I was chatting to my colleague last week about the potential impact the credit crunch would have on our industry. She was surprisingly optimistic having read an article that suggested that car hire might be one of those industries to actually benefit. This hypothesis was founded on the idea that people will be looking to save money by downsizing to a smaller car and renting a larger one as and when they need it. Interestingly we commissioned some research last year to measure how much this potential saving could be. Our research showed that a family of 4, living in Central London and driving a Range Rover Sport 2.7TDV6 HSE (diesel) could stand to save over £6,500 a year (click here for a full article on this research). Given the increasing fuel costs in this country I would expect this saving to have become even higher.
Firstly, I just thought I’d throw this out there as potential money saving tip and would love to hear any tips you have, particularly as many of us start to think about tightening the purse strings to fight off the effects of the credit crunch. But I would also love to know how many of you are actually considering downsizing to a smaller car and renting a larger car when required. Obviously it’s a tough decision to make with a lifestyle adjustment required, even if the savings are significant, and it will be interesting to see whether this is something consumers are genuninely looking to do.
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