With the help of Jim Tennant of The Tennant Group and Michael Meyer of Rate-Highway, Inc., we are conducting rate surveys on a weekly basis and providing analysis and comments where appropriate. We publish this monthly recap in our electronic edition and more comprehensive looks in the print editions.

In mid-December, Hertz Global Holdings announced it was raising rates for its brands in the U.S. This seemed to have an immediate effect on rate quotes, which had been running well below the same week a year earlier.

However, the apparent increase was short-lived. In the first survey after the Hertz announcement, the 50-city weighted average quote was $2.29 higher than a year earlier, and the increase continued for another week — this time $2.97 higher. But the following week’s rates dropped and have been down (from a year ago) every week since then.

It is possible that Hertz’s announcement moderated the decreases, since January was only down $2.42 — lower than November and December’s rate decreases.

Individual cities continue to vary widely. Nashville had the highest rate of the 50 cities in January at $73.12, while Seattle had the lowest rate at $26.43.