I'm sure not a lot of traveling is going on right now, but Hertz rental great deals

[Darrell KSR]

Renting a car for one day at Hertz, 500+ miles roundtrip, full-size car, $22. Even with taxes and add-ons, it's $26.

Man, they are hurting. I know they filed for bankruptcy reorganization, and suspect others will follow with the lack of traveling.

Anyway...I often use them if it costs me $0.10 per mile or less to rent. That's generally my standard...Here, I'm about a nickel a mile.

My car uses premium gas, and gets about 17-18mpg on the highway. The full-sized cars I rent from them generally get about 30mpg and use regular.

So rental car will use about 17 gallons, roughly, and my car about 28-29 gallons, roughly. Call it 28.

Average price for my 28 gallons is $2.30 in Alabama, or about $64.40 for the trip.
Average price of the 17 gallons is $1.63 in Alabama, or about $27.71 for the trip.

Forget wear and tear on the car, the engine, the tires, the oil, etc. The gas alone makes this a good financial decision.

(Now, I'd rather drive my big SUV...it's more comfortable...but in a situation like this? I'll take it.)

FWIW, I'm very cautious about COVID-19. I will disinfect the car before I drive it, even after Hertz does. I will drive with windows cracked open, and A/C with fresh air from outside. I think that will be fine.

[Darrell KSR]

Just in case anyone else is interested...I used their "50 and up" discount on their front page this time. I have a whole host of discounts (AAA, my own account, FWAA, and several others), and this one was best this time.

[KentuckyWildcat]

Traveling seems to picking up pretty quick. I know several on vacation right now

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[Darrell KSR]

Hertz just called and asked if it was ok for a GMC pickup truck instead.

(I love pickup trucks. Trying to find the right moment to buy one, but with 6 cars already parked at my house, it's kinda hard to justify...)



KentuckyWildcat, my clients who own gas stations wish you were correct, but I think it's wishful thinking so far. It's better, but travel is still way down. Saw a feature on TV a couple of nights ago with video of the Atlanta airport, busiest in the world--vacant. I mean, vacant.

Here's a story about their traffic on Memorial Day weekend.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/pas...oliday-weekend

[catmanjack]

The deal still going on, will vacation in Hilton head on June 20th and was thinking of checking into renting a SUV for 4 people to travel from Louisville.

[Darrell KSR]

I would check daily or every other day. Right now, the deal is okay for next week but what cost $22 yesterday will cost $33 next Thursday. I'm disappointed, because I do need a rental car next Thursday. Can drive my own car, of course, but when I'm driving out of town and returning the same day, putting a lot of miles on my car with terrible gas mileage and expensive gas, I like to rent a car if they have good deals.

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[KentuckyWildcat]

KentuckyWildcat, my clients who own gas stations wish you were correct, but I think it's wishful thinking so far. It's better, but travel is still way down. Saw a feature on TV a couple of nights ago with video of the Atlanta airport, busiest in the world--vacant. I mean, vacant.

Darrell, I don't know. I'm sure travel isn't what it should be yet. But I can probably name a dozen families that have been on vacation in the last two weeks. And some before the Kentucky travel ban was lifted. 2 of those families (PCB and Gulf shores) said the beach was crowded over memorial day weekend. I can name 5 families going next week.

Maybe it is the just us Muhlenberg County and Christian County folks traveling

[KentuckyWildcat]

More conflicting info. We are interviewing a CAO. One candidate flew in, said the plane was probably 80% full. Another candidate said her plane didn't have 5 people on it. I assume it had more than 5, but the point being there was not many.

[Darrell KSR]

I'm pretty comfortable in the knowledge travel is still down, KentuckyWildcat--anecdotes aside, the travel numbers just aren't there yet. One plane doesn't mean anything, if 15 other planes are in the hangar.

For example, TSA checkpoint numbers:

May 31, 2019: 2,555,578
May 31, 2020: 352,947

Anecdotally, but pretty good source, I've got a client with 23 gas stations that is telling me what their numbers are, too.

Here are the numbers from March, April and May from TSA. You can see that we were strong in March before the pandemic was known, then it fell off, and it's improving, but WAY under where we were.

TSA checkpoint travel numbers for 2020 and 2019
This page will be updated by 9 a.m. ET daily (Back to Coronavirus (COVID-19) information)

Date Total Traveler Throughput Total Traveler Throughput
(1 Year Ago - Same Weekday)
5/31/2020 352,947 2,555,578
5/30/2020 268,867 2,117,180
5/29/2020 327,133 2,570,613
5/28/2020 321,776 2,485,770
5/27/2020 261,170 2,269,035
5/26/2020 264,843 2,453,649
5/25/2020 340,769 2,512,237
5/24/2020 267,451 2,070,716
5/23/2020 253,190 2,124,825
5/22/2020 348,673 2,792,670
5/21/2020 318,449 2,673,635
5/20/2020 230,367 2,472,123
5/19/2020 190,477 2,312,727
5/18/2020 244,176 2,615,691
5/17/2020 253,807 2,620,276
5/16/2020 193,340 2,091,116
5/15/2020 250,467 2,664,549
5/14/2020 234,928 2,611,324
5/13/2020 176,667 2,343,675
5/12/2020 163,205 2,191,387
5/11/2020 215,645 2,512,315
5/10/2020 200,815 2,419,114
5/9/2020 169,580 1,985,942
5/8/2020 215,444 2,602,631
5/7/2020 190,863 2,555,342
5/6/2020 140,409 2,270,662
5/5/2020 130,601 2,106,597
5/4/2020 163,692 2,470,969
5/3/2020 170,254 2,512,598
5/2/2020 134,261 1,968,278
5/1/2020 171,563 2,546,029
4/30/2020 154,695 2,499,461
4/29/2020 119,629 2,256,442
4/28/2020 110,913 2,102,068
4/27/2020 119,854 2,412,770
4/26/2020 128,875 2,506,809
4/25/2020 114,459 1,990,464
4/24/2020 123,464 2,521,897
4/23/2020 111,627 2,526,961
4/22/2020 98,968 2,254,209
4/21/2020 92,859 2,227,475
4/20/2020 99,344 2,594,171
4/19/2020 105,382 2,356,802
4/18/2020 97,236 1,988,205
4/17/2020 106,385 2,457,133
4/16/2020 95,085 2,616,158
4/15/2020 90,784 2,317,381
4/14/2020 87,534 2,208,688
4/13/2020 102,184 2,484,580
4/12/2020 90,510 2,446,801
4/11/2020 93,645 2,059,142
4/10/2020 108,977 2,590,499
4/9/2020 104,090 2,487,398
4/8/2020 94,931 2,229,276
4/7/2020 97,130 2,091,056
4/6/2020 108,310 2,384,091
4/5/2020 122,029 2,462,929
4/4/2020 118,302 2,011,715
4/3/2020 129,763 2,476,884
4/2/2020 124,021 2,411,500
4/1/2020 136,023 2,151,626
3/31/2020 146,348 2,026,256
3/30/2020 154,080 2,360,053
3/29/2020 180,002 2,510,294
3/28/2020 184,027 2,172,920
3/27/2020 199,644 2,538,384
3/26/2020 203,858 2,487,162
3/25/2020 239,234 2,273,811
3/24/2020 279,018 2,151,913
3/23/2020 331,431 2,434,370
3/22/2020 454,516 2,542,643
3/21/2020 548,132 2,227,181
3/20/2020 593,167 2,559,307
3/19/2020 620,883 2,513,231
3/18/2020 779,631 2,320,885
3/17/2020 953,699 2,177,929
3/16/2020 1,257,823 2,465,709
3/15/2020 1,519,192 2,545,742
3/14/2020 1,485,553 2,274,658
3/13/2020 1,714,372 2,634,215
3/12/2020 1,788,456 2,503,924
3/11/2020 1,702,686 2,187,298
3/10/2020 1,617,220 2,122,898
3/9/2020 1,909,363 2,378,673
3/8/2020 2,119,867 2,485,430
3/7/2020 1,844,811 2,156,262
3/6/2020 2,198,517 2,543,689
3/5/2020 2,130,015 2,402,692
3/4/2020 1,877,401 2,143,619
3/3/2020 1,736,393 1,979,558
3/2/2020 2,089,641 2,257,920
3/1/2020 2,280,522 2,301,439

[KentuckyWildcat]

Anecdotally, but pretty good source, I've got a client with 23 gas stations that is telling me what their numbers are, too.

I'd be curious if that is lack of local traffic or lack of vacationing? Do they know? Do they have a read on that? That is a serious question (sorry if that sounds sarcastic).

As I've said, I don't know. And certainly not arguing your point, and I know you know that. And I realize travel is far from it's peak. But I do know lots of people around here are vacationing. But overall here, Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc are still not that crowded.

PS - I'd expect flights to still be low overall. No way would I fly right now.