Danb Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 First off I received excellent service at Gulfport, having nice polite employees plus good accommodations . But we pay for it. Fuel was $7.34 gallon, fees not waived. $10 ramp fee, $30 per nigh parking. Plus an unbelievable $850 charge for a medium car for six days, Hertz the FBO must be getting a handling charge. A six day stay for fuel and car approximated $ 1800. This is just a notification great FBO highest overall charge I’ve encountered. Let us knowing your unreasonable charges at FBOS 1 1 Quote
Hank Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 That is shocking! I'm renting a full size car from Hertz, from yesterday through next Friday for just over $200. It's the only place in town, and I was unhappy that they're only open Mon-Fri, 8-5, so I have to pay for Fri, Sat & Sun to leave early Monday. The fuel price adds insult to injury, followed by the fees not waived after buying their gold-plated fuel. Guess it'll be a while longer before I color in nearby Mississippi on my map, if this is typical. Sorry, Dan! Quote
GeeBee Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 Car rentals are pricey right now because there are no cars. They sold them off during Covid and it will be at least 18 months before their fleets get back up to strength. So far, Enterprise seems to be the least "gouge" with Hertz being the worst. Avis sort of in-between. Any location near a "Disney" is the worst. Usually 300 per day. I usually rent a van for a week in the summer when on my grandkids visit and I am paying double the normal rate this year and that is reserving it 2 months in advance and paying in advance. Crazy. 1 Quote
toto Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 Yep. This past week we drove five hours each way for a trip that would have been a 90-minute Mooney flight because the car rental prices were so outrageous. https://www.businessinsider.com/rental-car-shortages-us-travel-demand-chip-shortage-2021-4 Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 When I flew to Pennsylvania last October, I went to the Hurtz counter in the FBO. The cheapest car they had was $80/ day. I told her to cancel my reservation. I went on line and made a reservation with the same agency that runs the counter at the FBO FOR $24/day. I called the agency and asked if they could pick me up at the airport, they said they would be right over. There is no other way to look at this other than they are trying to rip off the rich airplane owners. 1 Quote
Jim Peace Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 had a one way Hertz rental from EWR to PHL booked on their site for 240 dollars several weeks out for just a 4 hour rental. The day before I got on Travelocity and booked it for 110 dollars. 1 Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 Last week in Santa Barbara I got a car from Budget from Sunday to To Friday for $35/day. It was cheap because Santa Barbara is not normally a business destination. The weekend rate is twice that. The hotel room I was staying at down by the beach was $125 on the weekdays and $500 on Friday and Saturday. Quote
Danb Posted June 6, 2021 Author Report Posted June 6, 2021 Wow and I was outraged by the FBO fees. Quote
Jim Peace Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 16 minutes ago, GeeBee said: Car rentals are pricey right now because there are no cars. They sold them off during Covid and it will be at least 18 months before their fleets get back up to strength. sold them off or some kind of strategic plan: https://www.autorentalnews.com/10124530/florida-fire-that-destroyed-4k-rental-cars-ruled-accident Quote
Danb Posted June 6, 2021 Author Report Posted June 6, 2021 2 minutes ago, Jim Peace said: sold them off or some kind of strategic plan: https://www.autorentalnews.com/10124530/florida-fire-that-destroyed-4k-rental-cars-ruled-accident That’s why they have insurance, pass along the cost to us anyway. Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 6 minutes ago, Jim Peace said: sold them off or some kind of strategic plan: https://www.autorentalnews.com/10124530/florida-fire-that-destroyed-4k-rental-cars-ruled-accident That same scenario happened back in 78. My best friend was there. Had to hitch hike 100 miles home, lost his car. https://www.flickr.com/photos/schlepper/albums/72157625547890646/ Quote
Hank Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 5 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said: That same scenario happened back in 78. My best friend was there. Had to hitch hike 100 miles home, lost his car. Can't do that anymore! Quote
Danb Posted June 6, 2021 Author Report Posted June 6, 2021 52 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said: That same scenario happened back in 78. My best friend was there. Had to hitch hike 100 miles home, lost his car. https://www.flickr.com/photos/schlepper/albums/72157625547890646/ Love it Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted June 6, 2021 Report Posted June 6, 2021 8 hours ago, Hank said: Can't do that anymore! I used to hitch hike a lot in my teens and 20s. I bet I could get a ride today if you dared me. There is a psychology to hitch hiking. The gay guys will always pick you up. You just have to explain the rules sometimes. Never a hassle. They will take you to your door. About 30% of the time women picked me up, nothing ever happened, but go figure... There was a time when I was about 21 where my car was down and I had to hitch to work in the morning. After a few days, the same guy picked me up every morning. It wasn’t hitch hiking, it was car pooling. I did buy him gas... Quote
Nick Pilotte Posted June 7, 2021 Report Posted June 7, 2021 Aside from rental car fees (which are asinine now) Rampfee.me lists Millionair as the FBO at GPT. That site indicates that others have had waived handling fees with $60 in fuel and at least the first night of parking waived. I’m guessing that’s inaccurate now due to Covid shutdowns. Did you by chance call in advance? Just an FYI, the fees shown on Rampfee.me matched what we paid at KIAD on when I flew there with my friend in his VLJ, though we didn’t overnight. So if that’s somewhat accurate, GPT is about the same as IAD. I’ll be honest in saying that I’m a CSOB when it comes to finding travel deals (doesn’t mean I always go with the cheapest though) and I tend to shop multiple rental agencies and weigh cost of a little time if I need to have someone get me to an off airport rental or if they will pick me up. It’s saved me a ton in my travels but sometimes you are pretty stuck with whatever (I do go to some rather rural locations). I know Hertz is known among FBO locations, did anyone know many car dealers offer rental options too? Audi has a very reasonable rental service at a handful of cities too. 1 Quote
Danb Posted June 7, 2021 Author Report Posted June 7, 2021 They didn’t waive fees, I’ve been there over a dozen times without high costs rental cars aren’t there fault. Next time I’ll go to a smaller airport. Quote
A64Pilot Posted June 7, 2021 Report Posted June 7, 2021 (edited) I will soon hopefully be attending Baker’s in Lebanon Tn to test to get my IA back, a quick check online said that he cheapest car from Enterprise is $500 a week. I used to rent cars every so often when we were sailing for about $200 a week. ‘I just rented again what was supposed to be the cheapest car from Enterprise to go to a funeral in Albany Ga and paid $80 for a few hours to attend a funeral. No fees at the FBO, but I left them $20 tip because they went overboard and were nice. ‘What Albany and Lebanon have in common is that they are holes in the wall, nothing near either one and both small airports. I didn’t know there was a rental car shortage, but it would explain it. Supposedly the Auto manufacturers are learning a lesson now from what I read, and that’s there is increased profit in shortages, labor costs are down, all costs are down but profits per unit are way up, so overall profits are up. The second thing supposedly they are learning is to no longer manufacturer or offer the little cheap cars, there just isn’t any money in them. ‘All I can say about high buck FBO’s is do your homework and avoid them as much as you can. ‘CBP made me go through Miami International several years ago to export an airplane, Millionaire was the FBO there, Jet-A was something like $7 a gl and 20 miles away it was about $3 a Gl, but the G-650’s etc didn’t care, they all bellied up to be topped off. That’s who the FBO’s at bigger airports want, our little 10 or 20 gls of Avgas is a nuisance. It’s the smaller towns that the town owns the airport and FBO I have found to be the places to go, and drive an extra hour if needed. Your airplane is a lot less likely to get jet blasted or it’s nose gear busted because they won’t move it too. Edited June 7, 2021 by A64Pilot Quote
Nick Pilotte Posted June 7, 2021 Report Posted June 7, 2021 Actually, manufactures can’t sell vehicles they can’t get parts for. So it’s a double edged sword. Just in time assembly doesn’t allow for disruptions, especially those that last months. So rental agencies need cars, manufactures need to build cars but can’t get parts because their globally sourced suppliers can’t get parts. As for Dan, I’m wondering if this fuel cost is trickledown effect from the pipeline issue recently or not. Quote
ArtVandelay Posted June 7, 2021 Report Posted June 7, 2021 I was planning on flying out to Colorado this week with a stop at Yellowstone…no cars at Yellowstone, and compact rental in Colorado would have been about $200/day …I chose to drive instead. Saved lots of money, but not as much fun. Quote
A64Pilot Posted June 8, 2021 Report Posted June 8, 2021 (edited) Avgas never sees a pipeline. I have idea if it’s raw materials do or not. Avgas here is about $4 a gallon, never saw any increase just little ups and down But within just a few miles the difference in cost is over $3 a gl, so I don’t think actual cost is the driving cost of Avgas, it’s how much can you get for it. Edited June 8, 2021 by A64Pilot Quote
M20F Posted June 8, 2021 Report Posted June 8, 2021 No comments other then rental car prices are nuts right now. Quote
whiskytango Posted June 8, 2021 Report Posted June 8, 2021 A local Ford dealer was interviewed on TV and said that the factory is advising them it could be up to 18 months before the chip shortage gets resolved. There will be competition between volume buyers (car rental companies) and dealerships to get cars from the factory. This all translates into higher prices on rentals and cars (new and used). Quote
A64Pilot Posted June 8, 2021 Report Posted June 8, 2021 Strange as how it’s just or primarily autos that are affected by chip shortages, I would have expected TV’s, computers or other similar types of devices first. Quote
N201MKTurbo Posted June 8, 2021 Report Posted June 8, 2021 1 hour ago, A64Pilot said: Strange as how it’s just or primarily autos that are affected by chip shortages, I would have expected TV’s, computers or other similar types of devices first. There are thousands of different chips. Made by hundreds of companies. They never say which chips from which company are the problem. 1 Quote
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