Can someone explain the Albuquerque rental market to me? [updated]

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
08/31/2018 at 11:27 • Filed to: None

This is also the best picture the owner could be bothered to take, and yet somehow managed to dupe 11 people into renting this mess.

So instead of driving to New Mexico to visit the Trinity site, we were exploring flying in and renting a car. This seems... less likely as apparently the rental market in that city is insane. Let me show you some of the highlights.

I started with Kayak, as it is a good benchmark of what is available. Things looked grim immidiatly. I had my pick of a Chevy Spark, a Nissan Versa, or a Toyota Corolla for the SPECIAL RATE of just under $90/ day.

Woof. That is... too much. Pretty sure I could buy and sell a car for that much and pay less in depreciation.

Interesting cars got worse from there, so I moved on to USAA, who usually has some pretty pimp discounts on travel.

Better! But still boring cars for a lot of money. Selecting “premium” also brought up some decidedly non-premium cars.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think of the Chrysler 200 is “premium”. I’d probably go so far as to put it in economy.

The “Luxury/ Specialty” category brought the only nice surprise, with Hertz offering a 2-door Wrangler for $90/day. Still way more than I wanted to pay, but better than a Spark.

With options looking grim, I though I might as well give Turo a shot. I’ve looked at their stuff before and not seen anything worth the price, but given what I was seeing here I was (naively) hopeful.

It was all pretty terrible.

2008 Grand Caravan for $70/ day

2014 Chevrolet Captiva for $170/ day

2017 Kia Sorento for $175/ day

So yeah. Either a Sorento OR for $14 more you could get a fucking Boxster. Hmm. Keep in mind this is also before pick-up, dropoff, insurance*, etc...

*Yes I know rental insurance is a huge scam, but last time I checked Turo rentals were not covered by normal coverage usually offered through credit cards and normal car insurance.

There were some reasonable cars on there, but not many. There was a Spark for $32/ day but at these prices you’d be better off going with one of the big boys.

Out of reasonable options, I did check Santa Fe to see if things were more reasonable there... and they were.

So the question remains: What is going on in Albuquerque?

[UPDATE] As a co-worker and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! just pointed out, apparently there is a gigantic balloon festival in Albuquerque that weekend, which explains a lot.

DISCUSSION (21)

For Sweden > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:31

Pimp discounts? Why is USAA involved in human trafficking ?

Ash78, voting early and often > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:31

Airport location only? They can often be double everywhere else.

I’ve always found the per-day price to be WAY higher if you’re renting for less than 4-5 days, or preferably a full week. And if you’ve selected one-way, expect a doubling or tripling there, too.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > For Sweden
08/31/2018 at 11:34

To provide service to their members .

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:37

That’ s nothing. I think I paid $120/day for an Optima when I went to Charlotte, NC.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
08/31/2018 at 11:38

Dear god. I just paid $50/ day (with taxes) for a T6 XC60, so apparently my value calculations are a little off.

InFierority Complex > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:39

Maybe check the rates in El Paso? Longer drive but still not bad, HWY 54 is actually a pretty nice drive . Not sure if it would be more expensive to fly into, though.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:47

Might be something big going on at the dates you are looking at. Rental prices always go NUTS around the holidays so its a good possibility. Turo is pretty much useless outside of LA/SF just due to the selections. I have rented with Turo in NJ before but it was not easy to find a car, although I ended up with a manual BRZ so I was quite happy.

I’d say pick the Spark at $47 a day and just hope they dont have any S parks. Or try to get an upgrade for cheap. You could always road trip from Santa Fe I suppose although the gas cost probably eats up that differnce not to mention the time sync.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:48

http://www.balloonfiesta.com/event-info/event-schedule

The largest balloon festival in the world starts on the same day that trinity site is open this fall. This is the biggest event of the year, by an order of magnitude, in ABQ. I would suspect plane tickets and hotel rooms will be similarly expensive at this time, if you can still find one. Everything will be packed in ABQ that week. From a pure cost perspective, flying into and staying in El Paso that weekend would be probably be cheaper, but the Balloon fiesta is pretty cool.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:49

A little, yeah. It doesn't help that I'm under 26.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
08/31/2018 at 11:50

Yeees. A co-worker just pointed this out haha. That makes all of this make more sense.

random001 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:56

Ive seen this balloon festival. It is, indeed, big.

fintail > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 11:57

Re ntal fleets are notorious for not updating their “example” cars. I think 200s are out of all mainstream fleets now. From my experience, a Hertz “premium” will likely be a more basic Impala or Charger, hope for an upgrade. Those are some wacky prices, too, is there a big event there during that time?

My last rental was in Germany, where I got this for under $100/day, all-in including zero-deductible insurance:

Kinja'd!!!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > fintail
08/31/2018 at 12:00

Yeah I just updated. Apparently there is a balloon festival that basically doubles the size of the city.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 12:03

Oppo mini-meet at Trinity Site?

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
08/31/2018 at 12:06

I’m in.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
08/31/2018 at 12:14

I’d be down for that weekend. I’m two hours away from the Northern entrance to trinity site. The Q uebr ad as back country byway is in the area, which is a neat dirt road to drive. In another universe, it would make a good rally stage or two.

Water Canyon and the road up to the Magdalena Ridge Observatory is also worth a drive up. Not unlike Northern NM, but without much in the way of people in the area.

fintail > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 12:29

Enjoy your Spark :)

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 13:15

Even when it isn’t balloon festival, renting at ABQ is expensive - especially if you’re trying to rent a sedan/ hatchback in the fall or winter.

My mom is coming to visit at the end of September and the best deal we could find for her at ABQ was a Ford Escape or similar. It was something like $20/day less than the economy Spark or similar. I’m my experience visiting ABQ before I moved to NM, 90% of the fleet between September and May is crossovers with AWD. I got a Rogue many tines when I had reseverved a midsize sedan.

Another factor is that a huge amount of their business is US Gov’t that have pre-negotiated contracts. The Air Force and DOE do so much rental business at ABQ that I’ve always assumed the rental companies just hike the rates for retail business because they don’t really have to care about it much.

If you can fly into SAF and get a better rental deal there, I highly recommend it. (It’s American and United only - my mom’s miles are with Delta so she went with ABQ.) It is further away from Trinity, but the airport is tiny (2 gates but really it’s just 1 door for American and another for United out onto the tarmac and you walk to your plane from there) and the rentals are right the outside compared to a shuttle ride so you’ll make up some of that right there. You could also use it as a chance to take the Turquise Trail (NM-14) south instead of IH-25 and possibly drive up Sandia Crest east of Albuquerque.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 15:03

This doesn’t surprise me at all. I would expect ABQ to be similar in high rental prices to other geographically- isolated cities like SLC, Boise, Bozeman, Pocatello, etc. I’d also expect plane tickets to be pretty pricey...

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
08/31/2018 at 15:30

Plane tickets were high but not unreasonable. About $500.

Turns out El Paso might be the best bet. $350 for flights and about $200 for most vehicles.

bubblestheturtle > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
08/31/2018 at 19:37

It’s ABQ. Meth and crime. That crap costs.