Petrol prices cause headaches for Japanese car rental industry

Car rental companies operating in Japan are being seriously hurt by rising gasoline prices and for the first time ever, studies suggest that an increasing number of people are turning away from driving, and replacing this with cheaper alternative methods of transportation. According to a report in the Mainichi Daily News, this development represents a real problem for rental companies-as they are now starting to see a decline in car hires and sales-as well as for parking lot operators, but Japanese authorities are beginning to notice declining congestion on some roads and a drop in the number of car accidents.

The Mainichi Daily News quoted one client in Tokyo who appeared somewhat frustrated when he returned his rental vehicle, asking why the firm did not have cars that were more fuel efficient. Nippon Rent-A-Car has already noticed an increase in the number of clients looking for compact, highly fuel-efficient cars, while those planning on renting larger gas guzzlers seem to be few and far between. The problem, however, is that Nippon has also experienced a drop in the length of individual rentals-these appear to have declined by around 1.2 percent this past June.

While this drop may spell trouble for the Japanese car rental industry, officials point out that fewer cars on the road also have some salutary consequences. In Tokyo alone, there were 3,990 fewer road accidents during the first half of the year than in the same period in 2007.

Thank you to Mainichi Daily News for the initial report.

www.nipponrentacar.co.jp