Why is it challenging to get a rental car in Myrtle Beach SC?

Why is it challenging to get a rental car in Myrtle Beach SC?

After ready for virtually four several hours, Patricia Wall Erbe watched as the keys dangling on the wall of the Avis Budget Team rental vehicle station at the Myrtle Seaside airport dwindled into the one digits.

It was late on June 19, practically 9 p.m., but she acquired blessed. She was ready to get a Toyota RAV4, so she could even now drive throughout town to her friend’s household in North Myrtle Seaside. Powering her stood a lot a lot more persons, she reported, and she was not so guaranteed they would be equipped to get a rental on their own.

But when she opened the door to her rental auto, she didn’t come to feel as fortunate as she had immediately after standing in line for ages.

“The vehicle was filthy,” Erbe said. “There was dried white things on the driver’s seat. Milkshake? No, I really don’t think so. The floorboard was worn down the the metal. I think somebody was smoking cigarettes weed in there. The odor was terrible.

“I did not really feel safe in that motor vehicle,” Erbe additional.

Erbe mentioned she experienced rented vehicles in Myrtle Seaside just before, but her experience experienced never ever been this bad.

Erbe’s encounter is just a single illustration of the rental auto lack in Myrtle Beach front, a outcome of a nationwide supply-chain problem that has been not able to continue to keep up with the rapid return to vacation travel this summer.

In Myrtle Beach, the rental automobile lack has designed it more durable for the swiftly increasing variety of tourists traveling here to get all around. Uber and Lyft drivers are continue to scarce, yet another nationwide problem, and the area lacks a powerful public transit procedure, earning driving actually the only way to get all-around.

Rental car organization Avis Spending plan Group, in a statement to The Sunshine News, blamed Erbe’s terrible experience and many others like it on the “Rapid, uneven worldwide restoration from COVID (that has) led to unpredictable fluctuations in demand from customers and rental styles.”

“We are operating with clients at all locations to decrease the influence of this business dynamic and be certain they can get their cars as safely and securely and efficiently as possible,” the enterprise explained in its statement.

Rental Car Line_June 19 2021.jpg
Patricia Wall Erbe, checking out from Pennsylvania, took this photograph when ready in line for just about four hours to get a rental auto when she flew into Myrtle Beach front on June 19. She reported she got a single of the last handful of automobiles offered, but that it was dirty and smelled like marijuana when she last but not least picked it up. Courtesy of Patricia Wall Erbe

Erbe experienced rented her automobile by Costco Vacation, which she praised for its customer services and explained they had been operating to make positive her circumstance was entirely settled.

Her frustrations with Avis Funds Team, the business finally handling her rental pickup, didn’t conclusion with the vehicle itself. She was also offended that the corporation unsuccessful to notify her in advance of time that she may have to hold out for hours to get a automobile. She only learned of the dire problem as soon as she arrived walked out of the airport and saw the traces.

“The people today in the back of the line ended up declaring they experienced been there for 3 or four hours ready to get a auto,” Erbe reported. “No drinking water, no meals, practically nothing. The machines had been all empty for the reason that individuals experienced been waiting for hours.”

Nationwide rental vehicle shortage

Erbe is not by yourself. Across the state, rental vehicles are in brief supply thanks to the all over the world scarcity of the microchips applied to make new autos. Lots of rental firms also sold off considerably of their fleets past 12 months, according to Jefferies Team, an investment decision bank, leaving handful of automobiles remaining when travel instantly surged again.

“It’s the hunger video games out right here with persons battling for cars and trucks for the reason that you have none…in the Atlanta airport? NONE?” actor and singer Audra McDonald tweeted at rental automobile organization Hertz earlier this thirty day period. “And when a person arrives up people today are all functioning for it? This is absurd.”

There is one dazzling spot: Waiting around for a rental automobile isn’t a every day issue. Like with protection strains at the airport, which peak on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons, rental vehicle waits peak on weekends. Those people finding up a car or truck on a weekday can anticipate a substantially calmer practical experience, nevertheless troubles with motor vehicle availability could even now persist on individuals days.

Some individuals have resorted to leasing U-Hauls for their vacations for the reason that so few cars and trucks had been out there, according to Washington Post vacation blog By The Way. In Myrtle Seashore, WBTW documented previous 7 days that some readers were being renting U-Hauls for their go to because of the lessen value. U-Haul even touts itself on its web site as an affordable option to conventional rental automobile firms.

Since of the nationwide lack, Myrtle Seaside Hospitality Association CEO Stephen Greene claimed it is essential to e book rental cars and trucks as far in progress as achievable to guarantee you get a person.

Is the motor vehicle drivable? Then you can choose it.

Dennis Buron, of Parker, Colorado, also experienced a discouraging rental car encounter at the Myrtle Beach front airport. He rented a car for his spouse and children of seven additional than six months in progress. But not like past yr when he flew into Charleston, there weren’t any significant SUVs available when he built his automobile reservation for this summertime. He settled for a minivan, hoping it would still have adequate home.

Yet when he arrived in Myrtle Beach front, the clerk working for Avis Spending budget Team mentioned there weren’t any minivans obtainable, instead supplying him a Chevrolet Traverse, which nonetheless experienced 7 seats. A Traverse would not function for Buron, nevertheless, for the reason that not only did he have seven persons to transport, he also experienced a week’s well worth of baggage for 7 men and women, which could not healthy into this sort of a tiny motor vehicle.

The agent checked again, Buron stated, and he’d gotten lucky. A minivan had just been turned in, so the agent instructed him that “as extended as the tires are tires aren’t flat and windshield is not cracked, we can get you in it,” Buron said. All he experienced to do was hold out about 50 percent an hour for the automobile to be cleaned and brought up.

“It was almost certainly just one of my worst ordeals with Avis, but they did get treatment of me and they did get it right,” Buron mentioned. “Given the constraints and every thing else that they’re heading via, I imagine they were most likely performing about the ideal they could.”

That working day he flew in, July 3, was also one particular of the busiest times the Myrtle Beach Airport has found in months, according to the TSA.

“We have seen large demand from customers in the Myrtle Beach place, but in equally situations, we ended up in a position to speedily assist the buyers as soon as they attained our counter,” Avis Finances Group said in a assertion responding to Erbe’s and Buron’s experiences.

Karen Riordan, the Myrtle Beach front Space Chamber of Commerce CEO, reported she was at the airport a number of weeks ago and overheard a people saying that they hadn’t booked a rental but prepared to “see if they experienced any rental cars out there.”

“I looked at the gentleman shocked, like, ‘Oh my god, you’re imagining about inquiring now that you have landed? You necessary to do that again property, on line,’” Riordan reported. “I feel that’s an previous carryover terrible routine centered on earlier knowledge the place there have been loads of rental cars.”

In today’s travel surroundings, Riordan said reservations are important at all concentrations of excursion setting up, from airplane tickets to lodges to, in some circumstances, even cafe reservations.

“It’s going to choose a minimal bit of time for people today to comprehend that organizing in advance is likely to conserve them so a lot aggravation down the line,” she stated.

Even the most very well-geared up tourists are influenced

Buron and Erbe experienced done their thanks diiligence, though, and manufactured reservations well in advance. Their encounters display how catastrophe can strike even the most nicely-prepared in the present travel environment. Both felt fortunate to get rental cars at all.

Neither used a great deal time driving through their time in Myrtle Beach front, but Buron reported likely without a rental isn’t actually a great deal of an alternative here. The region lacks widespread public transportation and has been element of the nationwide shortage of Uber and Lyft motorists.

“It would be pretty tough to get about, particularly if you’re remaining on the south aspect,” said Buron, who rented a house in Backyard garden Metropolis. “Maybe if you ended up being more centrally in Myrtle Beach front, perhaps it would be easier” given that there are extra attractions, eating places and grocery stores close collectively in Myrtle Beach suitable.

Greene, the Hospitality Association CEO, reported the area’s deficiency of community transit is motivated by its somewhat compact household populace in contrast to cities like Washington, D.C., or New York with extensive subway and bus systems.

Devoid of a rental automobile, guests may possibly locate it really hard to get all around. “We’re a 60-mile prolonged desired destination,” Greene famous.

As for when the rental car scenario could get superior, which is up in the air.

The earliest estimates are next calendar year, but not till following the microchip scarcity will get superior, the Washington Publish noted. In May, the day by day median rate for an Avis car or truck rental nationwide sat at $68.07 and could soar to $103.40 in August. Other rental automobile businesses are not considerably much better. The day-to-day median cost for Hertz in August is expected to access $114.49, virtually 150% higher than its pre-pandemic charge.

Profile Image of Chase Karacostas

Chase Karacostas writes about tourism in Myrtle Beach and throughout South Carolina for McClatchy. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 with levels in Journalism and Political Conversation. He commenced doing the job for McClatchy in 2020 following growing up in Texas, in which he has bylines in 3 of the state’s biggest print media shops as effectively as the Texas Tribune covering state politics, the atmosphere, housing and the LGBTQ+ community.

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