COVID-19 caused the travel industry to do a lot of crazy things – like rental car companies selling up to 40-percent of their unused fleet in order to stay afloat…
… except now Americans are back to traveling again and the rental car companies have almost no inventory of vehicles to rent – and the few cars they do have left, they’re actually expecting travelers to fork out nearly $10,000 just to rent a car for their vacation!
But in the spirit of American ingenuity, travelers have found the ultimate travel hack to avoid paying ridiculous rental car fees – and it’s as simple as going to the local hardware store.
When booking a vacation, most people book their flight and hotel first and worry about booking a rental car later.
Other last-minute travelers don’t even bother booking their rental cars until after they’ve landed at their destination.
But in today’s whacky world of travel, waiting until the last minute is a no-go.
Same with getting a rental at a reasonable price.
Because rental car companies have sold off nearly half of their fleet without anticipating the upcoming summer travel boom, travelers are once again paying the price for these bad business decisions.
But the situation is even more complicated.
COVID-19 has caused a global shortage of computer chips, making it tough for rental car companies to even purchase new fleets to build up their inventory, reports Business Insider.
As a result, finding a rental car at a reasonable price is nearly impossible.
Places in Hawaii are charging up to a whopping $700 PER DAY just to rent a car!
Yahoo News reported:
“Two to three years ago, rental cars in Hawaii averaged at about $50 a day. Now, some rentals are going for over $500 a day, Jonathan Weinberg, the founder and CEO of AutoSlash, told Insider. Prices have even risen to $700 in some extreme cases, Chris Woronka, a senior hotel-and-leisure analyst at Deutsche Bank, told Insider.”
Madness.
Utter and complete madness!
Imagine booking a 2-week vacation only to find out AFTER you get there that you’ll have to shell out $9,800 just to rent a car?!
Unless you’re extremely wealthy (or just extremely bad with money) – this simply isn’t an option.
So… Americans have gotten creative and found other alternatives.
For just $19.95 a day – one can rent a good ol’ fashioned U-Haul truck!
Sure – there is usually a mileage fee of about $1.49 a mile – but even if you drive 20 miles a day, that’s only an extra $30.
Most people only need rental cars to get from the airport to their hotel and some basic driving around the city.
If you won’t have a lot of driving to do, renting a U-Haul is a smart and affordable alternative to the rental car price-gouging chaos.
So before you book your next vacation, you might want to look into the cost of a rental first!
If the prices are still high, consider booking a U-Haul and save yourself some serious dough.
Companies might think they can pass their bad business decisions off onto their customers…
… but they’ve clearly underestimated the creativity of the Proud American Traveler.
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