Car hire costs going through the roof?

[Gwil]

A couple of years ago I hired a car from Bristol Airport for about 200 quid for two weeks, seemed reasonable. Cheapest I can find now is almost £500. I thought the tourism sector was struggling? Any ideas anyone? I'm coming by road in a pal's truck via Portsmouth, but he can drop me between there and Newport (Gwent).

I take the risk on the excess and drive carefully, but the £500 figure was with a £1500 excess, two years ago it was £1000. Either they're desperate or someone's doing very well.

 

[Parm]

Car hire companies make most of thier money hiring to govt depts. tourism se tor is tiny.

Since lock down they have significantly reduced fleet size, everything is now more costly, but it shouldn’t be that much

 

[colnerov]

Airport venues usually have a price premium, so try renting from somewhere other than an airport.

 

[Fastdruid]

The hire industry relies on cheap bulk buys with massive discounts, running them for ~6 months and then flogging them off again for not much less than they paid for them.

It wasn't just one thing affected them it was a series of problems.

Firstly of course tourism took a massive hit. People stopped renting cars.

Then they literally don't have the storage for all the cars they own so they had to have cars sitting around racking up storage costs. So they sold off the majority of them.

Now of course they're not buying the cars in bulk (because they don't have the same demand) so they don't get the same discounts.

Then to put the cherry on the cake the semiconductor shortage has caused massive disruptions with the car industry and they can't get the cars they want anyway.

This then puts prices through the roof and people start thinking "nah" and go somewhere they don't need a car (or take their own etc).

 

[skotl]

Wow - I was gonna suggest Enterprise, who are my go to for the rare occasion I want to hire a car or van.

I just checked with their South-Edinburgh branch, which is not an airport branch, and the cheapest they are offering for two weeks is a Vauxhall Corsa at £910

 

[fizzy]

The hire industry relies on cheap bulk buys with massive discounts, running them for ~6 months and then flogging them off again for not much less than they paid for them.

It wasn't just one thing affected them it was a series of problems.

Firstly of course tourism took a massive hit. People stopped renting cars.

Then they literally don't have the storage for all the cars they own so they had to have cars sitting around racking up storage costs. So they sold off the majority of them.

Now of course they're not buying the cars in bulk (because they don't have the same demand) so they don't get the same discounts.

Then to put the cherry on the cake the semiconductor shortage has caused massive disruptions with the car industry and they can't get the cars they want anyway.

This then puts prices through the roof and people start thinking "nah" and go somewhere they don't need a car (or take their own etc).

Enterprise don't buy their cars - they lease them.
I was very surprised.
So when you buy an ex fleet car you might be getting an ex rental.

 

[skotl]

Cheapest I can find is £510 with Budget so looks like that's the real floor

 

[Fastdruid]

Enterprise don't buy their cars - they lease them.
I was very surprised.
So when you buy an ex fleet car you might be getting an ex rental.

Well yes, it will differ between companies....but it's still the same problems, only worse because if they bought them they could at least sell them. With leases your stuck for the period of the lease.

They'll lease loads and get preferential rates for doing so but the same goes, they don't want to lease as many so don't get as good a rate and the lease companies can't get hold of the numbers of cars they want.

 

[addjunkie]

A van will be cheaper as they have more….

 

[dobbslc]

At that cost I'd be tempted to buy an old ****ter to drive round for a couple of weeks then sell it!

 

[8ob]

Still cheap down this way https://www.kendallcars.com/vehicles/economy-car/

Bob

 

[Gwil]

Thanks fellas, not really a goer for this retired cheapskate!

I'm only in the UK every couple of years, and I make a huge circuit of friends/family. Feelers are out for loan of something. Looks possible.

 

[Gwil]

Thanks fellas, not really a goer for this retired cheapskate!

I'm only in the UK every couple of years, and I make a huge circuit of friends/family. Feelers are out for loan of something. Looks possible.

Result! I have a loan. True, an old Tranny, and the last one I drove, the sump rusted through in the middle of France on Christmas Eve......

It's a considerable achievement on the part of the motor industry to even make a thing full of oil so badly it rusts through.