How Much Does It Cost to Rent a Car? Average Prices & More

Did you know that over 29.2 million cars were rented in the United States in 2021?

Renting a car has always been a popular choice for road trips, weekend getaways, outdoor camping, and family vacations because it offers a range of benefits, including flexibility, a touch of luxury, safety, and more.

All these benefits are great, but is it affordable?

The amount you pay for renting a car varies based on a few factors, including rental period, type of vehicle, insurance prices, driver’s age, and pick-up location. If you don’t keep an eye on these factors, you may end up spending higher than the budgeted amount on renting a car for your vacation.

We put together this guide to provide you with average car rental prices and explain how the factors identified above will influence your rental costs.

How Much Is It to Rent a Car?

Let’s take a look at the average cost of renting a car from various popular car rental agencies such as Airport Van Rental (AVR), Hertz, Enterprise, and others at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Note: These rental costs are gathered from the car reservation pages of respective rental companies. These are only approximate figures; actuals may vary depending on the pick-up date and time. 

The add-ons like insurance, service fees, cleaning fees, additional driver fees, young age driver fees, taxes, child car seat charges, and others are not included in the rental car prices. Unlimited mileage is included for all rentals.

Overall, car rentals in the United States may cost you anywhere between $100 and $500 per day, depending on the type of car, rental company, and the rental location.

You can reach out to the customer support team of AVR at 877-826-4680 to get more details on the rental prices of your desired vehicles.

Factors that Influence Car Rental Costs

Having an idea of factors that influence car rental costs will help you estimate your vacation trip expenses accurately.

Rental Period

Two vital aspects related to the rental period will influence the car rental rates: Pick-up and drop-off times and the duration of the rental.

• Pick-up and drop-off times: Normally, rental companies offer you to book a car in 24-hour blocks. For instance, if you pick up the car at noon today, you need to drop it off at the rental location before noon tomorrow. The rental companies may force you to pay the second-day rental amount too if you delay the drop-off by more than two hours. Therefore, you must avoid dropping off the vehicle late.

• The duration of the rental: If you book a car for a longer period, you may pay a lower per-day rate. If you are planning a long trip (a week or more), you will be able to cut the best car rental deal.  

Type of Vehicle

Rental car companies maintain a fleet of different types of vehicles, including economy cars, full-size cars, convertibles, SUVs, minivans, passenger vans, and cargo vans, to cater to the diverse travel needs of customers. However, the rental costs of these vehicles aren’t the same.

The rental costs increase with the size and class of the vehicle. For instance, the rental cost of a 15-passenger van is twice as high as the rental cost of a 7-passenger standard SUV.

The rental costs may also vary based on the factors such as safety, comfort, convenience, and luxury within the same vehicle class. For instance, a premium SUV from a brand like BMW or Mercedes comes with a higher price tag than a standard SUV from brands like Nissan or Ford.

Therefore, you need to carefully evaluate your travel requirements before deciding on the type of vehicle. If only four people are traveling on the trip, you may be better off renting a premium sedan. A 12-passenger van may be ideal if a group of more than ten people is traveling for a vacation.

Insurance Prices

While booking a rental car, you should check with the rental company if the insurance is included or not. If included, what type of insurance is it? Does it include all components such as a loss damage waiver, liability coverage, personal accident coverage, and personal effects coverage?

Several rental companies include liability insurance and a loss damage waiver within the basic rental cost. However, if you need additional coverage, like personal effects coverage (protecting yourself from loss/damage to your belongings during your rental), you may need to pay extra. For instance, Hertz charges around $7.95 per day toward personal effects coverage.

If you are renting a car to visit neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico, your standard car rental insurance may not be valid. In this case, you may need to purchase a full coverage insurance policy that may range from $31 to $60 per day, depending on the vehicle type, vehicle age, and the rental location.

Driver Age and History

Rental companies charge young driver fees if the age of the driver is 25 or below. Let’s look at the young driver fees of various rental companies below (the exact amount depends on your age and the rental location):

If you are a young driver aged 25 or below, you may need to add anywhere between $20 and $64 to your per-day car rental cost.

Rental agencies don’t want to rent vehicles to people with a bad driving history. If you are one with bad driving history, you should be ready to pay an additional rental cost.

Pick-Up Location

The pick-up location will also influence the car rental costs because each city or state has its taxation and driving laws. The rental agency collects the additional fees in certain cities to meet the state’s requirements and regulations.

Let’s look at the sales and usage tax of a few cities and how they influence the rental costs below:

The rental costs will also fluctuate based on various factors, including supply, demand, competition, and others. For instance, the top-rated cities that attract a huge number of tourists will have higher rental costs than the other cities due to high demand during peak seasons. On the contrary, you may cut a better deal renting the car from a pick-up location nearby the city center than renting it from the airport location.

Find Affordable Rental Cars at AVR

Overall, the car rental costs in the United States may range from $100 to $500 per day, depending on the type of car, rental company, and the car rental location. Various factors, including the type of vehicle, insurance prices, renter’s age, and pick-up car location, will influence the car rental costs. Though many of these factors are out of your control, knowing them will help you budget trip expenses accurately.

AVR is the industry leader in van rentals. As a family-owned business, we give the highest priority to the safety and convenience of our customers. Our premium fleet of vehicles, flexible pick-up and drop-off locations, and premier customer support have made us a preferred travel partner for family vacations, road trips, and weekend getaways.

Save money by booking a rental van from AVR with a credit or debit card at the best price!