Recession Driving Up Car Rental Prices in Portugal and Spain

Thousands of visitors to Portugal and Spain in Summer 2009 were affected by the widespread shortage of rental cars caused by the recession throughout Europe. The lack of credit available to resulted in cutbacks to the sizes of the rental car fleets, and subsequently prices soared. The poor weather in Northern Europe resulted in many last minute tourists heading for the sun of Prtugal and Spain.  Two of the locations worst affected were Faro in Portugal and Malaga in Spain. Matt May from Blue Valley Car Hire who provide an internet booking service for car hire at Faro Airport in Portugal and car hire at Malaga Airport in Spain envisages a similar situation in 2010. "The economic situation in Spain and portugal has not improved significantly during 2009, and from what we are hearing on the ground, widespread shortages are inevitable againin 2010. Leaving the booking to the last minute is likely to result in higher prices for the customer. The rental companies that we deal with in both countries are seeing people booking much earlier than last year". "Many companies including ourselves do not take payment in advance, so there is no reason not to book now. Booking early allows the car hire companies to plan ahead, and scale the size of their fleets, rather than having to try to rent in cars from other companies at the last minute when prices are at their highest". Please visit the Blue Valley Car Hire website for more information on how to book a hire car for your 2010 holiday.

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