Avis Rent a Car, which along with Europcar and Hertz, is one of the Island’s main hire car firms, says it has been forced to raise its prices after having to spend thousands of pounds on new vehicles to make up for the shortfall. It is also believed that Ford is withdrawing supply from Europcar, although Hertz will remain unaffected.
The price increase comes following an announcement by Ford that it was decreasing its supply of vehicles to the company over the summer months and completely withdrawing in September.
The reduced number of cars available for rent combined with the fact that Jersey’s hotels are expected to be fully booked for the whole of July and August for the first time in ten years, could mean that the Island will be short of hire cars this season, Avis has warned.
The Ford pull-out, which was initially scheduled for April but was put back to the end of the season, has also impacted on hotel package deals. Avis has previously worked with hotels and tour providers to provide vehicles as part of a package deal for tourists, which would also include accommodation and flights.
However, Avis managing director Peter Deffains said that he had been receiving complaints from hotels and tour operators because the company has been unable to offer the deals that they had previously offered.
‘It has been very difficult because Ford decided to pull a great number of our cars for the busy season without much notice,’ he said. ‘We have had to bring in hundreds of vehicles at a great cost in the hope that the season was going to be all right and that people would use them, but we are still down on numbers.
‘We have had complaints because people couldn’t really understand why the prices have gone up. With the costs that we have had to pay out and the drop in supply, our prices have had to go up and we can’t offer the deals to hotels and tour operators that we used to.
‘I completely understand that if you have a basic budget and you want to hire a car it is going to be more difficult. We do not know how it’s going to pan out over the school holidays, but if there is a shortage of cars it is likely to stay until the end of the summer.’
Meanwhile, Ian Barnes, the head of the Jersey Hospitality Association, said that current prices were ‘sensible’ and that they are now on a par with with what customers pay on the continent.
‘For many years Jersey has enjoyed very low rates because of the excess of supply,’ he said. ‘I think prices have got up to a sensible level – the same sort of level as in the UK and Europe.
‘Unfortunately, the deals have had to stop with hotels, but I haven’t heard any complaints from visitors.
He added: ‘I think the problem might come next year if Avis and Europcar are not able to find an alternative supplier. If that happens there could be a significant shortage of cars.’
