Motorists turn to car hire to keep down costs
A recent survey by leading car hire firm Europcar suggests that a high percentage of drivers have decided to make changes to their driving habits as a result of the economic global recession and an increase in vehicle costs. Of those who decided to take part in the Europcar poll eight out of ten drivers blamed the recession for a change in driving habits. Seven out of ten people told Europcar that they would now be considering utilizing car hire to reduce the cost of wear and tear on their own vehicles.
Of those who completed the survey sixty-eight percent admitted that they had already hired a vehicle in order to go on holiday. Seventy-three percent say that they intend to hire a car next year in order to take a holiday or go on a longer than normal journey.
Catriona Lougher, marketing director at Sixt said that the results of the Europcar survey showed that more motorists were realizing that by hiring a rental car for long journeys or for specific purposes meant that they could keep the costs down on their own vehicles. She went on to say that for a number of families who have reduced the size of their family runaround hiring a bigger car for a holiday or weekend break made financial sense.
At present forty-two percent of the drivers polled said that they left their family car at home when going away for the weekend. Nearly fifty percent said that they intend to do this when they go away in 2010.