Why Is Renting An Eco-Friendly Car Hard?

I choose not to own a car and usually get about on public transport. I know all about car pooling and ride sharing and I'm familiar with companies like Streetcar and WhizzGo, which hire cars by the hour. But these are not an option for longer rentals.

So is it possible to rent an "eco car" under a standard rental agreement, that doesn't end up costing a fortune?

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My question then is why aren't all car hire companies committed to greening their fleet? And what can be done to encourage them to do it?

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Check out more coverage of hybrid, electric and fuel-efficient cars at the Huffington Post cars big news page

Comments

[asus389]

All of the major agencies have compact cars, and most have prius... You can't always get one, but most of the time you can..

[bujeeboo]

This is an ongoing rant in my household. My husband travels alot for business and he finally gave up on trying to rent an eco-friendly car. If they have them, they are expensive. He even tried renting a mini Cooper just to get a smaller car, and found out they require special proof of insurance (like people travel with their insurance policies). He finally gave up. He's now settled on a Jeep as his regular rental. It's cheaper and there is a lot full of them.

[KillTheMessenger]

"If they have them, they are expensive."

In my experience more often than not they have them and if your husband is not willing to pay the cost, it just shows that he is not committed to the cause.

Being cheap is not a valid reason for anything.

[NL207]

"Being cheap is not a valid reason for anything."

All economic choices made by free market consumers everywhere consider the cost of the products or services in question. How could being cheap NOT be a valid reason for anything?

[AlanBJ]

Oh My God! The GOP is planning to sell our oil from Alaska to Japan, & they will raise the price in the US beyond belief. Pass this along:

September 2, 2008

The Honorable Samuel W. Bodman
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585

Dear Secretary Bodman,

On June 3, 2008 and July 30, 2008 respectively, your Department issued and affirmed an order pursuant to Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act that will allow two major integrated oil companies " ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil " to export 98.1 billion cubic feet of Alaskan natural gas to Japan and other Pacific Rim countries. This order, which will allow the export of as much natural gas as is used by 1.4 million American families in a year, comes at a time when the President had demanded that the moratoria on oil and gas drilling along our environmentally-sensitive coastal areas be lifted and Americans are being warned that their winter heating bills are going to be dramatically higher. The Administration is trying to have it both ways " arguing that we need to drill everywhere because we don"t have adequate energy supplies, while finding that we have so much energy that big oil companies can export it overseas and keep prices here at home higher than they would otherwise be.
http://www.dailykos.com/

[NL207]

The fact that "eco-friendly" cars cost more couldn't have anything to do with rental of them costing more ore being less available could it?

[KillTheMessenger]

Yeah, why is it hard? I dare to say that it isn't.
The last two times we got the Prius we were asking for. No big deal.