Price to rent a car for a day

Haithabu

Hi,

Maybe I am missing something but somehow I can no longer get a good price to rent a car for a day. I rented cars many times and it's always around EUR 50 per day for a small car.

If I now look for a car this Sunday from Dublin airport the cheapest is EUR 359 for one day. I had a look earlier this month and found only expensive offers so I did not go for it. But now it is still very expensive and I wonder why.

It can't be the risen fuel costs as I have to pay the fuel myself anyway on op of the rental. Maybe I am doing something wrong or does anyone know why it is so expensive now.

Thanks for any advice.

Allinall

There’s a lack of cars.

Car hire companies sold off most of their cars during Covid, and now can’t get replacements.

Rates are higher, as they still need to cover overheads.

whippet

a mate was snookered last week for a rental .. same craic of nothing suitable available and anything that was being bonkers pricing.

Someone told him to check out Toyota dealers nearby - some of them are doing rentals of demo stock. He got an Auris for €70 a day

bazz26

I thought it was fairly common knowledge at this stage:

1. Rental companies cut back on their fleet during the pandemic due to lockdowns.
2. Post pandemic and with foreign travel open again there is pent up demand but they cannot add to their fleet because of microchip shortages within the motor industry as well as the knock on effect of car parts that came from Ukraine and Russia.

So supply and demand impacts both availability and prices.

Whocare

Car hire is gone mad Frankfurt Airport car hire for sh$t box for 3 days nearly 500 euros 💶 😑

Sleeper12

What about a "Go Car "? Has to be cheaper than that

Edit: from €54 per day

https://www.gocar.ie/rates/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&&utm_term=Brand-Core_None_None_None_Price_None&utm_campaign=%5BGOO%5D-%5BENG%5D-%5BCar%5D-%5BSource_IE%5D-%5BDestination_IE%5D-%5Bubeeqo.com%5D-%5BBrand_Core%5D-%5BPFX_DUB%5D&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4PKTBhD8ARIsAHChzRIp8i1FT_lm1fpLgUqIEVZfBgdAZH8roPp-AVhx_reVD0pB5L2lC_IaAs8WEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

whippet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119050957#Comment_119050957

yep - I was there a few weeks ago .. had booked with Sixt weeks in advance and did the checkin online - still had to wait over an hour to collect the car (Corolla for 3 days €550). The desk is closed in Terminal 2 and you need to go to terminal 1 to collect it. Girl at the desk said they didn't have the staff for the two desks or to bring cars across quickly .... the rental car parks are empty

Haithabu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119050912#Comment_119050912

I booked multiple cars post-pandemic. I booked a car here in December, another in France in February and then early March again one in Ireland. It was always between EUR 40 and EUR 65 per day for a small car. Early May I needed a car and the prices were outrageous. That was the Bank Holiday so I thought it is just high demand on a Bank Holiday. I ended up staying at home. Now for mid May there is no Bank Holiday and prices are still outrageous.

Yes, chip shortage and pandemic are common knowledge but we are talking about a car for EUR 360 a day while it was around EUR 50 two months ago.

bazz26

But car hire prices always get more expensive during the summer months because it's their peak demand season. On top of that the war in Ukraine is hitting supply of nearly all new cars in Europe too. So extra pressume of peak summer demand with very little cars in the fleet only means prices going one way. It will be the same come Christmas. Supply simply cannot meet demand which is what dictates prices. I think the days of cheap or reasonable car hire are going to be gone for a while.