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Car rental companies at Cologne-Bonn Airport (archive image)
Photo:
Oliver Berg / dpa
For the time being, consumers must continue to expect high prices for rental cars.
Compared to the pre-crisis year 2019, rental car prices had risen by more than 115 percent by mid-May, said the President of the car rental association BAV, Erik Hilgerloh, of the magazine "Automobilwoche".
Higher costs would arise primarily from a lack of vehicles and a lack of predictability.
"We are only now getting the orders from last year delivered, but we are already ordering the vehicles for 2023," said the head of the association.
"Planning is crucial in the rental business." In 2021 alone, around 75,000 cars were missing.
The demand from landlords is “gigantically high” and has increased compared to the previous year, emphasized Hilgerloh.
The result of the shortage drives up the costs by around 15 percent, since significantly more vehicles have to be transferred between the stations.
Due to the lack of supply, landlords would also have to rearrange their services, which would shift the price structure.
Car rental companies are therefore trying to reduce the rising costs by closing locations.
"A network with 200 stations is of course associated with significantly higher costs," said Hilgerloh.
"The international landlords are responding accordingly by reducing their networks and closing stations." Smaller landlords are much more flexible.
wbr/AFP
