The rental car broker Sunny Cars determined through an evaluation of the booking figures that the demand for rental cars continued to rise in April 2023. However, customers do not make long-term reservations, but rather short-term ones. Only around 20 percent of the volume should be accounted for in midsummer 2023.

According to Sunny Cars, the average prices should be around a third higher than in the previous year. However, there are also outliers, so that the costs for individual rentals have also become cheaper. In the summers of 2021 and 2022, rental cars were in short supply at many vacation spots, because the big players in the industry in particular had significantly reduced their fleets and were hardly able to increase their fleets at short notice due to delivery problems on the part of the manufacturers. It didn't really hurt Europcar, Sixt, Avis, Hertz and Co, because the high demand meant that higher rental rates could be pushed through on the market.

Among other things, the fact that the prices are so high could also be the main reason why many travelers do not book their rental cars months in advance, as they did before the pandemic, but sometimes at extremely short notice. Around 50 percent of all bookings made in April 2023 are for departures in April and May 2023. Not even 20 percent of the reservations relate to the high season in July and August 2023. "This trend is worrying for the individual guest," says Thorsten Lehmann, CEO of Sunny Cars. “Because this year, too, we are expecting isolated bottlenecks at the rental stations during the high season. Especially those who want a certain car category - such as the popular small car - should book as early as possible.

A year ago, prices in the rental car market in April were extremely high, with an average of over 600 euros per booking. This high level is rapidly disappearing. For the first time since the price explosion, the average price is just under 500 euros per booking. The development from the previous months thus continues.

According to Sunny Cars, in April 2023 most rental car bookings were made to Spain. Greece ranks second, followed by Portugal, Italy and the United States of America. The intermediary does not maintain its own fleet, but cooperates as a broker with numerous providers in the industry.