No, we’re not only talking about Easter, but bank holidays and summer too, in fact any time when demand for rentals for more than a day is likely to be high.
Why is this such an issue?
It’s all about the supply chain. There’s a shortage of car parts and new vehicles, making it hard to get repairs done or to add to our fleet.
So if you know you will want to book a rental care for a week at Easter, or in the summer particularly please give us as much notice as you can but certainly a minimum of two weeks
Offering rented electric vehicles is not yet practical
Have you ever wondered why car rental companies do not offer hybrid or electric vehicles for rent?
Mostly, the reason is the availability of the charging infrastructure, but it is also about pricing.
Generally, rental companies require vehicles to be returned with a full tank of fuel and many have petrol pumps available on site or there is a petrol station nearby.
That would not be a practical proposition for electric vehicles. For example, in Colchester, there are just two charging points in the city near our location. Also, the time it takes to fully charge is considerably longer than filling up a fuel tank.
Setting up charging facilities on our sites would mean a significant investment and there would still be the issue of the time it takes to fully charge a vehicle while a customer waits.
Equally, charging points are not always available near to our customers’ homes or businesses and in a typical town terraced street, how could enough charging points be made available to enable vehicles to be charged overnight?
The investment a rental company would have to make in electric vehicles would be considerable as they are generally considerably more expensive than petrol or diesel-powered cars.
Then there would be the issue of determining a viable level of pricing that would be realistic for the rental company and affordable for the customer.
While in an ideal world it would be nice to offer the option of a more environmentally friendly electric vehicle, sadly, it is not a practical proposition yet.
We have taken delivery of eight new MG SUVs and two new 7-seater Dacia Joggers since our last update.
We’re awaiting the arrival of six new, smaller MG SUVs and two MG3s.
However, due to a combination of supply chain issues for customers trying to get parts for their vehicle repairs our rental waiting bookings are now full and we have a waiting list.
It is still worth putting your name on the list if you would like to rent a vehicle over the Christmas period, however.
Thanks to the hot weather and the surge in customers choosing to holiday in the UK, demand for our rental cars remains high.
We have ordered another 19 new cars to be delivered between now and September but we would ask that you give us as much notice as possible for your rentals.
All cars are fully insured and come with a full fuel tank so you just have to complete the paperwork and drive them away.
If people are worried that flight cancellations continue into the summer holiday period it is likely that they won’t take the chance of going abroad and there may be a rise in staycations.
This means we may see an increase in requests for rental cars so if you are already considering a holiday in the UK please get your bookings in to us as soon as you can.
Car availability is fine at the moment so better to be safe than sorry.
We have recently taken delivery of some new work vehicles. They are a Maxus tipper truck and a short wheelbase Vivaro transit-style van.
We have also taken delivery of five Hyundai i20 small cars.
We are expecting delivery of around 15 new cars between July and September to add to our fleet.