Car owners generally get surprised when I tell them how much money they could be earning by renting out their cars. They don’t believe when I show them the absurd prices of rental cars these days. We all remember that in the recent past we could rent very good cars for $20/day or less.

Well, this is not possible anymore! Rental car prices in the US have increased astronomically in the past year or so. Just to give an example, if you want to rent a mid-sized car in Los Angeles International Airport during the week, it’s hard to find a deal for less than $60. And that is only if you have more than a week advance booking. Rates for same week rentals start at $100.

If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourself: http://www.priceline.com/rentalcars/

Why is that? The phenomenon is generated by the good old market forces: supply vs. demand. The major car rental companies in the US needed to reduce considerably their inventory during last year because of the recession. As a result, today there is a lot less supply of cars than it used to be. So the prices went up. At the same time, consumers are all trending toward value deals these days. But it looks like traditional rental companies are not listening to that trend.

That creates a wonderful opportunity for private owners to enter the market and offer that value deal that car renters are looking for. So don’t wait anymore, register your own car with the Spagg Network!

http://www.spagg.com/register.php

For more information on the subject, check out this article from Newsweek: http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/06/rental_car_prices_skyrocket_so.html