Car rental

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rental automobile (1911)
Car rental advert (1925)

Car rental companies or car rental companies or car leasing companies are companies that rent out rental vehicles , usually trucks or cars , for a fee . Car rental is particularly well known in the passenger car sector. The aim of car rental is for a driver to rent a vehicle in order to be able to drive it himself. When renting vehicles for a short time, even by the minute, one speaks of commercial car sharing .

In terms of content, the terms car rental and rental car are not to be equated, as the rental car is subject to the Passenger Transport Act ( Section 49 (4 ) PBefG ) and is a form of occasional transport .

The federal law governing regulation for vehicle rental is the regulation on the supervision of commercial vehicles and trailers to be rented to self-drivers of July 21, 1969 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 875 ).

Rental car with driver

In the case of a rental car with a driver , a vehicle is rented, whereby a fare for a fixed route (similar to a taxi ) is usually negotiated before the start of the journey.

Driving school car

Some car rental companies also offer driving school cars for short-term rental. These vehicles are equipped with the equipment necessary for driving schools .

truck

In the truck sector, car rental companies are an alternative to commissioning a haulage company , provided that the person hiring or the hiring company has suitable drivers. Some truck drivers do not have the required knowledge of load securing , while at the same time the freight forwarders are offering increasingly efficient logistics services. Trucks for private removals are particularly popular at weekends and are therefore more expensive than during the week.

Since around 2000, larger furniture stores and hardware stores have also increasingly been offering - mostly just one - 3.5 t small trucks with flatbed and tarpaulin for their customers to transport what they have bought, but also independently. Furthermore, light, overrun braked tarpaulin trailers for the ball coupling on the customer's private car.

market

Germany

The car rental market in Germany is characterized by rapidly increasing concentration. In 1999 there were just under 5,000 companies, in 2007 there were around 470. A total of around 50,000 people are employed.

The turnover in the sector in 2007 was over € 16 billion. 55% of these were leases to companies, 17% to tourists, 18% to private individuals and others, and 10% to accident replacement business.

Switzerland

At the end of May 2019, the online retailer Digitec Galaxus launched a car subscription. The car subscription platform CARIFY was founded in 2019 .

Rental car broker

In addition to the actual fleet providers, there are rental car agents , also known as rental car brokers. These are brokers who do not have their own rental cars, but rather broker offers from the fleet providers. Many rental car agents offer their offers over the Internet.

insurance

Germany

The vehicles are mandatory in Germany as self-drive rental vehicles and therefore require special insurance. This is usually significantly more expensive than normal private vehicle insurance.

literature

  • Josef Stelzer: Car rental in the fast lane . In: Profits, the business magazine of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe . January / February 2008, page 27.

Web links

Wiktionary: Car rental  - explanations of meanings, origins of words, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Galaxus is entering the market with a car subscription. In: handelszeitung.ch . May 27, 2019, accessed May 27, 2019 .
  2. BLKB supports the Startup Carify car subscription. Retrieved March 4, 2020 .