Tips for finding a rental car in Myrtle Beach: Get a U-Haul, and other advice
Finding a rental car in Myrtle Beach has become something akin to a battle royale mixed with sheer luck, and your trophy at the end might just be a smelly, beat-up minivan.
A nationwide shortage of new cars has put the squeeze on a rental car industry that lives and breathes on buying fleets of new models every year.
That shortage has created an especially challenging environment in a place like Myrtle Beach, which lacks significant public transportation and has also seen a shortage of Uber and Lyft drivers this year. In many ways, it’s simply not possible to get around Myrtle Beach without a car.
With cars so essential in the Grand Strand, how do you go about managing to get one? How do you fight through the hours-long lines to ensure you walk away with a hot-rod, or at least something with wheels?
The Sun News spoke Karen Riordan, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, and Stephen Greene, the Myrlte Beach Hospitality Association CEO for advice on rentals, plus some other important information on the rental market right now.
- Book well in advance. You’re not going to find a rental the day you get here. Even if you do, your eyeballs might explode upon seeing the price.
- Be prepared to pay more. Inflation has hit every part of the travel industry, and rental cars aren’t going to get cheaper until the shortage of new cars is solved. The median price this month for Avis and Hertz rentals is expected to soar above $100 a day, and some people have reported paying as much as $200 a day for a formerly cheap sedan rental.
- Be ready to wait. Customers have reported having to wait for up to four hours to pick up a rental car at the airport on the peak travel days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But, if you have status with a rental company, you might be able to skip the line.
- Be ready to accept a car that isn’t up to your usual standard. Some recent rental customers have said their cars had tens of thousands of more miles on them than they’d ever seen before. That doesn’t make them any less drivable, though. Just a little more used.
- Take photos of any damage to the car before you get in. You don’t want to be footing the bill for someone else’s bad driving.
- Try a rental company farther away from the airport. Several of the prominent agencies like Avis and Budget have locations along 501, and locals say they often have much cheaper prices than the airport, which could be using the convenience of its location to charge a price premium.
- Don’t want to get a rental car? Given up on finding one? There is limited Uber, Lyft and taxi service in the area, just expect it to be pricey. A trip from Murrells Inlet to Myrtle Beach proper can cost upwards of $100 for one way during peak evening hours.
- Maybe get a U-Haul? You wouldn’t be alone. People in Myrtle Beach have been doing it in the last few weeks when they couldn’t get a car from one of the traditional companies.
- Or try to find a local rental company. One person told the Washington Post that she found a local renter in Hawaii that offered older vehicles for a bargain.
- Delay the trip. No one wants to hear it, but with every part of travel — from airlines to hotels to rental cars — costing more right now, you might be best waiting it out until the fall when there will be fewer people rushing to the beach.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Tips for finding a rental car in Myrtle Beach: Get a U-Haul, and other advice."
