Every now and then, the rental car booking site CheapCarRental.net aggregates the price quotes it's been seeing and comes up with a list of the best and worst American cities for affordable car rentals.
The last time the site released a survey, in June, Cincinnati and Cleveland were found to have the most expensive rentals.
Now that we're deep in the summer travel season, new towns have emerged to seize that dubious title.
The survey canvassed 50 of the most popular U.S. destinations for prices for a week's rental, and found that—no surprise—prices are significantly cheaper this summer than in 2019. Quotes across the board are down about 15% from what they were last year at this time, although some cities, such as Boston and Seattle, have seen prices plunge 40%.
In Detroit—home of the country's priciest rental rates—drivers will be hit for $446 per week, on average, for the most affordable rental cars. Memphis ($425) and Philadelphia ($406) came in second and third for the steepest rates.
The cheapest cities for renting a car right now? Los Angeles, at $130 a week, and Orlando, where so many tourists are staying away that rates are just $120 for a week.
Orlando, which always has a huge fleet of rental cars ready for visitors, was also the cheapest city in the previous survey.
Here are the full results for the most and least expensive U.S. cities for car rentals:
