Lately, for anyone that has not been comparing car hire rates online, renting a car has been a very costly thing to do in recent months. With Monday’s news about one of the industry giants, Hertz, planning to buy out Dollar Thrifty, it leaves many wondering if things are just going to get worse. As Hertz continues to grow, are they just going to jack up rates?

Despite so many peoples’ fears, industry analysts say that it’s very unlikely that this will happen due to Hertz’s deal. They predict car rental rates will stay high for reasons unrelated to this deal. Some people even went as far as to say that Hertz’s acquisition made sense.

Neil Abrams of the Abrams Consulting Groups, said that he thinks it’s good news. He said that consumers will really be able to see a benefit due to this new deal. For Hertz customers that do not need all of the bells and whistles of higher end cars, this deal opens the door to more value-oriented rentals. However, it also gives Dollar Thrifty customers access to Hertz’s worldwide system.

Right now Hertz currently has 8,200 locations in 146 countries. Dollar Thrifty has about 1,550 locations. Customers also will not see any rental rate changes once the companies merge.

Abrams went on to say that Enterprise, National and Alamo are one company. However, the three brands compete in their own individual pricing tiers. He is pretty confident that the same will occur with Hertz and Dollar Thrifty.

Rental car rates reached histrionic highs back in 2009. The prices have been driven in part by tighter fleets and tighter lending.