With most of the world dealing with the economic crisis by lowering their costs to increase the volume of customers that they receive, it seems that car rental companies have done just the opposite. In the past couple years many rental companies have decreased their fleet size by as much as fifteen to twenty-five percent, effectively creating a smaller supply of an in demand product. This means that they have been able to increase their prices and make, potentially, more than what they were when they had those additional vehicles before the economy took a turn for the worst.

Following much on the same lines as the previous few years, with the downturn in the economy reaching all time highs, many rental companies have further decreased their inventory. This, again, has driven prices up and when you couple the supply factor with the fact that many tourist based products and services are gearing up for their busiest seasons (Spring and Summer), it is easy to understand why the costs of renting a car have gone up so much in just the last couple months.

Nevertheless, it is not impossible to find solid deals in which you can save a lot of money when you rent a car. These deals can be found either through booking services, on the companies’ websites, through limited releases of coupons (and coupon codes) and even just by calling and haggling with the manager or owner of a particular franchise. As it stands, you can’t fully expect to pay as little as you would have five or six years ago, but it is not at all impossible to save upwards of 30% or more of the current prices, just by using these outlets.