PRE-PAID rental voucher supplier CarPass is gearing up to go direct sell after seeing poor sales through the trade since launching last June.
The company sells £25 vouchers that can be exchanged for one day’s group A car rental in resorts in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta. It pays agents commission from 15%.
General manager Larry Dale Ursich said travel agents had failed to pick up on a major sales opportunity.
Ursich admitted lack of awareness of the scheme was a problem, but said: “With airlines capping their commission, I would have thought agents would have been looking for alternative sources of revenue.
“I would rather continue to sell through agents as that way we reach more peoplebut it looks instead as if we will move away from the trade.”
To go direct to the consumer, Ursich now plans to launch a bookable Web site. “We are buying cars from Hertz, Alamo, National, Budget and Thrifty so it has been complicated to set up, but I hope it will be ready by mid-February,” he said.
CarPass now offers cars at 54 locations in Spain, and at eight, seven and five locations respectively in Portugal, Cyprus and Malta.
The company plans to take the voucher scheme Europe-wide by Easter.
n See Spain report, p60