A rental car allows you to be mobile during your holidays abroad – even if you arrive by plane. This year, however, travelers have to dig deep into their pockets for a rental car (here are our tips for renting a car abroad). Because the providers now have far fewer cars that they can rent out.
Landlords make cars run smoothly
Here, too, the reason is the corona pandemic. Last year companies were able to rent a lot fewer vehicles. Either the travelers didn’t come or they came with their own car. As a result, there was a lack of income. In order to remain liquid, the rental car companies had to sell part of their fleets, writes the Swiss tourism portal Travelnews.
With such a short supply, additional hygiene measures when cleaning the vehicles have a subordinate effect on prices. However, the more intensive cleaning has an indirect effect insofar as it takes longer before a vehicle can be rented again, which also makes the supply somewhat scarcer.
Three times more expensive than a year ago
With the summer holidays that have now started, business is picking up again – so much that demand exceeds supply. In other words: There are too few cars for all tourists. The prices are rising accordingly.
As early as May, outside of the season, prices on Mallorca rose by 300 percent. According to the Aevab and Baleval associations, a rental car normally costs 30 to 50 euros a day, but between 130 and 150 euros per day are currently due. That is three times more than a year ago, when there were also 60,000 more rental cars in the Balearic Islands than today.
Online portals confirm the European trend
Just in time for the summer holidays, the online portals Billiger-Mietwagen.de and Check24 are also reporting significant price increases. For July and August Billiger-Mietwagen.de sees a price increase of 54 percent. It is particularly strong in southern Europe. In Spain, Italy or Greece, rental car prices are twice as high as a year ago.
The price increase at Check24 is a little less strong but still significant. The portal calculates rents over the summer with 24 percent higher rental prices across all destinations. Here, too, Italy with 57 percent and Spain with 82 percent exclude the top.