I’ve been blogging about Silvercar for more than 5 years. They set off to revolutionize the car rental experience with only one car type, the Audi A4. They didn’t charge toll fees or usurious gas prices. They offered free carseats and no underage rental fees. They also offered airport pickup and dropoff in your rental car.
Over the years things changed. They added several more car types, though they were all Audis. They added some toll and gas fees. They generally stopped offering airport pickup and dropoff. And Audi themselves bought Silvercar.
I rented from Silvercar in LA earlier this year and the process was a pain. We had to take a shuttle to a sketchy dropoff location and then Silvercar hired a Lyft to take us from there to their actual airport location. But with stackable promo codes, it was still a good deal.
At any rate, COVID-19 has claimed another victim. Autoslash reports that Silvercar will close all of their airport locations over the coming weeks. Going forward Silvercar will only remain available at select Audi dealerships. Some may pay for your Lyft from the airport, but generally speaking that won’t be a convenient option for airport rentals and dealership hours aren’t as long as airport locations. More dealer locations will eventually be added, but I doubt I’d ever rent another Silvercar under those circumstances.
It was fun while it lasted. Hopefully another rental car concept will arise to compete with Avis/Enterprise/Hertz, which control some 94% of the US rental car market.
Will you miss Silvercar?
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40 Comments On "Goodbye To Silvercar Airport Locations"
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Nothing good ever lasts.
That’s a pretty negative attitude
Covid is pretty harsh on these businesses……
Covid was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Bummer. They were such a great car rental experience, let alone very nice cars.
Yes, I sure will! Whenever I needed a luxury car for business travel they were the go to place for me. What a shame :(.
Used it once. Liked it. Knew it wasn’t sustainable. Then VW/Audi bought it in distress. That was the beginning of the end. Actually, it’s founding was. The business model could never be profitable.
The business model was actually set to be very profitable, basic car rentals were going for well over what they were charging for, and it only costs a couple hundred bucks a month to finance the Audi. What happened was car rental prices crashed, customer traffic came to a screeching halt plus Audi added allot of there own twists. That’s why it failed
awwwwwwww i already miss them
Just used them for the first time this weekend at EWR. It was pretty convenient and very good service. When the shuttle wasn’t there after dropoff, the employee offered to drive me in one of the Q7s!
Eh, Silvercar is a company that bloggers raved about, but I haven’t met a business traveler that liked them.
Too inconvenient and high priced for what it was. And not widespread enough to attract loyalty.
Wasn’t high priced with BOGO stackable coupons, AMEX Offers, etc.
But yes, it became more and more inconvenient over time as mentioned in this postmortem.
I agree. I tried to like them, but if you arranged your traditional rental car experience correctly, Silvercar didn’t have any advantage. Time is money. Every time I rented Silvercar there wasn’t curbside dropoff. So I still had to go offsite.
My current favorite is Turo. It’s all about the curbside dropoff and pickup.
Wake me up when my credit card covers insurance with Turo.
Dan, you must like to sleep a long time, LOL.
I do not expect credit companies to ever start to cover CDW type of risks on atypical rentals. EVER.
Progressive told me in writing they would insure a Turo rental just like any other rental.
And I have no interest in raising my personal auto insurance rates over a rental car incident.
Figure in referral free rental days for bloggers
There were no free rental day referrals, though they had a standard $25 referral program that offered a credit to both parties.
Used them tons. Chicago, LA, FL, and more.
All from your original post some years back, so kudos to you. Will definitely miss them. Convenient and more, although lately their prices were too high and I was able to get luxury suv’s for a lot le$$ from the major rental companies.
Sad day. Truly hoping and praying this (covid) doesn’t take any more businesses with it.
Sadly I’m sure we will lose more businesses DTC (due to covid) 🙁
What does “due to Covid” mean?
Are you sincerely asking for someone to explain how a global pandemic affects businesses (especially travel industry ones)?
Dan i used them once with your affiliate link but what will you do with all your extra credits ?
Maybe just a little too much excitement you had over these cars made by a company that produced zyklon gas for the gas chambers and used concentration camp slave labor.
You know there are still people alive who lived through that. Not centuries ago.
I wouldn’t buy one, but I didn’t have qualms renting one at a bargain rate.
Chase helped the Nazis. So did IBM, Barclays Bank, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Ford, Swarovski, the list is huge.
Used them in Florida and California a few times… always a pleasure and since we requested a car seat they always picked us up from the rental car and even sometimes at the terminal! Always used your promos Dan and always came out cheaper than any other rental with no crazy toll fees. Will definitely be missing them
I used silvercar twice in LA.
The representatives there were so nice.
It was a pleasure not to wait on those lines in those other car rentals.
Even with the “sketchy drop off and pick up” it was still better than the other places.
And those audis were sooooooo nice to drive, with all the latest tech.
I will definitely miss silvercar!!!
I am significantly more disappointed by this than the election results. Total bummer.
What disappointment do you have with the election results? CIVILITY won! DECENCY won!
ok
Asking for an argument
Why not ask for food for the needy instead? Or shelter for the homeless? Or a cure for cancer?
I totally got spoiled and then they left San Diego. Hoping they reopen at an Audi dealership here.
my acct credit with them is all gone!
With Hertz charging $15/day for a car seat, even without promos came out cheaper to rent silvercar.
Just rented in MIA-FLL, had an amazing experience.
They bring the car to u at the airport for pickup and to drop it off, all you do is bring the car to their location and a concierge comes out and drives u in the car to the terminal.
Amazing experience.
I will miss them
Bummer, I haven’t used them about 18 months, but with the stackable discounts and the experience it was well worth it. Ironically, I had not booked them for my pesach trip this year, and I am now stuck with sixt credit.
The best rent a car place ever!!!
Sad to see it go due to COVID-19
Joining here a bit late, but what is the best rental experience in FLL ?
Yes i loved it