Car Rental Shortage in SA, Follows Global Shipping Crisis

• During the Covid-19 pandemic, many car rental companies chose to reduce their fleets to cut costs
• This decision has led to a car rental shortage, which is not only present in South Africa, but globally
• The downscaling by different car rental companies has resulted in South Africa having 60% fewer vehicles available for hire than before the Covid-19 pandemic

JOHANNESBURG - During the Covid-19 pandemic, far fewer people were using car rental services, primarily due to a substantial reduction in travel for business and recreation purposes. As a result, many car rental companies chose to reduce their fleets to cut costs and ensure their employee's salaries.

This decision has led to a car rental shortage, which is present in South Africa and globally. In addition, since the easing of Covid-19 protocols in many countries, more people have wanted to travel, which has increased the demand, which cannot be met by the limited supply available.

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According to The Times, the increased demand has driven prices up, especially in Europe. In the Mediterranean, car hire can be as high as over £500 (R10 233,63), representing a 90% increase.

Reasons for the car rental shortage

The downscaling by different car rental companies has resulted in South Africa having 60% fewer vehicles available for hire than before the Covid-19 pandemic, Business Insider reports. However, until December 2021, this deceased supply still surpassed the demand.

The global shipping crisis, which has affected the supply chain in many different industries, has also affected car rental. Vehicle hire companies rely on semiconductors, which need to be shipping from global suppliers and are stuck in ports waiting for shipping containers to become available.

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Drive South Africa's Ellena van Tonder said that the semiconductor shortage poses challenges to car rental companies' goal of increasing their fleet to a pre-pandemic size.

Reactions to the car rental shortage

@Accumap2 remarked:

"Adapt, improvise, overcome."

@EllliotttB said:

@imuawaves believes:

"I miss lockdown everyday! This summer is going to be crazy."

@faizsays shared:

@RandomA81647307 said:

"Just use Uber, Lyft or the bus. It isn’t that hard."

Cassper laughs off imminent legal action claims from alleged car rental scammers

Speaking of car rental, Briefly News previously reported that Cassper Nyovest had laughed out loud after an allegedly fake car rental company threatened to take legal action against him. The alleged scammers claimed Mufasa is refusing to return his new McLaren.

After a tweep shared the screenshot on his timeline, the Siyathandana hitmaker took to Twitter to react to the claims. According to ZAlebs, Mufasa said:

"Lmao... Dawg y'all really want these things y'all hear to be true huh? They need lawyers to come fetch the car that I rented from them ? Eh. It's tense mos!!!"

Source: Briefly News