Here’s your insider’s guide to renting a car in 2023

If you want to rent a car in 2023, here’s a money-saving secret: Keep your options open. Way open.

That’s the advice of car rental experts – and drivers who have already planned their trip for next year.

A recent survey of Enterprise car rental customers reveals that 70% have rental plans for the near future, which includes the upcoming holiday travel season.

“As we look to the year ahead, we expect the strong travel demand we’ve seen this year to continue into 2023,” said Enterprise spokeswoman Lisa Martini.

What happened to car rentals in 2022?

It’s been an interesting year for rental car customers, to put it mildly. As I noted in my guide to renting a cara chip shortage and record demand pushed some car rental rates to $100 a day or more.

Yeah, this kind of interesting.

“2022 has been a big year for rental cars, with shortages across the country,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive of Kayaking North Americasaid.

According to Tom Kennedy, CEO of United States.

“However, production has improved and vehicle availability for the rental industry is also slowly improving,” he said.

I asked Jacobs from Kayak to take a look at rental car reservations ahead of time. Jacobs says prices are down about 5% from a year ago, which is good news for renters. And the demand has gone down a bit (it’s down about 3% from last year). You can track rental rates by setting up a price alert on a site like Kayak.

So how to rent a car in 2023? Flexibility will be an important tool. So will advance planning skills and avoid certain road hazards.

Stay flexible when renting a car

The key to a better rental in 2023 is to have a B, C and D.

“Include flexible dates and branch pick-up locations in your search, if possible,” says Martini, the Enterprise spokesperson. “It can help increase your options.”

Car rental companies like Enterprise help customers expand their network. Enterprise.com has a feature that redirects customers to its other nearby options. This way, even if your favorite location shows no availability, you can still get a car if you don’t mind visiting a nearby location.

Interestingly, car rental companies are also becoming more flexible. Audi on demandwhich rents cars from Audi dealerships, recently introduced new flexible terms that allow you to rent a car for a few days, a week or even a month.

“There are more opportunities than ever for customers to experience a vehicle,” said Sara Whiffen, vice president of strategy, mobility and retail operations for Audi of America.

For longer term rentals there are also companies like Autonomywhich offer monthly subscriptions for sought-after electric vehicles, such as the Tesla Model 3.

Also be flexible with your cards

Be careful what card you use to rent a car, says Bob Bacheler, CEO or flying angels, a medical transportation provider. Bacheler is a frequent car hirer and an observer of the changing landscape of maps and their benefits.

“See if any of the credit cards you have in your wallet give you status with a rental car company,” he advises. “Unfortunately, with so many people in status, the penalty you may incur for not having status can make your rental experience less than enjoyable.”

Book in advance for 2023

Car rental experts say some things have changed for next year – and some things haven’t.

“We always recommend that customers book a non-prepaid reservation as soon as possible, particularly during busy periods or if they require a specialist vehicle,” says Mark Mannell, CEO of Carrentalsavers.com.

Mannell told me that prices have come down and 2022 shortages have eased, “but there are still issues in some places and during peak times.”

Avoid an EV

Rental car prices are falling and the market is slowly normalizing, according to Michael Stalf, chief executive of my only cara German car rental company.

“There is still a shortage of electric cars,” he says. “So my advice to travelers is not to insist on an electric car as this will be more expensive.”

A quick check of EV prices at major US car rental companies shows that EV rentals are 20% to 30% higher than gas-powered vehicles. That’s partly because they’re in high demand and partly because they’re so rare, according to Stalf.

Go contactless

It was one of the big trends of 2022: digitization. More and more car rental companies have introduced kiosks and apps to streamline the rental process, which can save you a lot of time.

“The car rental industry is rapidly adapting technology to all stages of the car rental experience, with a focus on streamlining,” said Frank Harrison, Americas Regional Security Manager at Worldwide travel protection.

Harrison, a frequent car rental company, says his last car rental experience was fully automated. However, he asked an employee to inspect his car upon his return. (Return inspection is always a good idea.)

Yes, there are still last minute offers

Some tenants discovered more offers at the last minute. I am one of them. I rented a Jeep in Split, Croatia a few months ago and the last minute rate was less than half the normal price (under $100 for a long weekend).

“In the latter part of this year, I was able to get better rates by waiting until the last minute to rent a car, rather than booking a car in advance,” says Kyle MacDonald, COO at Strength by Mojioa company that provides GPS fleet tracking services.

Best strategy: Book ahead and track your car rental rate online through a service like KAYAK or AutoSlash. As you get closer to your pickup date, check around to see if you can do better. And don’t forget to cancel your original reservation.

Do you really need a traditional rental car?

Maybe not, says Mark Mohr, a retired television producer from Vancouver, Washington. He plans to travel to Kauai in May for his annual trip.

“We’ve been there probably fifteen times in the last thirty years, and I’ve always rented from Budget,” he says.

But this time, the weekly rates are a bit high. “It’s $809 for a full-size Toyota Camry, $573 for an economy Ford Fiesta and $913 for a Mazda CX-5 midsize SUV,” he says. “That appears to be a significant price increase over the past three years.”

“A few friends on the island told me about renting from Turo, which I believe is a bit like an Airbnb for cars,” he says. “That seems like a slightly more reasonable option.”

I rented from tutorial on a recent visit to Hawaii and saved hundreds of dollars. It’s not quite a car rental company, but the savings are real.

What will happen to car rentals next year?

Experts predict that car rental prices will remain high in 2023. Anastasija Zubenko, head of the business department of the car rental site DiscoverCars.comsays that in many ways it will feel like a repeat of 2022, according to their analysts.

“We expect next year to be much the same – there will be some shortage, especially on islands and territories where it is more difficult to get new cars delivered,” he told me. she says. “Fares in these locations will remain quite high on average as demand will continue to be very high as we expect people to continue to travel often despite any potential recession.”

In other words, the strategies that got you a reasonably priced rental car in 2022 will likely work next year, as long as you stay flexible.