Car Rental Rates Continue Downward Trend Compared to 2011 in 6-City Analysis

According to the car rental rate survey and analysis for October from Rate-Highway and The Tennant Group, rates at the six airports included in the survey continue to decrease on average compared to the same period last year, though the gap is narrowing.

by Staff

November 9, 2012

Car Rental Rates Continue Downward Trend Compared to 2011 in 6-City Analysis — Rate data provided by Rate-Highway, a provider of revenue management services for the auto rental industry. Rates are an average of aggregator/OTA rates for all vendors present in the markets listed on the date of the survey.

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With the help of Michael Meyer of Rate-Highway Inc. and Jim Tennant of The Tennant Group, Auto Rental News publishes monthly auto rental rate surveys for six major airports in the cities of Boston, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Seattle and Los Angeles. The rates are based on weekly surveys.

Analysis and commentary provided by Jim Tennant of The Tennant Group. This survey is dated Nov. 5. (Click on the graph below for a larger view.)

Rate data provided by Rate-Highway, a provider of revenue management services for the auto rental industry. Rates are an average of aggregator/OTA rates for all vendors present in the markets listed on the date of the survey.

The October 2012 6-City Average Rate Quotes continued the trend seen in the previous five months, with rates down compared to the same month last year for the sixth consecutive month. October was down $1.77 from October 2011, though the gap continued to narrow.

Chicago continued to show strength and Miami’s average quote of $36.33 was close to the 6-city average, but was down $10.35 from last year.

Houston rates are down from the lofty heights seen in the spring, but still second highest of the 6 cities. Boston and Seattle are up modestly over last year and Los Angeles continues to show weakness, both in absolute terms and compared to last year.

ICAR Average Rate Quotes - Monthly Averages in 2012
	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct
BOS 2012	30.47	53.51	64.05	29.58	39.25	30.53
MIA 2012	16.04	31.34	41.24	21.46	25.50	36.33
ORD 2012	60.23	59.81	57.60	58.06	62.46	64.17
HOU 2012	52.69	40.42	36.89	33.86	39.99	39.80
SEA 2012	30.37	40.33	51.55	36.26	35.08	28.73
LAX 2012	27.12	36.99	46.23	24.76	28.26	25.27
6 City 2012 Avg.	36.16	43.73	49.59	34.00	38.42	37.47

2011 vs. 2012
	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct
BOS	(5.12)	(8.65)	(16.74)	(0.21)	1.14	1.52
MIA	(12.15)	(25.58)	(24.27)	(11.98)	(6.02)	(10.35)
ORD	15.22	0.11	(2.86)	22.96	6.24	10.64
HOU	18.34	(4.75)	(5.01)	(6.54)	(9.46)	(4.50)
SEA	(16.17)	(20.34)	(23.25)	(22.59)	(2.61)	0.27
LAX	(11.44)	(14.32)	1.90	(7.87)	(6.05)	(8.18)
6 City Avg.	(1.89)	(12.25)	(11.71)	(4.37)	(2.79)	(1.77)

These tables and graph show the average of all base rate quotes per day for an ICAR at the six airports shown for arrivals 15 to 21 days ahead of the date of the survey, for two- and seven-day rentals. If the arrival date is a Friday or Saturday, the two-day rate will be a weekend rate, otherwise it will be a regular rate.

See September's car rental rate analysis here.

Topics:6-City Survey Rental Rates Tennant Group Rate-Highway Airport Rentals Rental Operations