Lower vehicle availability pushes prices up across the board, with popular destinations outside the Eurozone most badly affected
Leading comparator Carrentals.co.uk is reporting a 30% increase in average daily rental prices for bookings in August 2010 compared to bookings made for summer last year, across ten of its most popular summer destinations.
The figures are based on average daily rental prices for all bookings made between March and May for August 2009 and 2010, respectively, with the full list of destinations comprising Spain, UK, France, Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Portugal and Madeira, Greece, USA and Ireland.
Destinations outside the Eurozone were most noticeably affected, with Turkey recording the biggest increase at 76% and an average daily rental price of £40.08 for August 2010. This was followed by the USA with a price increase of 48% (£37.14) and Croatia at 46% (£38.27).
Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “With car hire providers having been unable to secure sufficient funding from banks to expand and replace their fleets, we have been seeing substantially inflated prices in some of the most popular destinations over the past 12 months.
“Up until now it seemed that the worst affected locations were confined to Spain and Greece, but it is interesting to see what an effect the strength of the Euro has had on car hire prices outside the Eurozone. With more people looking to escape the high exchange rate, the demand for cars in destinations such as Turkey, Croatia and the USA has risen dramatically, which has resulted in notable price increases.”
Other destinations where prices have increased substantially include Spain (40%) – average daily rental price of £33.19 in August 2010 and France (37%) – average daily rental price of £35.21 in August 2010. In addition, the UK actually recorded one of the highest average daily rental rates for August 2010 at £37.23, but this only resulted in an increase of 8% due to it being one of the most expensive locations for car rental in August 2009 (£34.55).
Gareth adds: “We can’t stress enough to consumers how important it is to book early. The analysis we did showed how some customers who booked their car hire in March for the coming August saved over £150 in comparison to those who waited until May to make the booking.
“To get the best deal we would advise customers to shop around, compare prices and book as early as they can, as this not only guarantees a better price, but also offers a wider choice of vehicles to choose from.”
Portugal and Madeira had the cheapest average daily rental for August 2010 at £27.41, while the only country to see a decrease in the average daily rental price is Greece, with average prices down by 7% on the previous year, although this is likely to be related to the high daily rental price for car hire in the country in 2009, with the average price coming in at £39.75 in comparison to £37.09 in August 2010.
Carrentals.co.uk compares car hire deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, easyCar, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 9,000 locations worldwide.
To compare the latest car hire deals visit www.carrentals.co.uk.
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