Ally

The impact of manufacturer fleet restrictions and price rises in the vehicle rental sector are likely to have a knock-on effect in the business travel market, National Car Rental warns.



The company is calling for closer collaboration between vehicle rental suppliers, business travel managers and business travel agents to identify ways to control costs.



The 'bulk' purchasing power of rental companies has previously meant that heavily discounted deals could be negotiated with manufacturers.



But in the past year motor manufacturers have seen profits fall as sales of new cars sank to their lowest level in 13 years. As a result, manufacturers have been looking for ways to improve the margin on new car sales and the deals rental companies have previously enjoyed are no more, says National.



In addition, the quota of vehicles supplied to vehicle rental businesses is being severely limited. This means business travel agents could face a shortage in the supply of vehicles for their customers and increased costs for vehicle rental, the company claims.



UK sales director Lorraine Farnon said: "Inevitably, the issues we are facing as an industry will have a significant impact on the future cost of daily rental – especially that paid by higher volume business users.



"The rental industry is probably one of the most efficient and process driven in the UK, with a constant focus on reducing operating costs. Added to which, we have consistently raised customer expectations in respect of service.



"Now we need to work even harder at controlling costs and we believe this requires a combined effort from the vehicle rental providers and our customers in the business travel sector."



Report by Phil Davies

(TravelMole)