Corporate Car Rental Rates Drop 5%

Average car rental rates continued their downward trend, dropping to a national average base-rate of $38.88 per day. This is an 8% drop since 2013 — with a 5% drop in 2015 alone, according to Travel Leaders Corporate’s analysis of its business travel clients’ booking data from fourth quarter 2015.

From a high average base-rate of $45 during the fourth quarter of 2011, rates have dropped for a third consecutive quarter, according to the analysis. The market with the biggest decrease in rental rates is Las Vegas, with base-rates declining by 18% since 2013.

For the first time, Travel Leaders Corporate is making data available for average base rates for rental cars in the top 25 U.S. cities.

“Travel Leaders Corporate’s city-by-city data for rental car base-rates present a more nuanced picture of the rental car market around the United States,” said David Holyoke, president of Travel Leaders Corporate. “While on average, we see a continued decrease in the base-rate across the country, there are several markets bucking that trend, as well as others clearly driving it — all without respect to any geographic pattern. For example, since 2013, Detroit has seen the largest base-rate increase of 15%, followed by Fort Lauderdale at 13%. Meanwhile, the largest decreases were posted in Las Vegas, down 18%, and Tampa, down by 17%. …”

Other key findings from Travel Leaders Corporate analysis include:

- Low jet fuel costs and a strong U.S. dollar led to lower domestic and international airline tickets. International airfare dropped to an average cost of $1,521.69 per ticket — a decrease of almost $170 since second quarter 2015.

- During fourth quarter, hotel prices decreased almost 5% from last quarter for both domestic and international average hotel costs.

For more information, visit www.travelleadersgroup.com.