You may have noticed there have been a lot of changes across the vehicle rental industry over the past year.
All rental companies have increased their pricing over the past few months and some have even got out of the daily rental market all together. Even some well known household names!
The combination of Covid and global car manufacturing shortages have created a perfect storm in the car hire industry. The pandemic caused a complete collapse of demand for hire cars as overseas travel and events came to a standstill.
Rental companies have now missed close to two years of normal trading, meaning many have needed to sell stock to recoup losses. Some fleets dropped by as much as 30% of normal levels.
The problem now, as the market has improved is restocking our fleets. The global shortage of vehicles has left many rental companies short of actual vehicle’s to rent. As a result we are all fighting for the small amount of stock floating around the dealers. You can guess what that is doing to the prices we have to pay!
This comes at a time when pent up demand for travel is pushing a new wave of customers towards us.
Add to the mix, rising insurance charges, national insurance and staffing costs increasing and a worldwide semiconductor shortage causing manufacturing to stall, and it’s not hard to see why prices are rising across the industry.
Global supply issues are not expected to stabilise for at least another year (maybe 2) so expect to see prices rise more still. Especially at peak times, such as Easter and summer holidays.
Here at 3B, we have not found ourselves immune to price rises but we also check regularly what our competitors charge and at this very moment our car hire prices are less than half of our biggest national competitor.
As always, it’s a case of book early to get the best chance of a deal. Being able to plan ahead gives us the best chance of being able to proved the vehicle you want for the rate you expect.
