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News and notes from around the interweb:
- In Amsterdam and other cities you can buy insurance against fines for violating coronavirus curfew (HT: Marginal Revolution)
Hundreds of young people in Amsterdam and other cities have gathered in app groups in which they ‘insure themselves’ against fines for violating curfews. “If you transfer 10 euros before you are fined, you will be covered by the fund”, the manager promises.
- Woman jailed for 6 months over fake Covid test (HT: One Mile at a Time)
- Etihad is divesting its stake in Air Seychelles which will become entirely owned by the government. Etihad’s adventures in owning troubled carriers has not ended well – with Virgin Australia, air berlin, Alitalia and Jet Airways ending in bankruptcy and its stake in Air Serbia diluted.
- Rental cars can hit $600/day in the top leisure markets. If you can’t find a car rental at a decent price consider renting from a car dealership
- Business travelers missing five star hotels and business class flights of course not all business travelers traveled that way.
- Plaza Premium lounges are dropping out of Priority Pass after June 30, 2021 but will still be accessible directly using The Platinum Card® from American Express or on a pay-in basis.
Plaza Premium Lounge, Male
Brilliant idea on the rental cars, Gary. Reaching out to local dealers on some upcoming trips.
Dan,
This brilliant idea was blogged about yesterday by others. And it has been around private groups for a while
https://frequentmiler.com/surviving-the-car-rental-apocalypse-by-stepping-outside-the-box/
The COVID curfew insurance reminded me of a story in my German textbook many years ago about students who pooled their money at the beginning of a term and used it to pay tickets if caught riding without paying a fare. At the end of the term they had a party with the left over money.
Schwarzfahrerversicherung or Schwarzfahrkartengemeinschaft or something like that.
Just had a rental with hertz and got a 2021 Nissan Altima, so that is a positive sign that they have started buying new cards to replenish their stock. Unfortunately I think in major vacation destinations there will continue to be shortages given the rush of vacationers and the unwillingness of rental companies to purchase more cars than they may need after the temporary demand.
@Ken Schneiderman – that’s literally what I’m linking to in this post
The rental car prices have gone up significantly. However the new idea still has some weakness. How do you get the car if you arrive past midnight or really early in the morning, eg. 6am? Similarly, how do you return the car to the dealer if you have a red-eye flight at 11:45pm? Will they open until 9:30-10pm for you? Another headache is airport drop-off and pick-up? And if you travel for business, will employers approve rental transaction at a “dealer”?
When my twins were babies, back in 2002, we went to the Mt. Washington for a week, am eight-hour drive. We didn’t have a car large enough for a road trip with babies, and all the car rental companies wanted a ridiculous amount for a minivan, the prices were around $200/day. We rented a Sienna from a local Toyota dealership for ~ $60/day.
And Nissan Car Rental actually has a booth at the Guam airport. We rented from them summer of 2019. Great service, got a brand new Rogue.
I have vehicle repair shops that have used cars that they rent out to customers. It is another option. One of my clients purchased his MB in Germany drove it around the country on holiday, went back to the dealership and then had it shipped to the USA at $$$ savings over USA prices.
When in Iceland we rented an RV at US$100 a day. That was our hotel and transportation around the country (it was a Ford F-150 with a RV in bed liner.).
I assume none of these dealerships do one way rentals :/