from the airport to the closest off airport location for Budget and saved $280.00 on our 10 day rental. A bit of a bother but worth the extra 30-45 minutes I figure this all took.

 

Good Luck.

[mrpayroll]

I can tell you they not only seem to be high , they ARE high. We cruise every January and have never paid the rates they are posting now. We always use a discount code and even with that they are high.

[bouhunter]

Florida car rental rates (and maybe elsewhere) have been much higher than in the past for over a year.......................:mad:

[cruising cockroach]

My take: Big sea change in the car rental business since 2008 (and I've been saying this for 5+ years).

 

The car rental agencies used to get it good where they bought cars from the Big 3 (i.e., GM, Ford and Chrysler) on "Program" terms, where the rental companies got new cars and returned them to the manufacturer after X months or Y miles, at a guaranteed price. This kept the factories busy (and supplied dealers with fleet cars to sell). Since bankruptcy, the Big 3 have been moving away from fleet sales and want to actually make money on every car they sell.

 

Now the rental agencies have to buy cars, rent them out and then sell them, and have to make money on rental and resale. This is what is called "risk" cars (or fleet). That's why you're seeing Japanese cars as they have better resale values (and purported better liability). Toyota wanting to make itself the largest player and Koreans muscling in have helped keep prices low, but the trend towards the standard practice in the rest of the world of having risk cars is here to stay. Expect to pay European-like rates for cars from now onward. The Big 3 used to essentially subsidise your car rental but no more.

 

The rates one pays these days for a weekend are what I used to pay for a week 5-10 years ago.

[FreezingInMichigan]

Another good source of codes is rental car momma dot com. We lowered our weekly rental for a convertible by almost 50%.