DAILY rental rates and profit margins for car-hire firms are set to increase, according to market analysts.
Analyst company Datamonitor has completed a study into the car-rental market and concluded the future is looking brighter, with the trend for falling rates being halted.
It reports that the European rental industry has suffered from falling daily rates over the last two years, forcing consolidation within the industry and improvements in fleet efficiency to maintain profit margins.
It predicts rates will begin to rise again after 2001 and adds that turnover per fleet car will improve even before then as programmes for continues fleet efficiency continue.
Datamonitor’s automative analyst Mike King said: “The rental industry is forecast to benefit from improved profitability amongst leading car rental companies, although further consolidation cannotbe ruled out as operational costs increase and residual values of rental cars continue to fall.”