Fuel efficiency gains favour with rental car customers

Canadian car rental customers are more intent on booking fuel-efficient vehicles are staying away from full-size cars and SUVs, according to a new report issued by a travel reservations company.

The Texas-based Sabre Holdings, which owns Travelocity, reported that bookings for luxury cars and SUVs in Canada dropped by 11 and 30 per cent, respectively, in year-on-year comparisons.

At the same time, the demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles has increased by eight per cent, noted the company’s vice-president for car distribution, Stephen Fitzgerald.

“So what that means is, to a car rental company, a compact or economy car is going to become a lot more expensive than it was because demand for those cars is greater,” he added.

“It’s even more difficult and expensive for many car companies to procure any quantities of hybrid vehicles because they’re in demand.”

Dan Rogers, a car rental customer who travelled from the UK to Toronto, said that at the time he booked his car no hybrid options were available and his only option was a Ford SUV.

“Consumers are more interested in buying those cars so obviously people are going to be more interested in renting them, because you still need to put petrol in them,” he commented.

Sabre’s Fitzgerald added that rental car companies have historically added larger vehicles to their fleets because of agreements they have with automobile manufacturers.

“General Motors and Ford, for example, would offer very attractive rates to the car rental companies because it allowed them to keep the assembly lines running,” he noted.

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www.sabre.com