Taking weekend trip to south Florida. Decided to fly into PBI and out of FLL because when pricing car rentals it cost 2.5 times as much to rent and return car to FLL than it did to rent at PBI and return at FLL - a savings of several hundred dollars for a long weekend. It was also cheaper to do the rental this way than PBI-PBI, so it is not just that FLL is more expensive.
This makes no sense - happy to have the savings, but wondering if anyone can guess the logic.
Why would it cost much more for car rental FLL-FLL than PBI-FLL?
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Prices vary all over based on location, so not sure why that is surprising. Maybe they have more demand at FLL so don't need to have as low a price. I think the return point is probably irrelevant in this case as they aren't that far apart, but the price is based on the rental location. I think rental prices vary a lot based on models that change all the time, maybe similar to airline seats, even within the same location.
I imagine it was just something peculiar about the dates and company you chose. I just checked a random date in March for the same thing on Hertz and the fees were almost the same for a weekend rental (PBI-FLL vs. FLL RT)
Keep looking. I am renting in PBI and dropping off at FLL and it turns out it's less than in an out of same airport. A lot of times with car rentals, unlike air fares, the closer you get the prices drop. Compare all rental companies, look for the tab of last minute deals, and don't put in a specific size car because some class cars are cheaper than others, even if they are larger. Good luck,
How much money did you save by flying into Palm Beach, Gail?
I solved the problem by booking at the Thrifty office 3 miles from FLL and returning it to FLL. Using promo code 5SE1M I saved $300 over FLL rental and return on a 15-day rental.
HTtY
Sounds like a week where they are low on cars at FLL. So naturally, they would love for you to rent a car elsewhere and then turn it in to FLL where they are in need of more cars.
I agree with clark. It's based on inventory needs for the upcoming business rental week.
Airfare was about the same Boston-West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale, and since we are staying between the 2, airport did not matter. I also saved a considerable amount by flying back to Boston Tuesday rather than Monday (Presidents' Day) - not quite enough to cover additional hotel night, but worth it for another day in Florida, especially since we are digging out of over 2 feet of snow at the moment.
So not really a problem - just one of the many curiosities about travel - and part of the fun of researching a trip when I discover such an easy way to save some money.