Tough winter keeps car rental firms busy

A tough winter, with colder than average temperatures and much more snow than usual has benefited car rental firms in parts of the northeastern and midwestern United States, where traffic during what is usually a slow time of the year has actually been quite steady over the past two months. Frequent snowstorms and the consequent treacherous driving conditions have led to many more collisions that usual in some areas and this has also meant that many drivers involved in these accidents have had to rent cars while their own vehicles were being repaired. As can be expected, this situation has also ensured a steady flow of clients for car repair shops and garages, as well as for rental firms. Many repair shops have indicated that they are being inundated with new requests on a regular basis and can barely keep up with the number of jobs. This also suggests that getting a damaged vehicle repaired now takes longer than usual, which in turn means that drivers are renting cars for longer periods of time. According to a report published on the Auto Rental News website, some body shops in the Midwestern US are said to have backlogs which will take more than four weeks to clear.

Debbie Zabel owns a car repair business in Milwaukee and she urges automobile owners who decide to venture out onto the roads in winter driving conditions to confirm that their insurance policy covers not only the cost of the necessary repairs after a collision, but also the price associated with renting a car, while one’s personal automobile is in the shop.

Yet having an all-inclusive insurance package may not quite solve all headaches associated with having to rent a car while one’s own vehicle is being repaired or replaced. Several Milwaukee-based car rental firms have indicated that the large number of accidents have meant that their fleet of available cars is increasingly depleted.