Florida Car Hire - Summer 2022

[Robw73]

Flight prices are OK.
Accommodation prices are OK.
Car Hire prices are crazy!

Has anyone any tips to bring the car hire prices down?
6th to 20th July are my provisional dates (pre school summer holiday)

Miami or Orlando.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[MatteAva]

Robw73 said:

Flight prices are OK.
Accommodation prices are OK.
Car Hire prices are crazy!

Has anyone any tips to bring the car hire prices down?
6th to 20th July are my provisional dates (pre school summer holiday)

Miami or Orlando.

Any help greatly appreciated.

I have read somewhere that it is caused by the shortage of new vehicles.
It has been suggested to try and book from a city centre location rather than the airport as that should reduce the cost. Airport-downtown can be done cheaply with an Uber or Lyft

[Saleen836]

I looked all over Miami for car pick up and it was no different to collecting from the airport, I paid £440 for 6 days for an intermediate from Alamo, booked it via Andy at discount florida car hire (email him directly for best price)

[Voodoo Blue]

First thing to ask is do you really need a car?

Looking at the additional costs, a lot of hotels now charge $20 or more a night especially on Miami Beach, Disney and Universal hotels. Ubers and Lyfts are pretty cheap in comparison.

We're (hopefully) going to Miami in Feb and will be travelling up to Orlando for a couple of weeks before returning back to Miami. I've rented a car for a day to travel up and a car for a day to travel back. We did the same back in 2019 and I reckon we'll save around £250 as opposed having a car for the full period.

[Saleen836]

Voodoo Blue said:

First thing to ask is do you really need a car?

Looking at the additional costs, a lot of hotels now charge $20 or more a night especially on Miami Beach, Disney and Universal hotels. Ubers and Lyfts are pretty cheap in comparison.

We're (hopefully) going to Miami in Feb and will be travelling up to Orlando for a couple of weeks before returning back to Miami. I've rented a car for a day to travel up and a car for a day to travel back. We did the same back in 2019 and I reckon we'll save around £250 as opposed having a car for the full period.

Agree with this, I arrived on the 24th (Nov) and didnt pick up the car until the 29th when I left Miami to head to Orlando. I just used taxis in Miami, the airport to downtown where I was staying was $23, Uber & Lyft were a couple $'s cheaper but as I had no data the app was pointless unless I was connected to wifi

[leemanning]

When booking our trip for next year we found the same. However we ended up booking BA flights and car hire together, the car hire element was almost half the price of booking it separately at all the usual suspects. Although the total price paid was still way more than usual, it was a lot less than doing it separately. So maybe check that out

[NNH]

This may not be all that helpful if you don't have the right licence, but motorcycle rental prices are now lower than car rental in Florida (this *never* happens in normal times). We're heading to Miami and the Keys in February, and renting a BMW GS for $477 for the week on riders-share.com

[Robw73]

Voodoo Blue said:

First thing to ask is do you really need a car?

Looking at the additional costs, a lot of hotels now charge $20 or more a night especially on Miami Beach, Disney and Universal hotels. Ubers and Lyfts are pretty cheap in comparison.

We're (hopefully) going to Miami in Feb and will be travelling up to Orlando for a couple of weeks before returning back to Miami. I've rented a car for a day to travel up and a car for a day to travel back. We did the same back in 2019 and I reckon we'll save around £250 as opposed having a car for the full period.

We are road tripping around the coastline, not bothering with parks, so obvs a car is essential for us.

[75Black]

I know it's a different city but still Florida, but I've been looking at Enterprise in Tampa for car hire for September. Saturday to Saturday at Tampa Airport = £685+, the same days for an Enterprise location 5 minutes drive away (Tampa Drew Park) £350 , albeit a slightly smaller selection of cars. This is using the "Standard" VW Jetta as a reference.

[djc206]

As above got a few cars booked this year in Tuscon, Boston and San Antonio and all cheaper from downtown locations. Did the same in Canada twice in September/October.

Prices do seem to be coming back down now though, I just rebooked my San Antonio car with Avis as I noticed it had dropped about 15% so also worth keeping an eye on prices and taking advantage of free cancellations policies.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

For us In March our rental was $1400 with sixt just looked again now about$2800

[AB]

Coming out about £1,700 for 2 weeks collect and drop off at Orlando for an SUV - need the space for all the rubbish the kids demand and my golf clubs. A people carrier would be OK but I'd prefer not to.

This is 21st April to 5th May. It's more expensive than it's ever been.

[AB]

Has anyone tried Turo? Some decent stuff on there at better than the rates from the usual suspects.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

AB said:

Coming out about £1,700 for 2 weeks collect and drop off at Orlando for an SUV - need the space for all the rubbish the kids demand and my golf clubs. A people carrier would be OK but I'd prefer not to.

This is 21st April to 5th May. It's more expensive than it's ever been.

We paid less than 1k for a car 3 weeks ago from sixt RAV4 ended up p being a 4runner

[x5tuu]

AB said:

Has anyone tried Turo? Some decent stuff on there at better than the rates from the usual suspects.

Turo is privately owned cars you can rent … Airbnb for cars essentially - I’ve avoided it as it’s just so unknown and frankly people are more of a nightmare to deal with than businesses.

I’ve just booked all my hires via the US websites and made sure of got all the necessary coverage via annual policies

[r159]

It’s not just Florida, a work colleague is off to the west coast in a few months and car hire has shot up (compared to the hotels& flights) since he first priced the holiday a couple of years ago.

[h0b0]

I had a reservation for an E-Class for a week last year for $150 (ended up cancelling due to cancelled flight). The same car is coming up 10x the price this year.

[djc206]

AB said:

Coming out about £1,700 for 2 weeks collect and drop off at Orlando for an SUV - need the space for all the rubbish the kids demand and my golf clubs. A people carrier would be OK but I'd prefer not to.

This is 21st April to 5th May. It's more expensive than it's ever been.

RAV4 do? They’re about £1300 (bargain I know….). We rented one in Canada and the boot is cavernous on those things. Even with our 3 large suitcases/bags and hiking rucksacks half the stuff was rolling around the back as I tried to make the Nanaimo ferry on time.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

Like I said we had 17nights with sixt for a rav 4 from mco for £804 this month

[Fru.T.Bun]

Something I have tried in the past is to use Enterprise, but select an off airport branch. It involves a Uber to get there, with all your stuff (or just send one person) but the prices are for locals/businesses, not tourists without the airport concession fees. Worth a try.