Vehicle shortages putting the brakes on holiday car hire

Added: (Sat Aug 15 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - If you travelled to Spain or Portugal this summer wthout booking a rental car in advance, you may have been in for a nasty surprise when you turned up at the airport expecting to be able to pick up a car at one of the airport car hire desks.

There has been a huge shortage of rental cars this summer precipitated by the credit crunch, causing companies in traditional tourist locations to cut back the size of their fleets. The message to many tourists on arrival at the airports has simply been "sorry no cars available".

In some cases tourists have had to pay 2 or 3 times the normal price for a car.

The advice to holidaymakers heading south this summer is try to book a car in advance, or consider alternative modes of transportation.