Faced with the coronavirus epidemic, which has had a heavy impact on the turnover of transport companies, car rental companies and carpooling companies have seen their reservations increase during the summer holidays. 

Fewer tourists, less travel and health concerns: the transport sector continued to be impacted by the coronavirus crisis in July and August ... But some players have experienced good progress, especially in the automotive sector. Because at the end of the summer, one thing is clear: the car has been the preferred mode of transport for the French. 

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"A search for fewer contacts"

Reservations up 15% in July and August: this is almost unexpected for Nicolas Brusson, the boss of Blablacar. Carpooling had very timidly resumed after confinement but requests accelerated at the end of June. "There was still, on the part of the passengers, a search for fewer contacts," he analyzes. "Carpooling, there are two, three or four of us in a car, while there are a lot more of us on a bus, on a train or on a plane."

Among the other winners is also car rental between individuals. If the summer was complicated for the "classic" rental companies, deprived of foreign tourists, they nevertheless managed to limit the breakage, with rental periods up by 20%, according to the Carigami.fr site.

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"It's more reassuring to have your own car"

Other players have succeeded: the DriiveMe platform, which offers rentals from 1 euro, has seen its bookings jump by 50% this summer. And like Nicolas Brusson, co-founder Geoffroy Lambert sees these good results as a reflection of the health crisis. "It's more reassuring to have your own car, knowing that our partners apply very strict rules for disinfecting vehicles, on departure and on arrival," he analyzes. 

Flexible means of transport, with reservations most often at the last minute ... Just like a summer when it was difficult to plan trips well in advance.