Car rental business in high gear ahead of eid holiday

AMMAN — The demand for car rentals has seen a “remarkable increase” during the last week of Ramadan and is expected to reach 70 per cent booking capacity as Eid Al Fitr approaches.

Car rentals are currently at 40 per cent booking capacity, Salah Jallouq, president of the Jordanian Car Rental Association, told The Jordan Times. 

Jallouq added that the demand has mainly come from Jordanians who work abroad and are returning for the eid holiday. 

He noted that many customers have rented fuel efficient cars, with low gasoline consumption. “Increasing fuel prices have driven the demand for smaller economical cars,” he said. 

He stated that car rental prices range from JD15 to JD40 a day, noting that the demand surges during eid every year. 

Jalouq highlighted that the car rental sector was among the most affected sectors by the pandemic. As a result of pandemic-induced hardships, 50 car rental agencies were unable to renew their licences for the year 2022, he said. 

“We currently have 9,000 cars, owned by 235 agencies in the market. However, pre-COVID we had 13,900 operating cars,” Jalouq stated. 

Jalouq said that the sector is hoping for a tourism rebound in the Kingdom, which would help car rental agencies to revive their business. He added that most of the agencies operating in the Kingdom had to sell some, if not all, of their cars to compensate for the losses caused by slow tourism during the pandemic. 

“Although the demand is increasing, the sector is collapsing,” Jallouq said. 

He stated that licensing fees, insurance fees, investment fees, as well as parking fees for car rental agencies are a heavy burden on the agents. 

Kasim Zu’bi, a car rental agent in Amman, told The Jordan Times that the market has witnessed a “strong increase” in their car rentals compared with the previous stagnant year, reporting that their business is “more or less” back to pre-pandemic levels.

“Rising fuel prices are making many motorists rethink their choice of car rental. With running costs going through the roof, it’s more important than ever to have a fuel-efficient car,” Zu’bi noted.