We're traveling to San Diego in July and have the need to rent a car. After checking many car renters' inventories, I was disappointed to find that no one offered Acura as a choice. I guess it's a good thing to avoid watering down the brand, but it doesn't help my problem.

Has anyone heard of any dealers (or other entities) offering Acura rentals? Even though I'm a proud RL owner, I would be interested in renting an MDX for the week.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
rworrell.

 

Good luck, but Acura generally does not sell its cars to rental fleets and few dealerships are willing to do rentals.

 

One place comes to mind as a (remote) possibility. I don't know where you are coming from but Budget Rent-A-Car in Beverly Hills (corner of Wilshire & Santa Monica Blvds) might have an RL. They rent from exotic to the 'unexpected' cars you can't find elsewhere. Again, it's a remote possibility but a better chance then looking at Avis or Hertz.

 

Acura Corp. doesn't allow for rental companies to rent out Acuras. I heard that is one of the reasons we have high resale values....

 

We have high resale values?

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i think that's a honda corporate thing...very rarely do they make their cars available to rental companies. I've used a lot of rental companies for my travels with work and have yet to see a honda vehicle available.

as for resale...i don't see fleet sales hurting the camry much.

 

I'm not sure about the whole resale thing. Maybe it only applies to the TL becuase from what I remember the article was about a TL. I have seen Hondas at Enterprise for many years, but my Acura dealer told me that Acura doesn't allow for fleet sales at all for their cars.

 

and yes. At least the TL, not sure about your RL. But wasn't Honda or Acura named best comapany for resale value by Like consumer reports or something? Or am i just stupid? haha

 

Honda has historically avoided rentals (very wisely) since they damage the model's value. It also gives the automaker a chance to slack off in development since they can always unload to rental fleets. That is one of the reasons toyota has done so well sales-wise but has actually damaged their engineering content and value, ie have you driven a new Camry? If you want a decent rental try a Mazda QX9, very well finished, comfortable, handles well for an SUV and has a superbly polished drivetrain. Of course its no MDX but it is very nice indeed. I would describe it as dynamically similar to an ody with slightly better acceleration but lesser interior space for cargo and third row passangers. Fit and finish is outstanding and as good if not better than the Ody. AS its stands now it is definitely one up on a pilot, but the pilot redesign should solve that problem. It is definitely much, much better than a highlander.

 

Your right pniio521. The RL was rated "Lowest Total Cost of Ownership" for sedans under $60k recently by Edmunds. That takes into account everthing it costs to own the car for 5 years and then sell it. This means resale value factors into that equation.

I agree with Mike_TX's "surprise" from the comment. The resale values for the RL aren't too good RIGHT NOW. That doesn't mean they've been bad for the last 5 years OR will continue to be bad. There's a lot of things that play into depreciation. Also, the depreciation percentage is based on MSRP and very few paid anywhere near MSRP in the last 18 months with all the incentives. By the way, incentives hurt resale value so that's part of the reason for the poor wholesale book values lately. It's a catch 22. If everyone's getting good deals on the front end from the manufacturer you typically loose that same amount on the backend when you trade it in or sell it. I suppose that's logcial. Of course the trick to all that is NOT being one of those who DIDN'T get the incentive. That's when you get hurt.

 

Consumer Reports shows Hondas/Acura with THE most number of vehicles in it's "higly recommended" ranking for 2007.

 

Unfortunately, CR (April 07) also gives the 06 RL a blank circle, which means neither hated nor loved ... i.e. a mediocrity.

 

My cousin rented an Infiniti G35. I was surprised to see that Infiniti offered their cars for rent.

 

I've always gotten EXCELLENT trade-in values for my MDX's.....I traded my 03 MDX with 11,000 miles barely 11 months old and they gave me $33,000.00. I paid 41K brand spanding new....

 

Depreciating $8k in less than a year is good? or maybe you are being sarcastic? not sure.

 

It had been broaded sided and repaired and I was THRILLED with $33K for a brand new 05 which I traded recently for a 2007 MDX Sport/Entertainment.....

 

I thought you were selling your CL which has HORRIBLE re-sale value? Got that 4 door yet?