Car hire turnover fell this Summer

Joan Collins THE income of car rental companies in the Balearics fell by between 10 and 12 percent this Summer in comparison with the same period last year, according to the Association of Car Hire Companies on the islands (AEVAB). The Association attributes this fall to “unfair competition” from the “low cost” companies, causing them to “lose a lot of money”. The President of the AEVAB, Ramon Reus, said their turnover in 2005 was 1'900 million euros. Although he said that as yet there are no definitive figures to hand for this Summer's income, he described the situation as “serious” as the sector now has “rent a car” companies which operate from rural ground and which have caused a rise in numbers of vehicles rented for 10 or 12 euros per day. He complained that these companies, part of the National Federation of Rental Vehicles (FENEVAL), are not operating “correctly” from industrial estates “and don't even pay taxes”. At the same time he condemned the prices at which these companies rent their vehicles and that their presence had meant, “an increase of 20'000 in the number of vehicles for rent in the islands”. “This has been very bad for us”, complained the President of the AEVAB, who said that they had had to rationalise their fleets so that there are less cars parked in the streets, “charging a fair price to the clients, which includes at least the cost of the vehicle”. As for the clients of the AEVAB, Reus said that between July and August they had mostly been Spanish and Italian, while in May and June it was the Germans who rented most cars. In September, it was the British together with the Germans who rented most cars, and from October it was older people who rented most cars. Reus's opinion about how the tourist season has gone contrasts with the opinion of the company Hasso Rent a Car, who consider that the Summer has been reasonable, exceeding their expectations in turnover in spite of the growing competition in the sector. “We have exceeded August's turnover by 15 percent in comparison with August last year”, said Estanislao de Mata, director of Hasso Rent a Car. “In addition to this, almost 70 percent of our bookings have been generated by our web page (www.hasso.es) and almost 50 percent of our clients are those who have used our services before, which indicates a high percentage of loyalty, a scarce commodity in such a highly competitive market”, he added. Although 75 percent of Hasso Rent a Car's clients are Germans, the company has gained Spanish clients (an increase of 25 percent in August). “During the next few months we will launch special offers to tap into the growing weekend market, as this trend is also on the rise in Spain”, said Estanislao de Mata. Hasso's entire fleet was hired out during the last week of July and the whole of August and they are expecting a good level of bookings for September and October. “Our objective is to improve our booking level during the low season, quite a challenge when you take into account the seasonality of tourism on Majorca”, he said.