Rent-a-car fleet recovery, with 33% more registrations in 2023
The rent-a-car sector closed the year 2023 with a total of 152,788 vehicles registered between passenger cars and industrial vehicles, which represents a growth of 33.43% compared to the previous year, according to MSI data for Feneval. In spite of these positive figures, the vehicle rental companies' employers' association insists on a margin for improvement and to reach a normalization in the relationship with manufacturers.
A balance that the Federación Nacional Empresarial de Alquiler de Vehículos con y sin Conductor (Feneval) celebrates by considering that, “although gradually, we are closer to the full recovery purchase of new vehicles”.
According to the 2023 employers“it has been a good year, although not entirely excellent, as the environment has been teñn of uncertainty, a context starring, among others, by a rise in car prices, an escalation of inflation and the increase in some interest rates”.
“All in all, the financial health of car rental companies is positive. We have witnessed high demand from rental car users and the companies have been able to respond to it,”, they added.
Even soí, insist on an attitude of precautionón and a margin for improvement in the purchase of cars considering that “we must continue working to obtain a better profitability for our sector”, stresses in this regard Juan Luis Barahona, president of Feneval.
Also, the federation expects that throughout this exercise normalize relations with manufacturers and that the economic situation improves and, therefore, costs, to reach a scenario closer to the usual.
CHALLENGES FOR THE INDUSTRY
For Feneval, the year just started will be marked by important challenges that the value chain as a whole must face. These include legal and regulatory security; progress in digitization; vehicle purchasing, cost control and the evolution of interest rates; the development of laws, including the Sustainable Mobility Law; and regulatory uniformity between autonomous communities and municipalities.
Precisely for 2024, the employers' association of car rental companies estimates clearly surpassing the turnover obtained during the year 2019, when the ceiling was 1,800 million euros and also expects to receive a figure of tourists equal to or higher than 2023.