SUV and van rental reservations remain steady

As gas prices continue to rise, many car rental customers are rushing for the few hybrid vehicles that are offered by rental companies. At the same time, however, then number of vans and SUVs that are being rented hasn’t declined.

“We were kind of surprised by that,” said a spokesperson for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Lisa Martini. Enterprise, in partnership with Alamo and National car rental companies currently has around 5,000 hybrid vehicles in an overall fleet of 1.1 million.

For families traveling a long distance on road trips a roomy SUV is a sensible option, and businesspeople traveling together to meetings often choose a van for the convenience it provides. This may explain why rentals of these types of vehicles are still robust during peak travel periods. Overall, though, rentals of larger vehicles have decreased, according to car rental industry watcher Neil Abrams.

“There will always be a market for SUVs and minivans. But we’re seeing car rental companies buying fewer of them,” said Abrams. Companies aren’t buying that many more hybrids. They’re adding more fuel-efficient standard-size vehicles - which is what customers are requesting, he added.

His advice to renters is that if you want to be sure of having a hybrid vehicle, booking as far in advance as possible is a good idea – as is a weekday pickup.

www.enterprise.com