It's the silly season for car rental companies.
And by silly we mean that in the best way possible, especially for consumers.
Winter is just about over and the "Snowbirds" in Florida - and Arizona, for that matter - will be heading back to their real homes. That means car rental companies that flooded their locations in those states for the influx of winter travelers now need their cars back.
Hello, $10-a-day one-way rental fee!
All the major car rental companies are running ridiculously low promotions right now with rates as low as $10 a day with no drop-off charges.
According to jaunted.com, Hertz's "Florida Drive Out" promotion allows you to rent a car at a participating airport or neighborhood Hertz location and drive it back up the east coast - dropping it anywhere you like along the I-95 corridor from Georgia to Maine - for as little as $10 a day.
Budget, National and Avis are all doing similar promotions; just check the dates and the drop-off locations because they might not be as wide a net as Hertz is allowing for.
It's not just the wintertime, either, when car rental companies need their cars shifted from location to location. A new website from Transfercar shows you how and when car companies are looking for drivers to take their vehicles from one place to the next - for free.
According to the company, rental car companies spend large amounts of money on transferring cars between branches in order to position their fleet for new hires. These companies usually hire trucks, trains or professional drivers to relocate their stock, and this comes at a hefty cost.
"We've created a website that connects rental car companies needing to transfer their cars with travelers eager to drive them in exchange for a free trip," said Pascal Languillon, Transfercar's Chief Marketing Officer. "This model provides a win-win solution where travelers get the opportunity to get a free one-way car or RV rental, while rental car companies save big money on relocation costs."
Transfercar summed up this concept in an animated video.
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