Nowadays, hybrid car rental is only restricted by your willingness to plan ahead. But a few years in the past, it was almost impossible to rent a hybrid car. Hybrid car rent companies like Hertz, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Avis Budget—have added thousands of hybrid cars to their fleets in latest days, and they would a more to meet growing demand. Unfortunately, hybrid car rental companies are fighting for the same limited hybrid inventory that has put retail consumers on long waiting lists.
When hybridcars.com interview Lisa Martini, a spokesperson for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said, “What we’re able to get into the fleet is dictated by what we’re able to buy.” The Enterprise website states it more emphatically: “We’ll take as many as we can get.” This hybrid car rental company currently has more than four thousand hybrids, and will double that number in 2009.
Avis-Budget, which is also targeting a significant increase in its number of hybrid car rentals, is confronting the same supply problem. “Manufacturers will only sell us hybrids in very small quantities,” said Lauren Nodzak, corporate communications specialist in an interview with hybridcars.com. Leann Sabato, a spokesperson for Hertz also said, “We’re looking into adjusting our fleet to meet the demand for hybrids.”
The world’s leader in hybrids, Toyota, allots only so many vehicles to fleets. In 2007, less than 5 percent of Toyota’s hybrids sales went to fleets—and those are divided between corporate, government, and hybrid car rental companies.
The Necessity of Hybrid Car Rental
Nowadays fuel efficient and going green is becoming a ‘lifestyle’ and business imperative. Chris Brown, editor of Auto Rental News, a publication that monitors the car rental industry, said “Let’s face it. The customer is driving this cart. Nobody wants to rent SUVs anymore.” He also said “The car rental companies have no choice, so they’re becoming proactive.” The increasing demand stems from consumers ‘eager’ to pay less for fuel, but also a desire from customers wanting to achieve an extended test-drive of hybrid vehicles—as a method to find out more about the driving experience, if they are thinking about buying a hybrid.
As production of green car and other alternative automobile expands, and the hybrid car rental companies add additional hybrid car rentals to their fleets, getting behind the wheel of hybrid on a vacation or business trip may not require an advanced reservation. Until that time, consumers should make a special effort to order a hybrid in progress, specifically by make and model.
Another articles by Johan Young you may interest in reading: BMW Vision, Best Selling Hybrid-4, and Hybrid Pickup Trucks.
Source: hybridcars.com
