Car Rental Prices Soar During Shortage

A shortage in rental cars has caused prices to spike in recent weeks, states Morgunblaðið in a recent report.

Contributing to the shortage are the COVID-19 pandemic, but also a busier tourism season than expected. Due to reduced tourism season last year, many rental companies sold off excess stock to limit losses.

Many rental companies had anticipated the coming demand, but by many accounts, the preparation was not sufficient.

Steingrímur Birgisson, CEO of Bílaleiga Akureyrar, said in an interview with RUV: “It is no secret that what has confused the situation is that the demand is higher than people expected which is just a great problem to have. It comes with a shorter time than people also expected and then there are delays in the delivery of new cars because there are delays in the production of new cars.”

The situation in Iceland is part of a global trend following the COVID-19 pandemic, with many other consumers finding it difficult to find reasonable prices for rental cars.

Additionally, many car manufacturers either shut down or operated at partial capacity during the pandemic, meaning that orders are slower to fill than usual.

RUV reports that as of June, one third of cars ordered to Iceland had still not been fulfilled.

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