Where have all the rental cars gone?

[ACorgan]

We’re booked for a NE/Canada cruise at the end of the summer and had hoped to rent cars in several of our ports to do some exploring on our own. However, we’re finding that this may not be a feasible plan. At the Charlottetown stop, we had to snag a car at the airport since all the closer locations were sold out and I can’t find any rental companies with availability in Sydney - they all show sold out. Is this common? Have we just missed our window for finding cars? Or might there be more availability as we get closer to our cruise date?

[martincath]

This is literally a worldwide issue - the whole 'no chips = no cars' thing on top of difficulties with shipping has impacted rental fleets just as it has individuals who were thinking of buying a new car. The 'rent a wreck' end of the scale may be less troubled, as their customers expect older cars with high mileage.

 

I have no doubt that the local franchises WANT to get more cars available as tourist season kicks in for the first time since TheBeforeTimes, but expect limited availability and higher prices across the board - book early, book refundable, join Costco if you aren't already a member (seriously - we've earned back a year's Executive membership on a single car rental in the past, plus a second driver is always free) and just keep checking for deals!

[BklynBoy8]

We wanted to turn in our lease car this past January at a Toyota and had to buy our car was the only resort we had. Nothing was available and had to wait of 8-10 month if we ordered it.

 

We were told it may take 3-4 years till Toyota recovers this chip problem. No sedans will be available only hi end SUV's if available.

 

Even the Enterprise rental lot has no cars available since after a year they have to go up for sale.

[princeton123211]

21 hours ago, ACorgan said:

Is this common? Have we just missed our window for finding cars? Or might there be more availability as we get closer to our cruise date?

Some pro tips-- sometimes joining the loyalty programs of certain car rental companies will provide you with different/improved availability. If you have any higher end credit cards that provide travel benefits, often they will provide you with automatic elevated status in some of the major rental company's loyalty program which in turn can provide guaranteed availability (although it still may be expensive). 

 

But as others said, it's very difficult right now at a lot of smaller satellite/franchised car rental agencies that tend to be closer located to ports. Going to corporate owned rental facilities that tend to be at airports will improve your odds.  

 

Also worth looking at alternative options like car share companies like ZipCar that have cars located in cities and can be rented by the hour. Or an app like Turo that allows you to rent cars that individuals own sort of like an automotive AirBnb. 

[Nitemare]

Smaller locations are having very hard times now.  Larger sites, like major airports, seem to have good availability.  Doesn't help you with this question, but for other travelers who see the question and might be interested, we had no problem getting a 1 week rental in Los Angeles last week for under $400, which matched pre-pandemic pricing.  Hopefully vehicles trickle down to remoter locations soon!

[Super Curly]

Another option is connecting with others on your ship through these boards who might want to tour similar areas. I reserved cars in both Charlottetown and Sydney several months ago for our June 25th Zaandam cruise and have offered to include another couple on our adventures. So far no takers!

[jsn55]

On 5/11/2022 at 8:54 AM, ACorgan said:

We’re booked for a NE/Canada cruise at the end of the summer and had hoped to rent cars in several of our ports to do some exploring on our own. However, we’re finding that this may not be a feasible plan. At the Charlottetown stop, we had to snag a car at the airport since all the closer locations were sold out and I can’t find any rental companies with availability in Sydney - they all show sold out. Is this common? Have we just missed our window for finding cars? Or might there be more availability as we get closer to our cruise date?

They sold all the cars when nobody was travelling.  I suspect they'll be slow to ramp back up, since it's a huge capital outlay ... and you never know what the government will do about the virus.  I'd just keep checking every couple of weeks.  If you are a Costco member, it will be convenient to check several locations, I rent all my vehicles through Costco.  I believe that AutoEurope rents domestic cars as well, but I've only used them (very successfully) in Europe.  Be ready for eye-watering rates!

[ACorgan]

On 6/4/2022 at 5:26 PM, jsn55 said:

If you are a Costco member, it will be convenient to check several locations, I rent all my vehicles through Costco. 

We’ve been monitoring the Costco travel site and a rental finally came up for our port day in Sydney. It was a “Special: winterized tires or equivalent” so no idea what that’s actually going to look like in August 🤷🏻‍♀️ We grabbed it though and will keep our fingers crossed that they’ll actually have a car of some type for us 

[Nitemare]

We have a two week trip to Boston coming up in late November and have a "pay later" rate of under $700.  Which I think is a great price now and a decent price pre-pandemic.

[DirtyDawg]

A friend of mine had waited months and months for the Tesla he ordered. Close to the delivery date the dealership called him and said they had a customer who was willing to pay $40K over list for immediate delivery. My friend took the money and left the Tesla. 💲  no  🚗 

[jsn55]

I'm convinced that people who buy Teslas are from another planet.  I'm impressed that the dealer didn't just give the car to the new guy and tell your friend that he had to wait for the next one.