The Lot of Rental Choices

Snow Country
March 1995
Original draft, by Tom LaRocque

Whether it's a long-anticipated ski trip or a last-minute fling, few obstacles are harder to hurdle than inappropriate wheels. Buses and taxis may work out well, or may not work at all. To hit the slopes by your own clock, or arrive fashionably late for lunch, personal transportation is sometimes a necessity.

The supply of winter-worthy rental vehicles is finite, however. Once they're gone, they're gone. With toll-free numbers and heavily advertised promotions, major rental companies sell out of sport-utilities and other four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles as much as three months ahead of certain ski dates.

An alternative lies in dealing with lesser known, locally operated car-rental outfits. Finding them takes some legwork. The pay-off comes in lower prices, and if you're lucky, availability when the majors are booked solid.  Last December, I conceived fictitious Christmas trips to Utah, Colorado, and Vermont. Then I called for rental cars. It was less than three weeks before the holiday, the toughest time of year to find a 4WD. Ski vehicles can also be scarce in the spring, during the President's Day weekend, and spring-break time in March.

In the rental business, Hertz is biggest, followed by four companies also considered to be of the top tier: Alamo, Avis, Budget, and National. I tried them all along with several second-tier companies including Thrifty, Dollar, Enterprise, and General. All 4WD cars and sport-utilities were sold out. Most companies still had plenty of full-size sedans, however, ranging from $289 to $339 per week.

A trip to the local library then produced the names and numbers of some 25 "third-tier" companies, gleaned from out-of-town phone books. To locate the appropriate directory for a smaller resort, I discovered, it pays to find out the county it's in, or the nearest sizeable city. That too is easy library work.

In calling for cars, I concentrated on the companies that seemed smallest: those without toll-free numbers or prominent ads in the Yellow Pages. It was Sunday, and many answered with recorded messages, or didn't answer at all. But on the following day, my batting average improved.

In Utah, Mountain Car Rental was unable to offer a sport-ute, but did have 4WD Subaru wagons available in Park City. The peak-season price was almost frightening: $89.95 per day. And I'd have to shuttle-bus my way from the airport to Park City.  

In Colorado, I connected with Rocky Mountain Rent A Car, in Aspen. The most popular sport-utes were gone, they said, but Jeep Wranglers and Ford Aerostar minivans were still available. The prices were equally scary: $100 per day for the Wrangler, and twice that for the Aerostar. Still, considering the short notice, a real renter would have been delighted with any 4WD choices at all.

In Vermont, 4WD vehicles are scarce in general, not just during peak periods. All the local outfits I called referred me to the nationals, and none of the nationals could accommodate me for Christmas. "There isn't as much demand for 4WD in the East, unless your staying in a chalet way up in the mountains," said a Killington agent.

Agreed, lacking 4WD may limit your options, but it rarely ruins a trip. In most conditions, a front-drive Ford Taurus or Dodge Intrepid will serve without stumbling. Front-wheel drive has a natural traction advantage: Most of the vehicle weight rides atop the driving wheels. To be avoided, if possible, are rear-drive rental cars such as the Ford Thunderbird and Lincoln Town Car. Electronic traction control is available in these models, but in my experience, agents couldn't say whether their cars were so equipped.

For non-peak periods, I was able to find 4WD cars and sport-utes without much difficulty, even in Vermont. I asked all my unwitting benefactors about yet another fictional trip, in February. With the majors, weekly rates for a 4WD sport-utility vehicle ranged ranged from $419 to $599. The smaller outfits were 15 to 20 percent less.

Aside from the Yellow Pages, other sources of rental-car information are chambers of commerce near resorts, and the resorts themselves. Many car dealers dabble in the rental business, and don't advertise it to the world.

Dealing with small companies has its obvious down side. Most can't accommodate one-way rentals, in which the vehicle is picked up at one location and dropped off at another. Airport transportation is often difficult. (One outfit suggested I take a cab.) It's tougher to communicate about drop-off arrangements or mechanical breakdowns if the company lacks a 24-hour toll-free number. Lack of confidence in these unknown operators may be reason enough to avoid them.

Many of the majors run ski-related specials. Budget offers free lift tickets in its Ski the West promotion. Hertz has "SNO-rates," a price package which includes a ski rack and a loss damage waiver. Ordinarily those items would boost the daily price by about $5 and $13, respectively. Still, the bottom line is the bottom line. It may pay to compare one company's "special" prices with what's normally available elsewhere.

Renting has been touted as a good way to test-drive vehicles which you're considering for purchase. It can be. But some companies won't guarantee the rig you want. They'll note your preference, but reserve the right to supply something different in the same class. In dealing with Avis, I stipulated a Cherokee, but was told I might get a Pathfinder instead.

Budget offers Troopers and Explorers. At Hertz, wholly owned by Ford, the sport-ute class includes only Explorers. Thrifty, owned by Chrysler, offers only the Jeep Cherokee. Chrysler also owns Dollar, which rents the Cherokee, Explorer, Montero, 4Runner, and Chevy Suburban. Privately owned Alamo is big on Blazers, and some of the all-new '95 models are now available.

To find the best rate, it's essential to shop around. Prices vary not only between major rental companies, but even within individual ones. In reserving a vehicle at the Denver airport, I was able to do no better than $599 per week. Later that day, on the phone with the same company, I negotiated a weekly rate of $60 lower.

Travel agents can check all major car-rental companies with a few keystrokes on a computer. They can also book tours which guarantee the lowest available rates on rental cars packaged together with lift tickets, air travel, and hotel accommodations.

The best way to lock in the vehicle you want, say rental agents, is to book it well in advance. Skiers who visit Colorado at the same time each year have one trick that's well-known at least at the Denver airport. "When they return their car," according to an agent, "they say that was great. Put me down for the same thing next year."