- Young whippersnappers may not remember that you didn’t always have to take out a loan to rent a car for the weekend. Fortunately, after years of the pandemic, prices are coming down and there are even deals to be had.
- Signs that the car rental industry is changing can be found in recent expansion announcements, both about new cars being added to fleets and more rental counters in more locations.
- We’ve found some deals from Sixt, Hertz and Avis if you’re looking for temporary wheels soon.
The car rental world is getting back to normal, sort of. These last few years introduced us to a lot of strangeness influenced by the pandemic and incredibly high prices. Remember when it was $200 a day to rent a car or that unusual U-Haul life hack? But now rental car prices are coming back down to earth, and some companies are once again offering deals on your temporary wheels.
Electric vehicles, luxury cars entering the fleet
One way to see how things are looking up is the recent news about capacity growth. Hertz, for example, announced this week that it will add 2,100 electric vehicles to its Houston fleet, nearly tripling the number of electric vehicles available in the area. Hertz is also building a new fast charging center at Houston Hobby Airport. Sixt has announced a number of new US locations so far this year, including Washington, DC, Pittsburgh and Toronto, and has said it will announce more expansion plans later this year. In February, peer-to-peer car-sharing service Turo said it was adjusting its maps of where it expects to see increased demand for vacation rentals for its vehicles, and the Carolina coast is expected to be one of those points of interest in 2023.
The renaissance is also happening globally, with luxury car rentals in Dubai skyrocketing, for example. Vietnamese conglomerate VinGroup, owner of new electric vehicle brand VinFast, announced earlier this month that it had established a new joint-stock company called GSM (which stands for Green Smart Mobility) that would focus on leasing VinFast electric vehicles as well as rent scooters from VinFast. and operate a taxi service. As you might guess, with all this revved-up activity, there are now deals in case you need to rent a car soon. Here are some options that may fit your plans.
Some offers
Sixt is offering weekday and regional deals as well as discounts on luxury vehicles at all its locations until the end of June. The weekday offer (up to 30 percent off) is for anyone who starts their rental on a Sunday, Monday or Tuesday and ends on Thursday. Or you can choose to get up to 25 percent off the rental cost of a premium or luxury vehicle or one in the “extraordinary” category. Some regional Sixt offices also offer offers of up to 25 percent off. None of these Sixt deals are available between April 2nd and April 22nd, also known as the prime Spring Break travel weeks.
Avis doesn’t have as many deals as Sixt right now, but if you spend $175 or more on a rental that lasts three days or more, you can get $15 off.
If you need a car for a week or more, Hertz offers a free day if you rent it for five days. The company also offers a discount of up to 30 percent on your rental if you choose to drive an electric vehicle. It’s worth plugging in, probably.
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Collaborating editor
Sebastian Blanco has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk and other outlets. His first green car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift to gasoline vehicles and discovering the importance of new technology not only for the automotive industry. automobile, but for the whole world. . Throw in the recent shift to self-driving vehicles, and more interesting changes are happening now than most people might realize. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.
