'Diabolical year' in car rental as dollar and tourism fall
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Thursday August 28 2008
AS US car-hire giants reel from a painful 2008, the operations manager at Dublin based Murray's Europcar says the market in Ireland has been "diabolical" this year.
"It's been our worst year since 2001 in both volumes and prices," Pat Geagan says. "The numbers renting from the US are down 35 to 40pc, numbers from elsewhere are down 10 to 15pc. It's now cheaper to rent a car than in 2001."
The slump in the tourism market is the main cause of the sector's difficulties, along with a weaker dollar. Falling used car prices are also hitting car-hire companies hard since they replace their fleets at least every two years.
