Paris Holiday Rental Car Prices Go Sky High

Hope you don't want a rental car in Paris around Christmas. When cars were still available last week, we quoted a woman $240 for a four-day rental in a compact. But now suppliers such as Europcar are running out of cars and the price has surged to $980 for a compact car for a mere four days, nearly $250 per day. I guess it's no different than hotels raising rates when there's a convention in town, but to raise them by a factor of four seems a blatant gouge. Consumers don't react well to the “take it or leave it” option. On the other hand the holidays may be the rental companies' last chance for a while to make a score. Based on advance bookings for European travel, there may not be many Americans to gouge in '09.