Rental cars becoming scarce and expensive for US travelers

  • Date: 08-May-2021
  • Source: Kuwait Times
  • Sector:Tourism
  • Country:Kuwait
  • Who else needs to know?

Rental cars becoming scarce and expensive for US travelers

NEW YORK: Talk about sticker shock: The $600 price tag for Joe Pohlen to rent a car for two days was twice as expensive as his plane ticket. The Michigan businessman was stunned, but the experience is becoming more common for US travelers, an unexpected consequence of the pandemic. Not only have prices skyrocketed, it can be hard to just find a car at all.

Pohlen told AFP that Hertz was the only agency that had a vehicle available during a brief trip to the East Coast. And though he chose “the cheapest possible option,” the bill came to $601.59 for a vehicle rented in Maryland and returned in Pennsylvania two days later. Business and tourist travel came to a screeching halt in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, prompting car rental companies to sell off their fleets and stop buying new cars.

Avis in February said it had reduced its fleet by a third. But now that mass vaccinations have allowed travelers to get back on the road, the companies are struggling to meet the surge in reservations. Starting in March, demand increased in areas such as Florida, Arizona and around Utah ski resorts, Avis chief Joseph