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One thing that has never made much sense to me is that you can most of the time (at least pre-pandemic) rent a car for cheaper than you can rent a bike (as a tourist in a city), with cars costing an order of magnitude more. I'm not sure if it's car rental that is/was crazy cheap or bike renting that is a rip-off...

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Might be because of different utilization rates. Cars can be rented 7 days/week between biz (weekday) and consumer (weekend) travelers, and across all seasons of the year. I’m guessing bikes get rented on weekends (30% of days) during the summer and spring (50% of days).

Rough estimates of course, but only 15% utilization (30%*50%) would radically change daily rental prices. Doubt it’s the only reason, but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s factor

Yeah I dunno about there, but the times I've needed to rent a car in various parts of California, it's always an experience:

Usually you sit in a busy room. They call everyone one at a time - because there's a constant stream of people dropping off cars and picking up cars. For the most part, I'd say a car never sat more than an hour between being dropped off, getting cleaned, and being handed off to a new renter.

That has held true every. single. time. I've rented a car. And that goes back as long as I can remember, to when my parents rented cars 20 years ago lol.

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