Rate shopping

Rate shopping is checking what your competitors charge, publicly, for the same car type, pick-up date and hire length as you. It's the raw input for almost every pricing decision a rental operator makes.

How to do it

Compare like with like. Same car category, same pick-up day and time, same hire length, same driver age, same search location. Change one of those and the comparison breaks.

Then summarise it. The useful number is the market median for each car type and day, plus where you sit against it.

Your gap = your daily rate ÷ market median daily rate − 1

Worked example

At Madrid Barajas, the Rate Pulse sweep of 7 Nov 2026 found 7,000 offers from 13 brands. The typical compact was about €31 a day (NZ$62, converted). Sixt's typical compact was about €33 (NZ$66).

Sixt's gap on compact: 33 ÷ 31 − 1 = about 6% above market. One snapshot in a November shoulder period, so treat it as a reading, not a rule. See the Madrid page.

Why it matters for a rental operator

Without a rate shop you're pricing blind. You either leave money on the table on busy days or sit empty on quiet ones because someone down the road is 20% cheaper.

Doing it by hand takes hours a week and covers a few dates at best. The market moves daily, so the habit matters more than any single check.

See it in Rate Pulse

Every airport page on Rate Pulse is a rate shop: typical and cheapest daily rate per car type for each of the next 14 pick-up days, refreshed daily.