Compact car rentals soar

Compact cars are becoming the most popular way to travel, especially as gas prices increase and airlines make fare hikes and increase fuel surcharges. The surge in demand means that travellers who fail to make advance bookings may be left with gas guzzling land yachts.

Enterprise began offering 50 per cent off weekend rentals from participating American locations, leading to a severe shortage of compact cars.

Budget Rent-A Car is in a similar situation. According to Abraham Rodriquez, the manager of the company’s central reservations centre in Los Angeles, more and more locations can’t keep up with the soaring demand for compact and subcompact cars. To try and keep up the company is trying to bring in more compact cars into the fleet. “We’re bringing in more small cars,” he said.

To promote the less-loved, larger cars, many companies are putting them on special, helping drivers to offset the costs for filling up the gas guzzler’s tanks.

National Car Rental, for example, recently introduced a last-minute special on midsize and full-size cars from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. This weekend, instead of paying $27 per day for an economy sized car, drivers can get a larger sized vehicle for between $19 and $20 a day.

Budget is also promoting their full-size cars, offering them for $22 a day for drop offs in Nevada and California.

www.budget.com