The Navigator: Find a cheaper car rental rate away from the airport
January 24, 2010
The best rate Darren Popik could find on a weekend car rental at
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport recently was $114. So he decided to look
elsewhere.
Popik, a Los Angeles-based blogger, widened his search to other car rental
locations in the Texas capital. And he found a lower price through Enterprise
Rent-a-Car. "It was a much better deal," he said.
No kidding. At $38 -- just one-third the airport rate -- it was a steal.
At a time when rental rates are climbing, Popik is one of many travelers who
have discovered that it pays to cast a wide net when you're looking for
affordable wheels.
Why such a dramatic price difference between on-airport and off-airport
locations? Local taxes and airport concession fees, according to Robert Barton,
president of the American Car Rental Association. The fees cover the companies'
costs of renting airport facilities and of shuttle services to and from the
terminal for customers, but the taxes can fund local projects that may or may
not have anything to do with airport users.
"It's taxation without representation," he said.
Take Barton's recent two-day rental at Phoenix Sky Harbor International
Airport, for which he paid $27. After a 5 percent vehicle license fee, a 10
percent concession fee, a $12 airport fee and a 77 cent-per-day "tourism" fee
were extracted from the price, only about half of the rate went to his car
rental company.
Neil Abrams, a car rental analyst with the Purchase, N.Y.-based Abrams
Consulting Group, says that the rate difference between an airport and
off-airport location has historically been "substantial." For example, the
average weekly rate on a compact car -- the kind many leisure travelers prefer
-- was $363 at an airport, according to a survey his company recently
conducted. By comparison, the same rental taken off-airport cost just $202.
"The rate difference is pretty constant," he says. But as car rental rates
rise, more travelers begin looking for other ways to get around.
The extra airport fees and taxes, he adds, put airport-based car rental
franchises "at a competitive disadvantage." That's bad news for the car rental
company, but good news for you.
Except when it isn't.
In some cities, renting at an airport makes sense almost every time. Denver
comes to mind. When Amy Pollick hired a car in the Mile-High City recently,
in-town rentals were "unbelievably cheaper," she said.
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