Travellers gear up for pricey car rentals

Britons travelling to Europe are likely to find that renting a car is going to take up a much larger part of their vacation budget than ever before. Car rentals in much of western continental Europe are now so much higher that an average British family will probably end up paying approximately GBP 200 more than what they would have previously in order to hire a vehicle.

Some of these extra costs, however, have little to do with rental fee increases, but are instead related to the astronomically high price of gas at popular tourist destinations, such as in Italy and Greece. In fact, many analysts point out that the price of petrol may have increased by up to 80 percent in continental Europe, when compared to figures from the first half of 2007.

The good news, however, is that since some of these increases have to do with high petrol prices, rather than rental fee hikes, clients can protect themselves from having to pay much more by simply renting a compact or economy class car and rejecting any “free” upgrades to a larger vehicle. Couples or single travellers might also want to consider a Smart car, or a hybrid-such as the popular Toyota Prius-if they plan on lengthy road-trips. In most cases, however, renting an economy class or compact vehicle in Europe is much more cost-effective, because rental rates for hybrids remain very high and will, therefore, negate any savings that may have been achieved thanks to their fuel efficiency.