Thrifty raises prices in United Arab Emirates

The price of car rentals in the

United Arab Emirates is said to have increased by about 10%, according to Business 24/7, an online journal. Major car hire firms, such as Avis and Thrifty, have also raised their rates, in order to deal with the challenges of increasing operating costs, especially in terms of fleet maintenance and rising inflation. The majority of price hikes occurred over the course of the past 10 days, since the beginning of the New Year. Both Avis and Thrifty were among the first to announce price increases, and the car hire giants cited inflation as the main reason behind their decision to raise rates. Khaiser Pasha, the general manager for Thrifty’s operations in

Abu Dhabi, told journalists that his firm increased rental prices by between five and 10 percent, noting that spare parts, batteries and even parking spaces have become more costly. Pasha pointed out that over the course of the past decade, Thrifty has only increased its rates on two occasions and that clients will “understand” that the current hike was necessary. Thrifty has seen a gradual decline in its profits in the

United Arab Emirates. According to Pasha, the rate of decline has become especially high; the general manager calculated that his company’s profits decreased by about 17% each year, for the past several years. Yet the cost of purchasing popular Japanese cars has increased by up to 20%, which has negatively impacted Thrifty’s revenues in this country. The Honda Accord, an especially popular car, is now much more expensive to buy than it once was, which makes upgrading and expanding Thrifty’s fleet a more costly venture.

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