...the green shoots of recovery---compared to the third quarter of 2019, 45% said their revenue decreased to a lesser extent (0% to 50%.)

Remarkably, 14% said revenue hadn’t declined in the period, while 14% said revenue had actually increased.

Pricing Shifts

Car rental pricing shows a more dramatic recovery from the first to third surveys, for the specific reason that operators were able to shed fleet, allowing demand to outpace supply by the third quarter.

Year Ahead

The final questions in the third survey speak to the optimism, or lack thereof, of the car rental industry moving forward. While encouraging to see the most-selected response states the respondent is on the road to recovery, it is not a majority, and 32% say “it’s too early to tell.”

And while respondents believe their company in particular will recover, it’s an almost even split between those who believe the industry in general will recover and those who don’t. Note these questions were not asked in the first two surveys.

Similar to the previous question, more respondents identified as optimistic about the future than the other choices, and only 6% identified as pessimistic. However, the other two choices taken together reveal 59% of respondents are still uncertain and are taking a “wait and see” approach.

We thank Auto Rental News for reprint permission.