Car Hire Prices Shot Up In Last Couple Of Weeks

[irvsax]

I was browsing car hire prices (netflights always seem to be the best price for Alamo SUV hire) a couple of weeks ago and you could get the hire i am looking for, for five weeks, for about £850. Its now up over £1000 and £300 more (was about £40 more) for the catagory up. Its up to over £30 per day! When i booked this year i paid about £22 per day for the same thing.

Is this something that happens around this time of year and then they drop back down at the start of next year or something? Seems like a quite ridiculous increase!

It was also odd as the pound actually improved a little and the prices then shot up.. thought it might be the other way round if anything.

[Cocobean121]

Quite a few comments about this on various threads, mainly Alamo Brits, yes, it's shot up ridiculously and a lot of Dibbers are kicking themselves for not booking earlier, me included!

I too don't believe it's anything to do with the exchange rate, as my price had been the same for the last six months, so would already have absorbed the poor £, all we can do s wait and see if there's any sales soon, fingers crossed.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Let us all not forget the same thing happened before Brexit as well.
The Alamo pricing model went nuts! A Luxury car was cheaper than a basic 2 door Economy for quite a few Months.
Plus the Luxury car was also twice the price of what it had been previously when you look on historical data.

The good deals aren't out there currently but I bet come January they will come back to a more normal figure - Well I hope so or I will be flayed on here

[irvsax]

Yeah I hope this is the case! I know it was up a bit last year from 2015 but this jump is even bigger by quite a long way i think. Maybe its just a time of year thing and also uncertainty in American markets with Trump etc.. could be anything. Just really really hope it is temporary as otherwise there will be a serious bit of financial pain!

[sotagals]

I've been going to Florida for 25 years and car hire prices have always been around the £125 a week mark or less.

All of a sudden the prices have shot up and I don't think it's due to the exchange rate , Brexit or anything I think they just decided to raise prices across the board - especially for school holiday times.

I paid £275 to Alamo August just gone - August 2017 for the same dates is £601 :angry:

I expected to pay 20% more due to the exchange rate but not that much extra so Alamo have lost my business for my next 3 trips.

Time will tell whether they can sustain these hikes without their business falling. Plus I'm not sure whether costs to Americans have risen in the same way.

Bit short sighted in my opinion - they'll be losing a lot of business to Uber but I don't suppose they give a toss about their European customers who are just a drop in the ocean of their overall business.

I did notice Alamo prices for small cars had come down a bit yesterday.

[Incarniac]

Prices have definitely gone up a bit recently but it also varies a lot depending on the time you're looking to book at.

Alamo Brits for a standard SUV has gone up over £200 compared to what we booked at for our 15 day this coming May.

Looking at a theoretical (ahem...) rental for 14 days next year late November into early December, the price is a total £30 more expensive for the same (though one day less). Comparing a 'family' size car which is what I normally book for the two of us (in May we're a whole bunch, hence we're sharing two SUVs) that period works out £10 more expensive than what we paid for our December trip this year.

It's always a bit of 'random luck' with this, so just keep looking and hold your nerve. As Mr Morrow says, the good deals should come back fairly soon.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by sotagals

I paid £275 to Alamo August just gone - August 2017 for the same dates is £601 :angry:

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For what it's worth, last year there was the same dynamics for the hire prices.

August was ridiculously high. It went down to a lowest around april, only for a couple of weeks, and after that it went up again by ridiculous amounts

My advice would be to keep checking daily.
You should have a no penalty cancellation, so as soon as the price feels *decent* book, and keep checking for lower prices


the small changes you can see daily are indeed due to the exchange rate. But they are small variations never more than 5 or 10 quids in either direction

I have secured a car for next august, on the German alamo site (master paket) via germanwho (free registration) for £590 (3 weeks, fulsize car, incl. tank of gas) that would make around £200/wk or more as price is in euros.
I booked nov. 10 for a pick up Aug. 5 2017
since the end of november prices have gone up around £40 but they're stiil as cheap as it gets compared to the other sites

in case it of any use to anyone, who can bear German
germanwho/mietwagen
login using your facebook account if you don't want to register another account
choose "zum mietwagen special" , then USA
choose at least "master" (includes 0 excess, and $1 million coverage, just like your regular alamo.uk or Brits hire, as well as first tank of gas) or choose Gold if you so wish (standard does not include the $1 mil. coverage, don't use it)

that's the best price around so far. No catch, no fine print. But be advised it's in Euros, so exchange rate and crossborder fees might be quite dear.
once booked, you can do online check in (be sure to change the country back to UK) and Skip the Counter.

[Bertiebear]

I've just done a dummy booking and spat my tea out when I saw the price!

[Tea]

Another one who can't get over the prices. At least double what I paid at Easter for next Easter

[Moorlandman]

Prices are getting ridiculous now for Orlando car hire! £500 for 14 nights for small normal car!