One of my email subscriptions is to a blog that answers questions about Las Vegas.

People are asking why rental cars are so expensive in Las Vegas right now? One of them was quoted $1000 a week for not-fancy rental car, another had his car reservation cancelled due to unavailability. Someone else needed a 1-day rental and it cost $700 for a sub-compact.

The answer: Because of the decreased travel during the pandemic, rental car companies had much less demand. Also, Hertz (owns Dollar & Thrifty) and Advantage have filed for bankruptcy, and had to pare down their assets. Overall, the car companies sold off a large percentage of their fleets.

Now that demand is increasing, the rental car companies are having trouble buying new cars because of a shortage of parts, especially electronics from China: they can't buy new cars to replenish their inventory fast enough.

The suggested solution was to plan a trip by booking the car first so you know you can get one - months in advance, and then make the airplane reservation. There's no cancellation fee on car reservations, so no downside in that respect.

Is there a rental car in my future? Not right now, but I'll keep all this in mind if the need arises.