Car hire rate fluctuations by date of collection

[Mjspin]

Given change in our plans for this summer I'm looking at rental cars somewhat later than usual and in doing so have noticed some odd pricing. I've taken a look through the threads and can't find anything that covers it but apologies if it is staring me in the face.

We were originally looking at 14 nights which for a 7 seater minivan came up at £478 on our favoured website (US Car Hire). We then changed to 16 nights, moving our arrival forward by two days and the cost soared to £1264! I've played with the site and it looks like the big influence is that first day of the holiday. It comes out about £100 just for that day whereas all other days are around £40 and it looks to apply the rate for pickup day for all dates which leads to the huge spike. I've looked on Alamo direct and it seems to be similarly ramping if hiring on the same date. I can find the same with Virgin but for about £200 extra for the whole rental which in the scheme of a Disney holiday is nothing but in the context of the other 15 days being £488 is a hefty increase.

Leaves me with a bit of a dilemma, whether to add a single day hire and switch out at the DCCC or go for the full with Virgin at the higher value. Any suggestions and is this normal?

[DFCH-Andy]

15th August is Alamo's last day where they charge a peak season surcharge. They charge the surcharge for the full duration based on the start date. If you arrive on the 15th, do a one day rental to the DCCC. On the 16th, just sign a new rental agreement and leave in the same vehicle. I expect the DCCC to be busy that day.

[Mjspin]

Thanks so much Andy. It seemed it must be something like that. Thanks for clarifying for me. I get the surcharge in principle but not for the whole duration - seems a bit crazy to me. Then again, in the world of B2C pricing anything goes!