Rental cars are scarce and expensive at the moment—here is an alternative, under-the-radar source.
A few weeks ago I mentioned this spring and summer car rentals may be one of the most expensive parts of your trip. Many smaller car rental shops shut their doors during the pandemic and the larger companies sold cars to stay afloat, with the resulting auto shortage possibly leading to higher prices and scarce availability.
Since then, that has been the case and worse. Not only are cars at a premium (both in terms of availability and price), some travelers report experiences similar to that of my niece last week: despite having a reservation, she arrived at the rental car counter to find there were no cars available.
The car rental company offered to pay up to $75 for an Uber to her hotel. Fine, but she still needed a car for her five-day Florida trip. She called me in a panic asking for help, and I started searching for alternatives. Less than three hours later, a Toyota Camry was ready for her to pick up a few miles away. Cost? $360, which was less than her booked rental. Plus, the car was brand-new, and when she dropped it off five days later she got a courtesy ride to the airport. How did I pull this off?
I didn’t search for car rental companies; I searched instead for car dealerships. I knew from experience some dealers offer rental cars to customers whose cars are in for extended work. (In my case, an insurance company covered the bill.) And once a dealer rented me a car for a long weekend to help me decide if it was a model I wanted to buy. So I figured it was worth seeing if any dealership had a car to rent my niece.
I was surprised to find rental cars were available not only near where my niece was staying but also at many dealerships around the country. (Note: overall, only a very small percentage of dealers offer the service.) I found a dealership near my niece through Toyota’s website, which features a search page to find dealerships with rentals. Search results indicate which dealerships offer rentals, whether they only rent to body shop/service customers or also to business/leisure travelers, and if they offer free airport pick up and drop off. The site also offers links to online reservations with those dealers offering them.
How do prices at a dealership compare with car rental companies?
Here are the rates for a random 7-day rental of the cheapest car (found via Autoslash) offered by car rental agencies at the airport my niece flew into:
Budget: $486.86 (Compact)
Hertz: $511.01 (Compact)
Thrifty: $550.94 (Compact)
Dollar: $558.46 (Intermediate)
Payless: $569.02 (Compact)
Avis: $601.28 (Compact)
Alamo: $619.37 (Special Car; i.e., supplier’s choice on arrival)
Enterprise: $627.22 (Special Car; i.e., supplier’s choice on arrival)
Sixt: $655.43 (Economy)
National: $684.81 (Compact)
And here are the car rental prices for the same period from a Toyota dealership within ten miles of the airport:
Corolla: $325
Camry: $360
Avalon: $375
RAV4: $399.99
Sequoia: $449.99
Tacoma: $475
Highlander: $499.99
Tundra: $600
4Runner: $650
Sienna: $750
Note: Rental prices at a dealership may—or may not—include taxes and fees. (While the taxes are a must, not all dealerships add the fees.) Optional fees can include:
Additional Driver: $10
CDW: $25
Out of state fee: $25 (the car will be driven out of state)
Underage driver: $10 (Note: As many car rental agencies either don’t rent to or charge a premium for younger drivers, renting from a dealership may be a good choice for drivers in their teens and early twenties.)
The following charges were not optional (state tax and a $14 surcharge was added even at dealerships that didn’t add the above fees):
State Tax: $26.18
Surcharge: $14.00
A random search revealed dealers for other car companies—Hyundai, Honda, Subaru, Nissan—in other states also offered car rentals to travelers. Most Subaru and Toyota dealers listed very transparent pricing, while other dealers tended to list starting price ranges or required you to fill out a contact form for pricing. Note: renting a car from a dealer may also be an option on international trips; I found a link for Toyota Rent-A-Car in Japan!
Twist’s Take: If car rentals are exorbitant and/or hard-to-find, check car dealerships for a better-priced vehicle.
