Demand For Car Hire Rentals Showing Downward Trend

November 10th 2008 - Online price comparison site for car rentals, Carrentals.co.uk has seen an increase of 10% in bookings of the smaller cars segment this year. This growth is mainly due to the continuing credit crunch in the market and rising fuel prices, forcing people to opt for more fuel-efficient cars.

More than 50% of the bookings made by its customers have been for smaller economic cars, which is 10% more as compared to last year bookings for the same cars. This is an indication that people are now trying to minimise their expenditure on various elements, and petrol is one of them.

Travellers choose nearby tourist locations for their holidays so that they spend less on travelling and this has resulted in more tourist influx in nearby places such as Alicante, Faro, Palma and Malaga. The only place that made it to the top twenty locations for rentals was Orlando. The changing spending pattern of travellers is evident, as they are now trying to save money by reducing their travelling expenses.

Managing Director for Carrentals.co.uk, Gareth Robinson said airline failures, the credit crunch and rising fuel costs have negatively impacted the market for car rentals and the company has witnessed people trying to cope up with this slump by choosing smaller cars, as these have cheaper rentals and at the same time give more mileage for their money. People are also travelling to nearby locations to save money on travelling and are holidaying closer to home.

There is a steep rise in the number of people getting insurance as well, especially while travelling to foreign locations. More than 45% travellers are now getting Collision Damage Waiver Insurance completed to ensure that they get a refund on their excess in case of any accident damaging the car.

Robinson added that the company is witnessing growing numbers of customers booking holidays extras using their site. There has been an increase in bookings for airport parking, hotels and lounges by 20%, as compared to last year. Travellers have also got much savvier while shopping around and finding best deals so that they are able to reduce overall travelling costs. Now, they are not willing to settle for the first feasible option they see and are willing to explore more. Carrentals.co.uk has put a great effort to create a site that is able to offer best options for car hiring and great value extras.

Carrentals.co.uk compares prices of up to 50 different companies like Expedia, Thrifty, Sixt. Holiday Autos, Budget and its own prices. This has resulted in growing following for the company and got them best car hire website award for the year 2008 at Travolution Awards.

For more information visit www.carrentals.co.uk

About Carrentals.co.uk

Carrentals.co.uk was launched in February 2003 and grew to become one of the UK’s leading online car hire companies by 2006.

In 2007 the company re-launched its site to create the first major online price comparator in the travel industry. Using the latest technology the Carrentals.co.uk site now searches up to 50 different car hire websites, providing an impartial comparison of the best prices available in over 9,000 locations.

Websites searched include Budget, Thrifty, Sixt, Holiday Autos, Opodo, EBookers, Carrentals.co.uk and EasyCar, with the Carrentals.co.uk site quickly comparing prices and allowing customers to refine their search by car type.

The Carrentals.co.uk site also features over 6,000 links to useful tourist information sites, plus over 2,700 pages of travel information in a mini-guide format.

In 2008 Carrentals.co.uk was voted Best Car Hire Website in the Travolution Awards. To book or for further information visit www.carrentals.co.uk

Rachel Builder, Anna Nicholls & Debbie Williams
Context
T: 01625 511966
F: 01625 511967
carrentals@contextpr.co.uk
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This release was published on openPR.