The summer vacation destinations where the car rental prices have changed the most in a year

Ireland is next, where the price of renting a car dropped by a quarter. Last summer, renting a car for a day would have cost you $68.19 (€63,06) per day — this year, it’s fallen by 26% to $50.73 (€46,91).

Summer is the most popular time of year to visit Ireland. In midsummer, you’ll see 17.5 hours of daylight every day, and with mild temperatures around 70 degrees, it’s the perfect time to explore the countryside on foot or by bike, or even kayak around the coastline.

On the 10th, 11th and 12th of August, visitors to County Kerry can enjoy the Puck Fair, Ireland’s oldest festival, with a parade, street food and live music.

Montenegro is next on our list of countries where renting a car is much cheaper than it was last summer. The price here has also gone down by 26%, from $55.51 (€51,33) down to $40.81 (€37,74).

Visiting Montenegro in the summer means you can enjoy coastal towns like Kotor and Budva and swim in the sea, or head to the mountains for a day of hiking. The town of Sveti Stefan is known for its pink pebble beaches, which are tucked away from the inland area by a forest of pine and olive trees.

The Czech Republic has also seen a price drop — of quite a significant 25%. Last summer, renting a car for a day would have cost $46.20 (€42,72) and this year it would cost $34.53 (€31,93).

There are fewer than 1000 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the whole world, but there are a whopping 16 of these destinations listed in the Czech Republic alone. The pretty historic city of Kroměříž is well known for its castle and the surrounding gardens, which are UNESCO-listed - lovely green spaces where you can easily while away the afternoon.

The other destinations with the biggest price drops are Switzerland and Denmark, which have both dropped 25%. Renting a car is now 24% cheaper than last year in both Australia and Romania. Finally, it’s 22% cheaper now to rent a car on the Italian island of Sicily than it was in the summer of 2023.

The destination which has seen the biggest price increase since last summer is Curacao, where prices have gone up by a third. This 33% rise has taken the average cost to rent a car for a day from $42.40 (€39,21) to $56.24 (€52,01).

This gorgeous Southern Caribbean island off the coast of South America has a warm and sunny climate, with average temperatures through June, July and August sitting around 82 degrees.

The coral reefs off the shore are a very popular destination for snorkelers and scuba divers, and the island’s capital Willemstad is a UNESCO World Heritage City, with plenty of beautiful architecture to explore. Why not visit the bustling Willemstad Floating Market, where vendors arrive by boat to sell fresh fish, fruit and vegetables?

Texas had the second-highest price increase, which has risen by a quarter. Renting a car last year would have cost $​​45.34 (€41,93) per day on average, but it now costs $56.49 (€52,24).

In the summer, Texas can get as hot as 95 degrees - perfect for taking a dip in a natural swimming hole, like Krause Springs near Austin or Blue Hole in Wimberley, surrounded by 3.5 miles of nature trails. Or head to Caprock Canyons State Park to see majestic bison roam through the incredible natural landscape, shaped by giant rock formations.

Car rentals in the United Arab Emirates also rose in price this summer, by 23% - the average daily cost has risen from $28.99 (€26,81) to $35.80 (€33,11).

Summer in the UAE can get very hot, with temperatures hitting 100 degrees, but in the late afternoon and the evening, the desert is actually cooler than the coast - because of the lack of water in the ground, it doesn’t retain the heat in the same way as it would further inland. This means that even in the summertime, a thrilling desert safari isn’t necessarily out of the question if you find an evening tour!

You could also cool off at one of Dubai’s many waterparks, or enjoy some fine dining in cities that will be much quieter, as many tourists prefer to visit in the UAE’s winter season.

Renting a car in Mexico this summer will cost 21% more than it would have last year. Last summer’s average price of $33.24 (€30,67) has now risen by a fifth to $40.16 (€37,06).

Summer is Mexico’s low season for the tourism industry, because the country sees increased rainfall during it — so while car rental might be up in price somewhat, you could find a great deal on a hotel to make up for it.

If you visit Mexico in July, you could attend the beautiful, colorful festival of Guelaguetza - a celebration of indigenous Mexican culture that takes place every year in the city of Oaxaca.

Renting a car in Northern Cyprus has also increased in price since last year. Going from $39.49 (€36,44) last summer to $47.83 (€44,13) now, that’s an increase of 21%.

This image shows the harbor at Kyrenia, a gorgeous historic town with some amazing architecture that’s hundreds of years old. There are two castles, and if you travel out to the pretty village of Bellapais, you will find the well-preserved remnants of a 700-year-old abbey.

You can also head further north to the Karpas Peninsula to find stunning white sand beaches.

To round up the other countries which saw the highest increases in price to rent a car, it’s 13% more expensive to rent one for the day in Spain than it was last summer. Barbados has also seen a price rise of 11% on average. The next 3 countries all saw a minimal percentage increase in price of under 10%: renting a car in Brazil has gone up by 9% since last year, compared to 8% in Panama and 7% in South Africa.

Last year, a week-long trip was the most popular length of time to rent a car for, and this year, it has once again seen the highest number of bookings.

However, we are overall seeing an interesting trend for longer trips! Renting a car for 8-10 days is now more popular than renting one for 3 days — in fact, so is renting a car for a whole fortnight.

The biggest difference by far is New Zealand, where renting a car for a single day is now 61% cheaper than it was last year, dropping from $88.02 (€81,22) on average to $34.43 (€31,81). All of the price differences we identified are quite significant. For example, renting a car in Switzerland for 8 days would have been nearly a thousand dollars or euros last year — but this year, the price has fallen to $621.73 (€573,69).

The United Arab Emirates appears twice in our list of countries with the biggest price increase for every length of rental period we measured — renting a car for a single day there has gone up by 73%, taking it from $59.78 (€55,16) to $103.52 (€95,52), reaching an average price that’s over a hundred bucks. But it’s actually gone up more to rent a car for 4 days in the UAE, going up by 99%. It’s interesting to see both Texas and Mexico on this list too. Are desert road trips through these amazing landscapes a growing trend for summer vacations?

In conclusion, while prices have changed quite a lot, tourists might be reassured to see that prices have dropped more significantly than they have risen. In the overall ranking showing the biggest changes, the 10 biggest price drops are all above 22%, with at least a fifth off the price. In comparison, the list of the 10 biggest price increases for car rental companies shows that only 5 of the countries listed have become more expensive by more than 20%.

Where do you feel tempted to go this summer — sunbathing or skiing? Or would you rather have a city break, exploring the local culture and cuisine? We are able to help you find the perfect rental car for you in 145+ countries, so the world is your oyster.

Using our internal data, we ranked the top 10 countries where the average cost to rent a car has decreased the most, as well as those countries where the price has increased the most. The data compared the prices and locations of reservations with pick-up dates from June 1, 2023 - August 31, 2023 against the prices and locations of reservations with pick-up dates between June 1, 2024 - 31 August 31, 2024. We worked out the average daily cost to rent a car by dividing the total cost by the number of days in the rental period. This amount does not include Full Coverage.

We also looked at the number of bookings that were made for different rental periods to identify which length of time is most popular to rent a car for, identifying the top 10 most popular rental periods for last summer and this summer.

Additionally, we used our internal data to see the average cost of renting a car for different periods of time. We cross-referenced this with the different countries we had data for in order to identify which countries’ car rental companies had experienced the biggest change in prices based on the following rental periods: 1 day, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days, 7 days and 8 days.

Countries with zero reservations for the summer of 2024 at the moment were excluded from the comparison, as were countries with less than 500 reservations for the summer of 2023.

Countries with less than 100 reservations for the summer of 2023 for a certain rental period (4, 5, 7, 8 days) were excluded from the study. Countries with less than 30 reservations for summer 2023 for 1-day rentals were excluded from the comparison also.

All financial conversions from euros to US dollars were correct at the time of writing.