Taking a cue from the airline industry, Alamo Rent A Car is cutting prices by up to 50 percent and offering the same basic fares at all 102 outlets across the country.
The new fares, which require a Saturday night stayover, are $15 a day for economy cars, $19 for mid-size and $29 for luxury cars. Alamo's old daily rates ranged from $17 in Las Vegas to a high of $67.99 in Newark."Most car rental companies, Alamo included, have had different rates in different locales based entirely on demand. These rates put the same rates in the hands of everybody," Liz Clark, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale-based agency, said Monday.
Hertz Rent A Car, the nation's largest car rental company with 1,500 U.S. outlets, responded immediately by dropping its daily "leisure" rate in the all-important economy car market from $19 to $14.99 as of April 24. With that rate, renters are allowed to keep the cars over a Saturday night.
"We want to stay nose to nose with Alamo on that," said Joe Russo, a spokesman at Hertz's headquarters in Park Ridge, N.J.
Hertz is sticking with variable rates at most of its outlets, but Russo noted that by virtue of its size, Hertz has had uniform daily "leisure" fares since 1990 at more locations than Alamo.
Alamo's "Great American Rates" plan is "an aggressive bid to capture additional market share in a relatively flat overall travel market," Alamo President Charles Platt said in a statement.
"I think it's an excellent idea. At least you know how you stand," said Perry Altfield, who owns the Kendall Travel Agency in Miami. "It's time the price structure was leveled. I think everybody else is going to follow suit."
But Russo said the offer isn't likely to have as much of an impact as the new basic fare structure announced by American Airlines last week, which shook up the airline industry by eliminating many loopholes and restrictions.
Alamo rents to more than 10 million customers in 38 states each year, but it's only the fifth largest car rental company, behind Hertz, Avis, Budget and National.
Also, Alamo has already offered uniform corporate rates since 1984. Those now stand at $30, $37 and $44.