Fuel-efficient rentals find favour over luxury cars, SUVs
Canadian consumers looking to save on gas are booking fewer luxury vehicles and SUVs from rental car companies, according to a travel reservation company.
Texas-based Sabre Holdings, the company that owns Travelocity, said Canadian bookings for luxury vehicles and SUVs have dropped 11 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in yearly comparisons. Meanwhile, demand for fuel-efficient cars has increased eight per cent, said Stephen Fitzgerald, the company's vice-president of car distribution.
"So what that means is, to a car rental company, a compact or economy car is going to become a lot more expensive than it was because demand for those cars is greater," he said.
"It's even more difficult and expensive for many car companies to procure any quantities of hybrid vehicles because they're in demand."
Dan Rogers, who travelled from England to Toronto, said when he booked his car there were no hybrid options available and was left to rent a full-sized Ford SUV.
"Consumers are more interested in buying those cars so obviously people are going to be more interested in renting them, because you still need to put petrol in them," he said."
Fitzgerald said rental car companies have traditionally gravitated toward larger cars because of agreements with the automakers.
"General Motors and Ford, for example, would offer very attractive rates to the car rental companies because it allowed them to keep the assembly lines running," he said.
The national average price for a litre of gas in Canada was 1.327 on Friday, according to the gas-tracking website Gasbuddy.
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