Fuel-efficient hybrids are hard to rent in O.C.
Only one agency has them and even it is waiting for the Prius.

By DIANA McCABE
The Orange County Register

It's probably easier to buy a hybrid vehicle than rent one in Orange County because there's only one agency with any on its lot.

Fox Rent A Car near John Wayne Airport is the first and only car rental agency in Orange County to offer hybrid vehicles.

It started renting the Ford Escape and Honda Civic hybrids in March, and will have the popular Toyota Prius before the end of April, said Tami Larsen, marketing manager at EV Rental Cars, which supplies Fox with the hybrids.

The Prius, which boasts 55 mpg (combined city and freeway), has been difficult to buy because it is so popular with consumers, Larsen said.

EV, a Los Angeles company that has been supplying rental agencies with environmentally friendly vehicles since 1998, has been on a waiting list to buy some of the 2005 models for six months. By the end of April, it should have about 10, she said Friday. Two of those will wind up at the Fox rental agency.

Fox - a discount rental agency - has 140 vehicles at its Irvine location and 10 of those are hybrids.

"We're finding out that demand is more than we thought," said Doug Bates, general manager at Fox. A lot of consumers who are renting hybrids live in Orange County, he said.

Many of Fox's regular cars rent for $20 per day. But the hybrids, Bates said, run higher because the vehicles cost more to buy.

A Honda Civic hybrid typically costs $30 a day and the Ford Escape sport utility is about $55.

The Prius will be priced around $55 per day as well, he said.