Drive A Hybrid Car at Your Next Luxury Vacation Rental
June 15, 2007. When we first reported on Enterprise Rent-A-Car's plans to add a few hybrid cars to some California locations, the company was optimistically cautious about demand for the rentals. Now, it seems, the idea has caught on.
USA Today reported the company now has 3,000 gas-electric hybrids, and Hertz and Avis have announced plans to add thousands of the vehicles to their fleets this month.
Hertz will begin offering 1,000 Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrids at 50 airport locations and in Manhattan. The company wants almost 2,000 hybrids by the end of this year and 4,300 by the middle of next year. Avis will introduce 1,000 Priuses this month, primarily in California, Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland, Ore.
Although the hybrids cost $5 to $10 more to rent than equivalent-sized cars, the rental companies say they will save customer money on gasoline. Hybrids average about 55 miles per gallon of gas, so if a renter drives 500 miles, savings can range from $20 to $45.
Rising gas prices have also prompted Enterprise Rent-A-Car to tout the overall fuel efficiency of its selections, claiming that "28 percent of its 199,000 vehicles worldwide average at least 32 miles per gallon of gas," according to the article.
