Europcar Reveals 85% Of Brits Have Changed Car Use To Cut Costs

Released on: December 21, 2009, 12:50 pm
Author: Europcar
Industry: Automotive

The recession has forced a change in driver behaviour according to a new survey from Europcar, the UK's leading vehicle hire company. With winter on the doorstep, when reliability becomes even more important, drivers are turning to vehicle hire for long journeys and breaks away to bring peace of mind and reduce wear and tear on their own cars.

In the survey*, a staggering 85% of respondents in the UK said they have changed their driving habits to save money and 73% said they'd consider hiring a car to save wear and tear and maintenance costs on their own car.

Of those that have used or considered using car hire, 68% have already hired for a holiday or long trip in the UK and 73% plan to do so in 2010. In addition, 42% currently leave their own car at home and use car hire for weekend breaks while 49% of respondents confirmed that they plan to use vehicle hire for weekend breaks in 2010. This also creates the possibility for prestige or luxury car hire to make longer journeys even more comfortable.

Catriona Lougher, Marketing Director for Europcar said: "What this survey has told us is that motorists are getting savvier about the ways in which they keep their own cars in good condition and keep the mileage down so that when it comes to its re-sale they can get as good a deal as they can. It's also an indication of the fact that some families have downsized their cars for day to day use but find they need something bigger for trips away. Vehicle hire is playing an important part in this as it gives drivers access to vehicles suited to the job on average just 6 months from new so there's no compromise on the quality of the drive.

"As winter approaches the peace of mind offered by car hire is also invaluable - all cars are covered by 24 hour roadside assistance and are fully maintained. While most Brits won't be parted from their car, for longer journeys motorists are switching on to the benefits of vehicle hire."

Ends

Notes to Editors:
*The Europcar Observatory is an annual survey. The survey was conducted by Ipsos Marketing on behalf of Europcar from August to 14th September 2009. 5000 people who owned at least one car in the household or drivers were surveyed across 7 countries with a representative sample in terms of gender, age and region of each country.

About Europcar:
Europcar is the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals. The company serves business and leisure customers throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. Since March 2007 with the acquisition of Vanguard EMEA, its network comprises over 5,300 rental outlets in 160 countries. The Europcar fleet has an average CO2 of 158g/km compared to the average UK car parc** which has 164.9 g/km CO2. Europcar is the first company to win the World Travel Award for "the World's Leading Green Transport Solution Company." Today, over 99% of Europcar's fleet is certified "Euro IV" or above - the most stringent applicable European Union standards today in terms of energy consumption and emissions.

** Based on 2007 figures from SMMT

PR contact:
Dominic Dennis
HSL
Churcham House
1 Bridgeman Road
Teddington
Middlesex
TW11 9AJ
020 8977 9132
www.europcar.co.uk