Wow!!! Book your rental cars early. No late deals to be made

Glad I booked for this weekend a long time ago. Alamo is the cheapest and $350+ for three days of an economy car!!!

I guess all that "pent up" demand is unleashing itself . . . .

 

Sixt at The Plaza Downtown has a VW Jetta 3 days pick-up Fri drop-off Mon for $196.
Don't drop it off at the airport though because then the price goes up to $964

Pick-up and drop-off at LAS is $271

 

Uber was almost non existent SB weekend in the morning or downtown, I spent 45 minutes attempting to find an Uber, Lyft or cab downtown the morning I left and finally hired a private car at a $50 rate. My guess is people are deciding to take the stress of that out of the equation by renting a car. I know a few people (myself included) that have or will be renting them that never do. Also why the lines at the rental facility are often insane.

 

I've been checking for months for our late March trip. Everything, even through Costco, is well over $400 for nine days. We've never paid anything close to that. I did book one for a week from Budget on LV Blvd for $196 but that creates it's own set of problems; getting from the airport to Aria, being without a car for a few days, getting from Aria to the Budget office and paying the $25 to return to the airport at 6AM when they don't open until 7. Oops. Just checked yet again-now over $500.

 

I haven't booked a rental in quite some time, especially in Vegas, but that was part of the game, booking a cancelable rental and continuously checking rates and offers to find a better one. The ace up my sleeve was checking Hotwire and Priceline a few days before the trip to see if they could top the best offer I was holding. I do miss bidding on car rentals thru Priceline though. Nailed a few low ball offers thru the years.

 

I chatted briefly with my host earlier this evening and he said this past weekend was SUPER busy at Wynncore, even busier he said than Super Bowl weekend. The number of guests he had this past weekend was high, even by PRE-Covid standards. Happy for him and happy that things seem to be picking up for Wynncore and Vegas generally. But, if that's true across the board I'm sure the rental car companies are trying to take full advantage.

 

Phoenix was 1k for 4 days the day before for Presidents’ Day weekend. We were driving in from Ontario where the car was $180 for 4 days.

 

Kinda crazy -- you'd think people would be clamoring to work Uber right now...

 

And expose oneself to COVID? Fight with riders who won't put a mask on? No thank you. You couldn't pay me enough.

 

Face Palm to myself...honestly didn't think about it that way. Yeah, it really makes sense that folks aren't wanting to drive right now. Especially since everyone's flying from all over!

P.s. what is happening over in Jersey?! I can't find a house without being over-bid by like 20%....it's NUTS!

 

Happy to hear it. I'll be there soon for the Santa Anita Derby and Final Four. I always bring my own rental car which I usually procure in California—this time it's Avis, $163 for six days ($27 per day). Hopefully I won't arrive in Vegas just in time to meet some friends from the U.K. or South Africa.

 

It’s been a while (over a year) since I’ve rented with Thrifty, but if you sign up for a business account (if I remember correctly, you just need to provide a business name), the business rates are between $40 and $60 per day depending on the class of car. Based on availability of the car class at the time of reservation, and must be reserved at least 24 hours in advance. Usually these business rates are more expensive than “normal” rates, but for occasions like this it can really save you some money.

P.S. sign up for Blue Chip as well to skip the potentially long line to get a car.

 

If that $196 includes taxes and fees that’s good I think. I booked tru Dollar for a week in early April for $183 prepaid with another $98 due at counter. Dollar was by FAR the cheapest I saw for pickup at the rental car center! I’ll only rent a car from there in vegas, tho it is cheaper, sometimes a lot, to rent from an off-site rental agency..

 

Everybody moving out of NY is what's happening!

 

Correct! Prices are REDIC SKY HIGH right now.
Nothing Under 230 for 4 nights!

I lucky out and got Alamo weeks ago, for 4 nights, in mid-May for $168 total, midsize.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, even comes close now, and I check daily!

 

You ain't kidding!!!! I booked for a week with National for $290 (that includes 1 free day from previous rentals) a few weeks ago for our trip in a couple of weeks, and the rate is been slowly rising almost every day!!!

TBH, the days of getting an awesome deal within a few days of your trip seems to be a thing of the past. I have not been able to do that for a few years now.

 

Wow! Seems like I got a deal then. I booked a car through Avis (Bellagio Location) for 2/25 - 2/27 for $132. (I guess it's only two days, so maybe not that great of a deal) I decided to use the hotel pick-up location because I'm getting in late the night before and didn't want to deal with the rental car center hassle.

 

For my Super Bowl week trip, I first booked in October with a price of $325 for the week. I kept checking and rebooked 6 times on the Costco website and ended up paying $156 for the week. I just checked and for my May trip it is $350. I guess I will have to play the waiting game again.

 

I don't know if low car rental rates are a thing of the past, it may just be the natural supply/demand, with the variable of sizing a workforce and auto fleet to remain profitable through the pandemic. Looking at it logically, if rental agencies needed quick cash, they sold off some of their fleet... or possibly retired old cars but did not replace them with newer cars. Might take a little while (and documented signs of business improvment) to get that hose line recharged.

For Super Bowl weekend, I found a car (Chevy Cruze) for Friday for three days at Thrifty for $63 all in.

However for my upcoming week in late-April/early-May, the best I can find is about $230 for a midsize. I still look every day on autoslash(dot)com and I use their rate match feature.

As an aside, I did use Uber once on Super Bowl weekend (to get from the Cromwell to the Rental Car Center). The driver had just moved from Brooklyn a couple of months earlier, and she got lost on the way to the Rental Car Center, despite having a map app visible.

 

I took a look at Costco Travel for some dates, and at those prices, the rental cars can sit some more! Eventually one of the outfits will feel the pressure to move the metal.