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Side topic: the rental car industry is a dinosaur walking. Just like Netflix and video-on-demand put Blockbuster out of business, Uber and rideshare companies a

Side topic: the rental car industry is a dinosaur walking. Just like Netflix and video-on-demand put Blockbuster out of business, Uber and rideshare companies are slowly putting the kabosh on rental car business. I can't remember the last time I really needed to rent a car. Maybe for the random site-seeing roadtrip. But vacationers aren't rental company's bread and butter: it's business travelers. And business travelers are seeing much more convenience from rideshare than from rentals. The hassle of renting a car, parking, tolls, gas, dealing with insurance and liability, and just the shenanigans of rental car companies is not worth the hassle. It took a solid decade before the impact of video on demand was felt on Blockbuster, but it was inevitable. Just how COVID is bringing the water out of shore on the low tide, all it is doing is exposing already weak companies. Those that fail can't simply blame COVID, altho it's certainly a contributor. For some, the writing was already on the wall. In 10 years we'll be writing the post-mortem on the rental car industry.

adrianmonk 6y ago
Last time I rented a car it was because the hotel and airport were on opposite sides of a big city. Renting a car for 3 days was cheaper than two 40-mile Uber/Lyft trips. Because airports are often located on the edge of a city, this is a pretty common situation. Convenience matters, but so does cost, so I expect rental car companies will continue to get this sort of business.
kyriakos 6y ago
Or with self-driving cars the rental industry will become the next uber since they won't need a driver. Everyone would just lease a "car privilege" from a rental company which (or others) would be picking you up whenever you need it following your patterns a fleet of cars will be shared among more people. This would reduce pollution, waste and traffic in large cities.
- bigtunacan 6y ago
  I don't disagree with that model, but I don't think that is "the next Uber". That is just Uber in a few years. It is common knowledge that self-driving cars are Uber's long game. They are trying their hardest to get there so they can eliminate their biggest cost; paying drivers.
  - derwiki 6y ago
    And reduce another large cost: insurance
  - prostoalex 6y ago
    > they can eliminate their biggest cost; paying drivers. and incur new costs of buying, maintaining, parking and cleaning the vehicles
    - ithkuil 6y ago
      How can this not be cheaper than doing all that and also drive people around?
      - mb7733 6y ago
        Uber doesn't do that now.
        ithkuil 6y ago
        But the drivers (whom they pay) do
        asdff 6y ago
        And are doing it out of their own pocket. Uber isn't paying them to clean unless someone pukes in the car, and they certainly don't get anything to cover wear and tear and maintenance. However, drivers need to maintain a clean vehicle or else they get a poor rating and are forced out of the system, and need to maintain a working vehicle or else they cannot work that day. When you start to factor that in, your rate as a driver sinks like a stone.
        ithkuil 6y ago
        I knew uber drivers are being exploited, but are you saying they actually operate at a loss?!
- tasuki 6y ago
  And parking!
benjaminwootton 6y ago
Maybe someone needs to do to rental cars what Uber did to Taxis. If I could order one on my phone, have it be ready or turn up, and avoid all of that complexity over insurances and tolls then I would probably sell my own car and use that. I’m sure the rental companies have some digital stuff, but I generally associate rental cars with queuing at an Avis counter for an hour after a long flight, lots of paperwork and getting hit with fees etc. For exactly this reason I tend to stick with Uber on business trips over rental cars.
- tel 6y ago
  That's basically what Silvercar does
  - SeanBoocock 6y ago
    Yeah. You pay a premium but the experience is very seamless and professional. Not something I could see scaling easily, at least how Silvercar operates, but really successful in its niche.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  There are apps like this already, such as Turo, which I've used. Cheaper and a larger selection as it's other people's cars rather than the company's own fleet.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  > I’m sure the rental companies have some digital stuff, but I generally associate rental cars with queuing at an Avis counter for an hour after a long flight, lots of paperwork and getting hit with fees etc. For exactly this reason I tend to stick with Uber on business trips over rental cars. I just rented cars two times in the past two weeks. I was able to shop online between a few different rental car agencies (there’s only 3 big ones that own all the major brands, although I like to stick with Enterprise/Alamo/National). I made a reservation after a few minutes of shopping, I walked up to the counter, gave my ID and credit card, had the car in next 5 minutes and drove away in a total of 10 min max with the clean car that I wanted. I’ve done this many times too. I don’t see why I would trust a random stranger more than a business who should have established best practices and proper insurance. I also prefer proper hotels to stay in than random Airbnb. I don’t even have to talk to anyone at many Hilton branded hotels, and they have an online chat option in their app with the front desk.
speedgoose 6y ago
It will not disappear. If you don't own a car, renting is interesting. In my city we have a few car sharing solutions. My favorite one is non-profit and provide electric jaguars, vans, and family cars. Another one is owned by the state and provides eletric Renault everywhere in the city. They are very great solution in my opinion and it doesn't have the issues of classic car rentals. It takes seconds to rent one through an app and you don't need to see any human.
- rexreed 6y ago
  Sounds like you're agreeing with me. Redbox is an example of a video rental re-think company that's still doing ok even though Blockbuster failed. Did video rental go away completely? No. But the legacy industry collapsed spectacularly still. The current industry is a dinosaur. The industry is going through a shakeup. Maybe it's car sharing, maybe it's a new rental model. Regardless, the existing Blockbuster-like, Sears-like, K-Mart like companies have a lot to be worried about.
wenc 6y ago
Prior to COVID, I was solid consumer of business rentals. Rideshare is good for getting to the airport and back, but if I'm spending a few days at the destination (which in my case is usually suburban), a rental car can be both cheaper and more convenient than rideshare in smaller, underserved markets and in the suburbs. Also if you're making multiple stops of indefinite length, catching rideshare each time can be frustrating. Rideshares also have a limited radius while rentals don't. If you need to drive 2-3 hours from the airport to your destination, it's easy on a rental but not really advisable on a rideshare (possible but rideshare drivers hate it). I wonder if the problem with car rentals maybe isn't the business model, but how modern the operations are. I'm with National so I get to pick my own car. National has really nice cars so sometimes I end up with nice rides like Audi A3s for the price of a midsize (~$30/day -- I have free executive membership through my credit card). It's really not that much of a hassle with the app -- get off plane, walk to lot, pick a nice car, drive off. Driver's license, credit card + insurance etc. are all electronic. No dealing with any CSR. Only human interaction is at the exit where they check your DL (or QR code on your phone), scan your car's barcode and then open the barrier arm. My avg time to check-out is ~10 minutes, and returns are ~5 mins (excluding gas fill-up). This is with National. The Hertz experience is much more plodding. Their systems are a little more archaic. You have to check in at the counter if you don't have Hertz Gold, and you can't pick your own car. They're more expensive than other rental companies but their vehicles definitely are not nicer. Hertz has the largest market share but the worst customer experience of the majors.
- rexreed 6y ago
  Good insights, and definitely reflects the reality of the year 2020. But let's bring ourselves back to the year 2000 when Internet was slow, Netflix didn't exist, and the business model for video rental was strong. Back then it was hard to see the writing on the wall. Bring ourselves back to 2020. We have some new factors that we have visibility into that are changing the dynamic for the rental car industry: * Work is becoming increasingly remote. People are becoming more comfortable not traveling for business meetings or conferences. * The gig economy is heating up. Even if the rideshare business is still in its relative nascence, there is no doubt that the rideshare will continue to be a trend. * It's quite possible that the ride share firms will move to a subscription-based model (closer to Netflix) rather than a consumption-bsaed model (closer to Blockbuster) in the future. Paying per-ride has its hassles. A monthly fixed subscription model with predictable consumption limits can change the picture. Your $30/day rental probably didn't end up being $30/day. With all the extra fees (which usually doubles the daily rate or more), gas, parking, and tolls, you're probably spending closer to $60-$70/day. This is a daily rate. Would you pay $100-$200 on a monthly rate for unlimited trips within a radius? Possibly, if there was sufficient ride share supply. The problem of course is on the supply side. How do you pay drivers a share of a monthly subscription model when supply-side pricing is on a consumption-basis while demand-side pricing is on a subscription-basis? This is the challenge for the industry. But I think that challenge will be solved.
vagab0nd 6y ago
I get car sick when riding, but I have no problem driving. I hope there's a place for me in 10 years when rental is dead and AI takes over the road.
- rexreed 6y ago
  Do you get sick on buses, trains, or planes?
  - vagab0nd 6y ago
    Buses sometimes, trains and planes, not so much.
- Blackthorn 6y ago
  Huh, me too -- down to identical behavior as you with buses, planes, and trains. If any of us ever figure out why, I'd love to know. It can get very difficult at times where I always have to drive and have to consider buses hard.
  - suryabeep 6y ago
    I think it's because you know where the car is going to do when you are in the driver's seat, so you can mentally brace yourself and adjust your internal balance systems accordingly. Whereas, as a passenger, you have to react to the car instead of controlling it and so your internal balance systems are always slightly behind the actual motion, causing motion sickness. This is probably extendable to planes, trains, and busses.
- kps 6y ago
  The ‘treatment’ that accidentally worked for me was desensitization through VR.
  - vagab0nd 6y ago
    Interesting. Do you mean playing a specific game or just using VR in general?
cipherboy 6y ago
The one use case that's missing in Uber &c are long-distance (conditionally: one-direction) road trips. My family preferred driving to flying if the destination was only a couple of states away (Chicago, music camps, college, ...) and we didn't want to put miles on our car. With Hertz & friends, easy to rent a van, take it some where and either leave it there (and fly home) or drive back. It'd probably be a wash when milage depreciation is thrown in? And driving with a cello is a lot better than flying... :-)
- rsynnott 6y ago
  > and we didn't want to put miles on our car. Surely the cost of renting a car is far, far higher than the depreciation on a car caused by driving the same distance?
  - seattle_spring 6y ago
    Unless you have some status car like a Lexus or Audi.
  - cipherboy 6y ago
    Its roughly on the same order of magnitude. Let's take a drive I did recently: Minneapolis to Boise. Twenty-ish hour drive; if you have a couple of drivers, you could maybe get it done in one day. Let's budget two days for car rental. Pick up, drive, stay over night, drive, drop off. Hertz is quoting me between $100 - $150/day depending on car size. Let's say 2 days @ $150 = $300. According to a random internet article [0], the cost of driving (minus gas -- which we're spending either way, though maybe in different quantities) is $0.16/mile (yes, includes maintenance -- forgot to mention earlier). Boise is 1450 miles away from Minneapolis @ $0.17/mile = $232. Yeah, a little more expensive; Hertz needs to break even after all. But not by as much as one might think. And for three passengers, much less than a short-notice flight. [0]: https://www.mymoneydesign.com/what-is-the-real-cost-of-driving-per-mile/ https://www.mymoneydesign.com/what-is-the-real-cost-of-drivi...
  - yardie 6y ago
    My daily driver is fully paid for gaz guzzling. A long road trip on this old car will almost always necessitate an expensive garage visit for a tuneup. Or you can roll the dice and hopefully not breakdown somewhere. If you've ever been stuck in foreign garage waiting for your car to be repaired you'll appreciate the convenience of having a national network of replacement cars at the ready.
fishywang 6y ago
How are you vacationing without a rental car on a tropical island, like Hawaii? Uber/Lyft might be workable on Oahu, but on any other Hawaii islands rental car is a necessity unless you just stay in your resort all day long. Or any of the national parks that's far enough you can't drive your own car all the way from your home? After you finished your activities for the days and are ready to go back to your hotel, you might not even have phone signal to call Uber/Lyft in the national park. I guess you and me just have very different definitions to "vacation".
- robohoe 6y ago
  Agreed. Kona/Waikoloa area resorts are so spread out you would have to drive.
- barney54 6y ago
  This is true in places like Denver as well. It can get tough to get rental cars in the winter or in summer (spring and fall are better) because of vacationers going a number of hours from the airport. Uber/Lyft don’t really help with those trips. Generally I do Uber/Lyft in Denver because it’s more convenient if a bit more expensive.
- jacob019 6y ago
  Solid point. So many vacations require a rental car. Thinking of my last few vacations, ski trip to Colorado, Glacier National Park in Montana, Marco Island in Florida. None of those would be practical with ride sharing and even if they were it would be far less comfortable.
- rexreed 6y ago
  I actually agreed with you in my comment above. I said aside from the sight-seeing vacation or roadtrip, I don't see the rental value. But vacationers aren't the bread-and-butter of rental car companies, business travelers are, which make up 75%+ of revenues.
  - asdff 6y ago
    Many American cities also decentralized their business cores, and developed suburban office parks far flung from airports, the city, any infrastructure, or each other, but very convenient for the managers who live along the fairway at the nearby country club. For those cities, it's impossible to get a rideshare from the suburbs. Unless you are in a college town, drivers do not patrol there and you will be waiting for a car to come from downtown or the airport to pick you up and take you to your hotel. The rental rate might even work out ahead given how expensive rideshare gets over time and distance.
deleted 6y ago
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anonymousDan 6y ago
The problem with rentals is the rental companies are ing lowlife thieves. The last three times I've rented a car on holiday (Europe) I've been absolutely shafted and by three different companies (EuropCar, Hertz, and a local company).
sol_invictus 6y ago
I disagree, but for personal reasons which I don't know how widespread they apply: 1) I travel frequently, for instance to the SV area which provides a good example. I opt to rent a car 95% of the time for my (US) trips, and the reason is that I prefer to move freely. When you're on the whim of an Uber (and in the States you usually can't walk anywhere), it's psychologically unpleasant having to rely on someone to constantly pick you up from somewhere. So much more liberating to have a car parked and move when you please. 2) When you end up moving, you can joyride, which I often do.
Spooky23 6y ago
No way. Insurance and hassle are always cheaper than paying labor. My employer can bid down rental cars to $40/day or less, which is less than almost any meaningful Uber round trip. Even for a individual like me, I can get Nissan Altima or whatever for $70-80 in most places. You also have improved safety and security for employees vs John Doe and his 2010 Odyessy Uber that is falling apart. Uber is a shitshow experience compared to what it used to be.
dfihgnion51 6y ago
While ridesharing is killing the traditional rental car and taxi industry, it remains to be seen whether or not that's sustainable. All the big players are deeply unprofitable. Right now all this "disruption" we're seeing comes from companies burning vast amounts of money with no feasible path to profitability. Whether or not ridesharing can survive without being subsidized by losing its investors billions of dollars remains to be seen.
pbhjpbhj 6y ago
If you're ditching your car and trying to be more environmentally friendly then car rentals makes sense - have for us in the past at least. Car rental is cheaper for 2 or more people than taking the train; so rental is really useful for longer journeys (and you don't have to do taxi/bus transfers from the train station). Business demand for rental vehicles doesn't seem to be falling?
codingdave 6y ago
You may be right, but only if Uber, Lyft and whatever competitors arise in the coming years actually turn a profit. There is a vast differences between an industry changing due to new business models vs. VC capital footing the bill for the change without solid, profitable transactions at its core. The ride-sharing model is on the cusp of proving a sustainable business, but they aren't there yet.
chadash 6y ago
I agreed until I had a kid, which makes Uber much less practical since it’s a hassle to install the car seat every time.
sytelus 6y ago
I think you live in cities and look at everything from those lenses. Car rental is still thriving for business travels. Hertz actually served business customers more than Budget etc. When you go to places like Bay Area, Hawaii, Pudget Sound etc car rental is many time unavoidable. I don’t think Hertz went bankrupt because of ride share as OP suggests. There was another article which states how activist investors took over and loaded it up with debt transferring their assets.
rietta 6y ago
I don't know about that. I live in Alpharetta that is an hour commute from Heartsfield Jackson International airport in Atlanta. In the last year, I had three business trips to the Bay Area - where I flew and took Lyft and Caltrain/Bart. However,I had two business trips that were a 5 hour drive away and in both cases I rented a car with Enterprise in Alpharetta and had them pick me up and drove the entire trip. I had a business trip to Denver and after evaluating ride share vs renting Hertz I took the rental and drove and parked at the hotel near the conference center. It was cheaper to rent than deal with the vagaries of ride share with a long drive from Denver International Airport to the University of Denver and if I would be picked up at 4 AM for my red eye back home the next day. As someone over 25, renting a car is dead easy and seems to be cheaper than multiple ride shares. When I had business trips in smaller southeast cities, renting a car and actually driving the entire trip was more convenient than air travel because I got to listen to podcasts the whole way instead of dealing with the airport and still needing local transport when I got there.
exadeci 6y ago
I live in a big city but not in America. I got a motorcycle which works perfectly when I Uber would be too expensive and Transports too slow. Therefore I rent a car when I go on a holiday not too far away, it costs me less than $200 for 4 days and doesn't happen that often anyway so it's way less than investing in getting a decent car and maintaining it.

adrianmonk 6y ago

Last time I rented a car it was because the hotel and airport were on opposite sides of a big city. Renting a car for 3 days was cheaper than two 40-mile Uber/Lyft trips. Because airports are often located on the edge of a city, this is a pretty common situation. Convenience matters, but so does cost, so I expect rental car companies will continue to get this sort of business.

kyriakos 6y ago

Or with self-driving cars the rental industry will become the next uber since they won't need a driver. Everyone would just lease a "car privilege" from a rental company which (or others) would be picking you up whenever you need it following your patterns a fleet of cars will be shared among more people. This would reduce pollution, waste and traffic in large cities.

bigtunacan 6y ago
I don't disagree with that model, but I don't think that is "the next Uber". That is just Uber in a few years. It is common knowledge that self-driving cars are Uber's long game. They are trying their hardest to get there so they can eliminate their biggest cost; paying drivers.
- derwiki 6y ago
  And reduce another large cost: insurance
- prostoalex 6y ago
  > they can eliminate their biggest cost; paying drivers. and incur new costs of buying, maintaining, parking and cleaning the vehicles
  - ithkuil 6y ago
    How can this not be cheaper than doing all that and also drive people around?
    - mb7733 6y ago
      Uber doesn't do that now.
      - ithkuil 6y ago
        But the drivers (whom they pay) do
        asdff 6y ago
        And are doing it out of their own pocket. Uber isn't paying them to clean unless someone pukes in the car, and they certainly don't get anything to cover wear and tear and maintenance. However, drivers need to maintain a clean vehicle or else they get a poor rating and are forced out of the system, and need to maintain a working vehicle or else they cannot work that day. When you start to factor that in, your rate as a driver sinks like a stone.
        ithkuil 6y ago
        I knew uber drivers are being exploited, but are you saying they actually operate at a loss?!
tasuki 6y ago
And parking!

benjaminwootton 6y ago

Maybe someone needs to do to rental cars what Uber did to Taxis. If I could order one on my phone, have it be ready or turn up, and avoid all of that complexity over insurances and tolls then I would probably sell my own car and use that. I’m sure the rental companies have some digital stuff, but I generally associate rental cars with queuing at an Avis counter for an hour after a long flight, lots of paperwork and getting hit with fees etc. For exactly this reason I tend to stick with Uber on business trips over rental cars.

tel 6y ago
That's basically what Silvercar does
- SeanBoocock 6y ago
  Yeah. You pay a premium but the experience is very seamless and professional. Not something I could see scaling easily, at least how Silvercar operates, but really successful in its niche.
cercatrova 6y ago
There are apps like this already, such as Turo, which I've used. Cheaper and a larger selection as it's other people's cars rather than the company's own fleet.
lotsofpulp 6y ago
> I’m sure the rental companies have some digital stuff, but I generally associate rental cars with queuing at an Avis counter for an hour after a long flight, lots of paperwork and getting hit with fees etc. For exactly this reason I tend to stick with Uber on business trips over rental cars. I just rented cars two times in the past two weeks. I was able to shop online between a few different rental car agencies (there’s only 3 big ones that own all the major brands, although I like to stick with Enterprise/Alamo/National). I made a reservation after a few minutes of shopping, I walked up to the counter, gave my ID and credit card, had the car in next 5 minutes and drove away in a total of 10 min max with the clean car that I wanted. I’ve done this many times too. I don’t see why I would trust a random stranger more than a business who should have established best practices and proper insurance. I also prefer proper hotels to stay in than random Airbnb. I don’t even have to talk to anyone at many Hilton branded hotels, and they have an online chat option in their app with the front desk.

speedgoose 6y ago

It will not disappear. If you don't own a car, renting is interesting. In my city we have a few car sharing solutions. My favorite one is non-profit and provide electric jaguars, vans, and family cars. Another one is owned by the state and provides eletric Renault everywhere in the city. They are very great solution in my opinion and it doesn't have the issues of classic car rentals. It takes seconds to rent one through an app and you don't need to see any human.

rexreed 6y ago
Sounds like you're agreeing with me. Redbox is an example of a video rental re-think company that's still doing ok even though Blockbuster failed. Did video rental go away completely? No. But the legacy industry collapsed spectacularly still. The current industry is a dinosaur. The industry is going through a shakeup. Maybe it's car sharing, maybe it's a new rental model. Regardless, the existing Blockbuster-like, Sears-like, K-Mart like companies have a lot to be worried about.

wenc 6y ago

Prior to COVID, I was solid consumer of business rentals. Rideshare is good for getting to the airport and back, but if I'm spending a few days at the destination (which in my case is usually suburban), a rental car can be both cheaper and more convenient than rideshare in smaller, underserved markets and in the suburbs. Also if you're making multiple stops of indefinite length, catching rideshare each time can be frustrating. Rideshares also have a limited radius while rentals don't. If you need to drive 2-3 hours from the airport to your destination, it's easy on a rental but not really advisable on a rideshare (possible but rideshare drivers hate it). I wonder if the problem with car rentals maybe isn't the business model, but how modern the operations are. I'm with National so I get to pick my own car. National has really nice cars so sometimes I end up with nice rides like Audi A3s for the price of a midsize (~$30/day -- I have free executive membership through my credit card). It's really not that much of a hassle with the app -- get off plane, walk to lot, pick a nice car, drive off. Driver's license, credit card + insurance etc. are all electronic. No dealing with any CSR. Only human interaction is at the exit where they check your DL (or QR code on your phone), scan your car's barcode and then open the barrier arm. My avg time to check-out is ~10 minutes, and returns are ~5 mins (excluding gas fill-up). This is with National. The Hertz experience is much more plodding. Their systems are a little more archaic. You have to check in at the counter if you don't have Hertz Gold, and you can't pick your own car. They're more expensive than other rental companies but their vehicles definitely are not nicer. Hertz has the largest market share but the worst customer experience of the majors.

rexreed 6y ago
Good insights, and definitely reflects the reality of the year 2020. But let's bring ourselves back to the year 2000 when Internet was slow, Netflix didn't exist, and the business model for video rental was strong. Back then it was hard to see the writing on the wall. Bring ourselves back to 2020. We have some new factors that we have visibility into that are changing the dynamic for the rental car industry: * Work is becoming increasingly remote. People are becoming more comfortable not traveling for business meetings or conferences. * The gig economy is heating up. Even if the rideshare business is still in its relative nascence, there is no doubt that the rideshare will continue to be a trend. * It's quite possible that the ride share firms will move to a subscription-based model (closer to Netflix) rather than a consumption-bsaed model (closer to Blockbuster) in the future. Paying per-ride has its hassles. A monthly fixed subscription model with predictable consumption limits can change the picture. Your $30/day rental probably didn't end up being $30/day. With all the extra fees (which usually doubles the daily rate or more), gas, parking, and tolls, you're probably spending closer to $60-$70/day. This is a daily rate. Would you pay $100-$200 on a monthly rate for unlimited trips within a radius? Possibly, if there was sufficient ride share supply. The problem of course is on the supply side. How do you pay drivers a share of a monthly subscription model when supply-side pricing is on a consumption-basis while demand-side pricing is on a subscription-basis? This is the challenge for the industry. But I think that challenge will be solved.

vagab0nd 6y ago

I get car sick when riding, but I have no problem driving. I hope there's a place for me in 10 years when rental is dead and AI takes over the road.

rexreed 6y ago
Do you get sick on buses, trains, or planes?
- vagab0nd 6y ago
  Buses sometimes, trains and planes, not so much.
Blackthorn 6y ago
Huh, me too -- down to identical behavior as you with buses, planes, and trains. If any of us ever figure out why, I'd love to know. It can get very difficult at times where I always have to drive and have to consider buses hard.
- suryabeep 6y ago
  I think it's because you know where the car is going to do when you are in the driver's seat, so you can mentally brace yourself and adjust your internal balance systems accordingly. Whereas, as a passenger, you have to react to the car instead of controlling it and so your internal balance systems are always slightly behind the actual motion, causing motion sickness. This is probably extendable to planes, trains, and busses.
kps 6y ago
The ‘treatment’ that accidentally worked for me was desensitization through VR.
- vagab0nd 6y ago
  Interesting. Do you mean playing a specific game or just using VR in general?

cipherboy 6y ago

The one use case that's missing in Uber &c are long-distance (conditionally: one-direction) road trips. My family preferred driving to flying if the destination was only a couple of states away (Chicago, music camps, college, ...) and we didn't want to put miles on our car. With Hertz & friends, easy to rent a van, take it some where and either leave it there (and fly home) or drive back. It'd probably be a wash when milage depreciation is thrown in? And driving with a cello is a lot better than flying... :-)

rsynnott 6y ago
> and we didn't want to put miles on our car. Surely the cost of renting a car is far, far higher than the depreciation on a car caused by driving the same distance?
- seattle_spring 6y ago
  Unless you have some status car like a Lexus or Audi.
- cipherboy 6y ago
  Its roughly on the same order of magnitude. Let's take a drive I did recently: Minneapolis to Boise. Twenty-ish hour drive; if you have a couple of drivers, you could maybe get it done in one day. Let's budget two days for car rental. Pick up, drive, stay over night, drive, drop off. Hertz is quoting me between $100 - $150/day depending on car size. Let's say 2 days @ $150 = $300. According to a random internet article [0], the cost of driving (minus gas -- which we're spending either way, though maybe in different quantities) is $0.16/mile (yes, includes maintenance -- forgot to mention earlier). Boise is 1450 miles away from Minneapolis @ $0.17/mile = $232. Yeah, a little more expensive; Hertz needs to break even after all. But not by as much as one might think. And for three passengers, much less than a short-notice flight. [0]: https://www.mymoneydesign.com/what-is-the-real-cost-of-driving-per-mile/ https://www.mymoneydesign.com/what-is-the-real-cost-of-drivi...
- yardie 6y ago
  My daily driver is fully paid for gaz guzzling. A long road trip on this old car will almost always necessitate an expensive garage visit for a tuneup. Or you can roll the dice and hopefully not breakdown somewhere. If you've ever been stuck in foreign garage waiting for your car to be repaired you'll appreciate the convenience of having a national network of replacement cars at the ready.

fishywang 6y ago

How are you vacationing without a rental car on a tropical island, like Hawaii? Uber/Lyft might be workable on Oahu, but on any other Hawaii islands rental car is a necessity unless you just stay in your resort all day long. Or any of the national parks that's far enough you can't drive your own car all the way from your home? After you finished your activities for the days and are ready to go back to your hotel, you might not even have phone signal to call Uber/Lyft in the national park. I guess you and me just have very different definitions to "vacation".

robohoe 6y ago
Agreed. Kona/Waikoloa area resorts are so spread out you would have to drive.
barney54 6y ago
This is true in places like Denver as well. It can get tough to get rental cars in the winter or in summer (spring and fall are better) because of vacationers going a number of hours from the airport. Uber/Lyft don’t really help with those trips. Generally I do Uber/Lyft in Denver because it’s more convenient if a bit more expensive.
jacob019 6y ago
Solid point. So many vacations require a rental car. Thinking of my last few vacations, ski trip to Colorado, Glacier National Park in Montana, Marco Island in Florida. None of those would be practical with ride sharing and even if they were it would be far less comfortable.
rexreed 6y ago
I actually agreed with you in my comment above. I said aside from the sight-seeing vacation or roadtrip, I don't see the rental value. But vacationers aren't the bread-and-butter of rental car companies, business travelers are, which make up 75%+ of revenues.
- asdff 6y ago
  Many American cities also decentralized their business cores, and developed suburban office parks far flung from airports, the city, any infrastructure, or each other, but very convenient for the managers who live along the fairway at the nearby country club. For those cities, it's impossible to get a rideshare from the suburbs. Unless you are in a college town, drivers do not patrol there and you will be waiting for a car to come from downtown or the airport to pick you up and take you to your hotel. The rental rate might even work out ahead given how expensive rideshare gets over time and distance.

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anonymousDan 6y ago

The problem with rentals is the rental companies are ing lowlife thieves. The last three times I've rented a car on holiday (Europe) I've been absolutely shafted and by three different companies (EuropCar, Hertz, and a local company).

sol_invictus 6y ago

I disagree, but for personal reasons which I don't know how widespread they apply: 1) I travel frequently, for instance to the SV area which provides a good example. I opt to rent a car 95% of the time for my (US) trips, and the reason is that I prefer to move freely. When you're on the whim of an Uber (and in the States you usually can't walk anywhere), it's psychologically unpleasant having to rely on someone to constantly pick you up from somewhere. So much more liberating to have a car parked and move when you please. 2) When you end up moving, you can joyride, which I often do.

Spooky23 6y ago

No way. Insurance and hassle are always cheaper than paying labor. My employer can bid down rental cars to $40/day or less, which is less than almost any meaningful Uber round trip. Even for a individual like me, I can get Nissan Altima or whatever for $70-80 in most places. You also have improved safety and security for employees vs John Doe and his 2010 Odyessy Uber that is falling apart. Uber is a shitshow experience compared to what it used to be.

dfihgnion51 6y ago

While ridesharing is killing the traditional rental car and taxi industry, it remains to be seen whether or not that's sustainable. All the big players are deeply unprofitable. Right now all this "disruption" we're seeing comes from companies burning vast amounts of money with no feasible path to profitability. Whether or not ridesharing can survive without being subsidized by losing its investors billions of dollars remains to be seen.

pbhjpbhj 6y ago

If you're ditching your car and trying to be more environmentally friendly then car rentals makes sense - have for us in the past at least. Car rental is cheaper for 2 or more people than taking the train; so rental is really useful for longer journeys (and you don't have to do taxi/bus transfers from the train station). Business demand for rental vehicles doesn't seem to be falling?

codingdave 6y ago

You may be right, but only if Uber, Lyft and whatever competitors arise in the coming years actually turn a profit. There is a vast differences between an industry changing due to new business models vs. VC capital footing the bill for the change without solid, profitable transactions at its core. The ride-sharing model is on the cusp of proving a sustainable business, but they aren't there yet.

chadash 6y ago

I agreed until I had a kid, which makes Uber much less practical since it’s a hassle to install the car seat every time.

sytelus 6y ago

I think you live in cities and look at everything from those lenses. Car rental is still thriving for business travels. Hertz actually served business customers more than Budget etc. When you go to places like Bay Area, Hawaii, Pudget Sound etc car rental is many time unavoidable. I don’t think Hertz went bankrupt because of ride share as OP suggests. There was another article which states how activist investors took over and loaded it up with debt transferring their assets.

rietta 6y ago

I don't know about that. I live in Alpharetta that is an hour commute from Heartsfield Jackson International airport in Atlanta. In the last year, I had three business trips to the Bay Area - where I flew and took Lyft and Caltrain/Bart. However,I had two business trips that were a 5 hour drive away and in both cases I rented a car with Enterprise in Alpharetta and had them pick me up and drove the entire trip. I had a business trip to Denver and after evaluating ride share vs renting Hertz I took the rental and drove and parked at the hotel near the conference center. It was cheaper to rent than deal with the vagaries of ride share with a long drive from Denver International Airport to the University of Denver and if I would be picked up at 4 AM for my red eye back home the next day. As someone over 25, renting a car is dead easy and seems to be cheaper than multiple ride shares. When I had business trips in smaller southeast cities, renting a car and actually driving the entire trip was more convenient than air travel because I got to listen to podcasts the whole way instead of dealing with the airport and still needing local transport when I got there.

exadeci 6y ago

I live in a big city but not in America. I got a motorcycle which works perfectly when I Uber would be too expensive and Transports too slow. Therefore I rent a car when I go on a holiday not too far away, it costs me less than $200 for 4 days and doesn't happen that often anyway so it's way less than investing in getting a decent car and maintaining it.