The pandemic has changed a lot about how we live our lives and how we travel, but perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of its impact on travel is the surge in rental car prices in both the US and Canada. When the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns brought almost all travel to a halt, car rental companies sold off a lot of their stock to make up for the lack in demand. Now, however, they don’t have enough cars to satisfy Americans’ desire for hitting the road in a car that is not their own.The car rental shortage and price hike are predicted to continue into the holiday season. KAYAK, using data from its car rental searches, has already found that holiday demand is up 230 percent compared with pre-pandemic levels, with the average cost per day increasing 75 percent from 2019.
