29 October 2009

China: ready for car rentals?

The $400 million Chinese car rental market with 400 registered companies offering 40,000 vehicles has a lot more potential for expansion, points out PhoCusWright.

"The market is skewed in favor of the OTAs and is projected to remain so until 2011. The car rental market will see slow growth in the coming years due to competition from the growing LCC and high speed rail sectors," the site said.

Factors that have slowed the market and prevented multi-national car rental companies from making inroads include low credit card penetration rates and insufficient credit.

"However, none of them (major car rental companies) can afford to miss out on this potentially large and lucrative market. It is anticipated that the market size for car rental in China will reach over RMB18 billion and the number of cars in operation will surpass 300,000 by 2015," says PhoCusWright.

The site in conjunction with senior executives from China’s car rental companies are offering a China Travel distribution Summit Dec. 2-3 in Shenzen, China.

By David WIlkening

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You want to drive in China? Crazy!

Driving in China can be dangerous for your health. There is a reason they have few professional racing drivers. Most can't drive. Road accidents claimed 81,649 lives nationwide in 2008, down 7,806 from the year before. Many vehicle owners use drivers so they can do the jail time or pay off the police. When I was in NanNing, GuangXi Province earlier this year I watched a driver stop, quite proficiently. On opening the drivers door it became apparent the gear was still engaged and the vehicle crashed into a vehicle head of his ... on the other side of the intersection, by which time it had gathered some speed. Play it smart - rent a car AND driver and wear that seat belt!

By J Hewson, Friday, October 30, 2009