Whether going to a business meeting, high school reunion or simply desiring to enjoy a hot ride during the weekend, luxury car rental seems like a very good option. In fact, it seems so much of a good bargain that many car rental companies that offer luxury and exotic vehicle rental report a significant increase in revenue in this particular market. Luxury car rental companies are also popping up here and there, with the heaviest presence in high income areas such as South Florida or South California. But the market in general seems to be far away from saturation, a trait that many companies are trying to cash in on currently. But what's so special about luxury car rental that makes it such a hot topic right now?

Why renting luxury cars?

There are many different reasons why people choose to seek luxury vehicles with car rental companies. Most often such enquiries come from business travellers and executive who want to make an impression on their clients during a business meeting. And it's hard to overestimate the impression one can make when stopping by in a E-class Mercedes or Lamborghini Aventador. Rich people traveling abroad are another group of people who seek luxury cars, since they want to get the rides they are used to. But if you think that luxury car rental is only for the high class you're in for a big surprise. Many average income clients address car rental companies with luxury car request for various occasions like family events, reunions, partner meetings and other social activities where a luxury ride can serve as a great way to make an impression.

Isn't this expensive?

The first thing that everyone asks about luxury car rental is how expensive it is. Surprisingly, renting a luxury car can sometimes cost you as much as getting a mid-class economy sedan. And thanks to the increasing competition in this niche with new car rental companies entering it, it's very likely that the average prices will drop in the coming years. For example, a European company called Six Rent a Car operating in Tacoma-Seattle airport offers C-class Mercedes vehicles for only $50 per day. At the same time other companies offer the same vehicles for $250 and LAX. The prices can vary a lot and range from below $100 to over $1,000 per day, and it really makes a difference where you're renting and which vehicle you're trying to get. The variety of rides can also impress, ranging from the somewhat typical high-class Mercedes and Audi vehicles to really exotic options such as Jaguar and Bugatti vehicles, or even silver or gold body cars. In a market where the goods have to make a really good impression the only limit is your imagination and your wallet.

How hard it is to rent a luxury ride?

Surprisingly, renting a luxury vehicle can sometimes be much easier than renting an ordinary car. Since luxury rides aren't used as intensely as ordinary vehicles and are rarely taken as day-to-day vehicles, it's much easier to find and book the preferred car online. There are very rare occasions when the selected vehicle is not available - something very common when addressing car rental companies for ordinary cars. So, maybe, it's time to make yourself a present and rent the Porsche or Aston Martin you've been dreaming about for so long?
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You've probably had such a situation at least once when buying a ticket online: you found a really good fare and are just about to book it when all of a sudden the system gives you an error telling that there's no such ticket in the system at the moment. What follows next in most cases is that you book the same flight for a higher price just to get the flight in general. Such problems are not that rare and are actually one of the main reasons for customer complaints in the USA. But despite the common belief that it's an intentional practice set up by airlines to make it impossible for you to buy cheap air tickets the root of the problem is a bit different and lies in the difference between the online and the actual booking networks that aren't very well synchronized.

Booking networks

When you enter a site that carries airline tickets you are consulting with an online source that in turn has access to an international booking network carrying all the ticket details and the prices. The main problem is that while this international booking network works in real time the Internet doesn't. As much as we love the web for its instantaneous access to any information it is still subject to a considerable lag that becomes rather apparent when dealing with real time systems such as the booking one. So it's rather common for a ticket booking site to still feature information on a ticket that has already been sold in the actual booking system. Needless to say, such a state of affairs is rather annoying and there are increasing demands to review both the standards and the method operation to put these two kinds of databases into a perfect sync. But things aren't as simple as they seem.

The booking standards initiative explianed

The International Air Transportation Association has come up with a new proposal entitled New Distribution Capability, which would impose new standards for air flight booking that would make it possible for all travelers to access real-time information on all flights and tickets. This initiative is still pending US Government review and approval but there are already voices speaking in favor and against the NDC. The proponents of the new set of standards are rather optimistic in regards to the possibilities the NDC will offer to both the airlines and the passengers. IATA state that by sharing some personal information with the system travelers will be able to choose from different airlines and flights in real time, while all airlines including the ones with weaker presence will make part of the real-time booking system and provide more intense competition that would allow for cheap air tickets to appear more often. However, the opponents to NDC in the form of Open Allies for Airline Transparency, which consist of technology experts and agents, have a different view on the possible outcomes of this new initiative.

Does new proposal have any possible pitfalls?

The OAAT coalition states that cheap air tickets will actually be harder to find since the system will lack flexibility and transparency. The fact that the customer will have to share his or her personal information with the airline implies a rather likely scenario that the company will only offer air ticket prices if you share your personal information and not a moment sooner. This means that you will have to do this over and over again with each airline while comparing airfares from different carriers in real-time will be impossible. Taking such criticism into account, the NDC initiative becomes more of a killer of cheap airline tickets than a savior. But it will only be clear once the US Government reviews and decides on this new proposal that is still pending.
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The main idea that stretches across the vast majority of articles and tip collections dedicated to cheap air tickets can be boiled down to "shopping around". It's true that comparison shopping is one of the best ways to buy virtually anything for a much more competitive price, especially in a market with high supply and fierce competition. The market of air flights, especially the budget segment can certainly be characterized as such, although the economic recession has taken its toll and left us with much fewer air companies to choose from. However, shopping for cheap air tickets can be rather difficult at times, making insurance comparison shopping feel like a walk in the park. And what's really unpleasant about the whole situation is that the air companies are the ones to blame for such a state of affairs.

Why it gets so hard?

The air ticket industry is probably the only one where the customer may be clueless about the final price of the service even when registering for the flight at the airport. This is primarily due to the price fragmentation exercised by air companies, when instead of a single price for the service render you get an entire bulk of smaller prices for separate services that "make up" the final amount payable. You usually get a base price, which gets indicated in all the air ticket aggregators, which account for more than a half of all the air tickets sold in the US. Most customers shop around for air tickets namely by these base prices, forgetting that there's a multitude of additional fees waiting for them just around the corner, which can sometimes push the overall price of the ticket twice as high as the base rate and even beyond that. To make it even more confusing, each air company tends to name all these additional fees in a different way, thus making it difficult to standardize them and include these fees to the overall price comparison. More fees are being added on a yearly basis, with things like early boarding, preferred flight seats or even additional beverages with your meal each adding up to the final price of the ticket. No wonder that it often gets confusing and shopping for cheap air tickets becomes such a pain in the neck.

Why the air companies are doing this?

The answer to this question is apparent: to make you pay more money. In the light of the current economic situation, which has literally become the number one excuse for all sorts of dirty business practices, air companies are fighting for survival with all means necessary. Seeing so many air companies going bankrupt or taken over by larger players, it's easy to imagine how desperate some surviving operators can become when it comes to earning money. So they will use all kinds of unethical practices and introduce various hidden costs to make the travellers pay more and compensate for the ever increasing fuel prices and dropping numbers of travellers. It's easy to see how such practices, in fact, damage the entire industry and make the travelers choose other means of transportation when possible. But it doesn't seem that things will change anytime soon.

Is there any way around?

Unfortunately, it's rather unlikely that the air companies will make comparison shopping for tickets any easier, at least in the short run. Since the industry is not regulated and there are no real initiatives on standardizing the prices, the price fragmentation and abundance of hidden costs will surely prevail in this market. This means just one thing: you should always double and triple check the conditions and additional fees when shopping around for cheap air tickets and try to get as much information as possible before making the payment. Of course, this will make the process even more tedious and time-consuming, but it may save you a lot of money in return.
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