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Car hire hikes affect emigrants home for holidays
By Noreen Bowden | December 9, 2008
Car rental companies have once again come under criticism for doubling and trebling their rates over the Christmas holidays, in a move that disproportionately affects emigrants returning home to visit relations.
The Irish Independent reports that most firms are at least doubling their early December rates for Christmas week. The largest hikes are for small economy-class cars. The worst examples cited by the newspaper were the prices of renting a Ford Fiesta from Budget Car Rental, which costs €69 a week in early December, up to €216 for Christmas week – a 213% increase.
The Labour spokesperson on consumer affairs, Senator Brendan Ryan, said
At a time when we should be doing everything we can to attract visitors to Ireland, we have car-hire companies engaging in this kind of gouging. This is profiteering plain and simple. Not only do these practices make it more expensive for tourists to visit Ireland, they also make it expensive for family members who may be returning to Ireland from abroad.
Senator Ryan suggested that customers could save money by booking though the internet using American branches of international hire firms.
Related articles:
Irish Independent: “Car-hire firms accused of festive rip-off as prices soar”.
Topics: Latest News | 1 Comment »
December 18th, 2008 at 3:20 am
That is a huge price hike but surely it’s about demand and supply? As demand rises at Christmas and supply is limited, prices are pushed up