Renting a car currently quickly costs double what you lost in 2019, before the corona crisis. “But in some places the prices have increased tenfold,” says Tjeerd Kramer, director of EasyTerra, a rental car comparison site.
Prices are especially high in island destinations such as Ibiza and Mallorca, he says. But also in the south of the EU, such as in Spain and Portugal, you can spend (much) more for a rental car than before.
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Prices up due to crisis
In 2019 you paid an average of 225 euros per week for renting a car. In 2021 it will be an average of 460 euros per week, says Kramer. Prices can vary considerably depending on the destination.
The higher prices are mainly due to the corona crisis. 2020 was a disaster year for car rental companies. Virtually no one wanted to rent a car anymore and the industry was forced into survival mode. The parent company of giant Hertz in the US even went bankrupt.
To protect themselves, companies sold large parts of the fleet. In the Benelux Hertz sold half of the cars to weather the crisis. In the meantime, little has been renewed and that is causing shortages, says Kramer.
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Chiptekorten
And even if the car rental companies would like to significantly expand their fleet, that is easier said than done. Car manufacturers can deliver fewer cars due to worldwide chip shortages. And the cars that are delivered probably won’t go to the rental companies first.
“Margins are much lower there,” says Kramer. Manufacturers earn a lot more from selling to private individuals.
Peak in rental
It is an annoying problem for the landlords. Last year there was no demand and this year there is difficulty in delivering because the fleets have become smaller, especially now that there is a small peak in the interest in a rental car.
Demand has increased by about 25 percent compared to last year, says Henk van den Helder, director of Hertz Benelux. However, this is still far from the pre-crisis level.
The Latvian Discover Cars, which is also active in the Netherlands, is also seeing a peak. It is so large that the rental company cannot sustain customer service. Anyone who calls the company will receive a tape that the company is temporarily unavailable by phone due to an ‘unexpected increase in bookings’. There was also no response to questions from RTL Z.
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Prefer to go on holiday by car
“People often prefer to go on holiday with a rental car than by plane,” says Paul de Waal, spokesperson for the trade association Bovag. Car holidays are popular because the flexibility is greater. If a country turns red, you can easily drive a little further, he says.
In the Netherlands there is relatively little demand for rental cars at airports, while other locations are busier, he says.
Different on holiday
It also causes some people to go on vacation differently. “You used to book the plane tickets first and then you rented a car,” he says. “Now we sometimes look at where you can rent a cheap car and only then book the airline tickets.”
That will certainly not always be the case, but it illustrates how fast prices have risen, says Kramer.
He expects prices to remain high. Also because 2021 will not be a top year for the industry. “Last year was terrible,” Kramer says. But this year is not much better. “We are focusing our investments on next year.”
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