Average Car Rental Rates Up Over May But Still Down Compared to 2011

In the car rental rate 6 City Average looking at Boston, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Seattle and Los Angeles, Rate-Highway and The Tennant Group look at a drop off in rates compared to 2011 average rates in those cities.

by Staff

July 9, 2012

Average Car Rental Rates Up Over May But Still Down Compared to 2011 — 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.

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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 July 9. (Click on the charts and graphs 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 6 City Average June rate quotes were $7.57 above May but $12.25 below June 2011. In spite of stronger rates in the early months of 2012 over 2011, the $1.88 falloff observed in May 2012 over May 2011 increased to $12.25 in June. This does not bode well for summer rates and perhaps reflects the lackluster performance of the overall economy in recent months.

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.

Again, individual city results varied considerably. While all except Chicago were down (and that city showed an insignificant 11 cent increase) the decreases varied from 10.5% in Houston to 44.9% in Miami.

Miami continues to show extreme volatility around holidays, in this case drifting down to an all-time low rate of $12.28 on June 8, then jumping to $49.50 the next week. A look at the chart below will show similar volatility in Miami this time last year and again around Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter/Spring Break.

To see May's report and average rates, click here.

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