A rental car has become an expensive pleasure in many holiday countries.
The comparison portal Check24 has calculated an average price increase of 40 percent for bookings between July and the end of September compared to the summer of last year.
In Spain, rental car prices have risen by 231 percent since the pre-corona year 2019, from 22 euros to 73 euros per day.
"Anyone who still needs a rental car for the summer holidays should book it as soon as possible, because the prices increase the closer the pick-up date gets," said Managing Director Andreas Schiffelholz on Wednesday in Munich.
Check24 calculated average prices from more than 100,000 bookings for all rental cars booked for the summer months.
Accordingly, a rental car in Malta and South Africa was already available for less than 40 euros a day, in Turkey for 51 and in Greece for 69 euros.
In Croatia, on the other hand, a rental car costs an average of 90 euros in the summer months, and in Great Britain and the USA it even costs around 100 euros per day.
The most expensive were Ireland with 116 and Iceland with 138 euros.
"The higher prices can be attributed primarily to supply bottlenecks in the automotive industry," said Schiffelholz.
During the Corona pandemic, rental companies had reduced their fleets - now they are not getting enough vehicles to increase them again in line with demand.
For new cars, there are often long waiting times, mainly because of the lack of semiconductors, and the car manufacturers have canceled the usual discounts in the past.
Therefore, rental cars should remain expensive for the time being, said Schiffelholz.