Keep The Car Running: The car-hire price story keeps running

One can predict with a certain degree of certainty that this year will witness further heat steaming from forums and newspaper letters pages. Heat steaming from an overheating hire car, possibly not, but the heat will be steaming around it. One can predict with a certain degree of certainty that this year there will be anecdotes as to inflated prices and calls for "something to be done". The Balearic Government, the vague "authorities", perhaps even God will be told to intervene and do something. There will be stories of we are not coming to Mallorca because, stories of the downward spiral of Mallorca's tourism because. Look, don't worry, I'll write them for you. Give you a selection and you can choose which one and then forward it to the relevant website or to "The Bulletin". No, really, I can write them for you, because I know what will be said. Again. In fact the stories haven't gone away over the winter; they are now, unlike tourism, an all-year-round phenomenon.

Car hire, and its cost. At least the warnings are coming out earlier than last year, but warnings there are nevertheless. In 2009 there was something in the order of a 30% reduction in car-hire fleets in Mallorca and the islands, representing approximately 30,000 vehicles available. This figure is likely to fall by a further 5,000 this year. Just don't say you haven't been warned.

In case you are still in the dark as to why there will be fewer Golfs or Peugeot 207s clogging up the roads of Mallorca, let me explain once more. It is all the economy, stupid. The economy and the lack of bank financing. The banks took their bats home with them at the start of last year and hoarded them alongside the readies that previously had been handed over to car-hire agencies in order to acquire new fleets. The result? Fewer cars. And higher prices in many instances. Supply and demand. And the banks have still got those bats locked away in the vaults this year, to the tune of credit equating to 5,000 cabriolets or family saloons.

There is an added uncertainty though to the certainty of the outraged letters, and this concerns Hiper. In administration, this agency alone accounts for around 5,000 cars on the islands. The company is still operating and is likely to continue to do so, but at what level, one doesn't quite know.

It is, however, instructive to learn that it is the larger concerns, such as Hiper, which are being hit hardest by the absence of financing. Smaller agencies did well last year as they were able to pick up the business the larger ones could not meet. One agency of my acquaintance appears to have had little difficulty in replenishing its fleet for 2010. It also watches carefully the prices of other agencies, especially the larger ones. While not looking to charge excessively, it would be crazy if it didn't seek some profitable benefit by adjusting prices upwards. Supply and demand.

One does have to have some sympathy, however. Sympathy for tourists who may discover that they either can't get a car or can and are being asked to pay a healthy whack more than previously. The apparent rise in car-hire prices (and for one anecdote saying they were/are excessive, you can always find another which counters this) is bound to have a negative effect, if only in that it stops encouraging visitors to move around and to enjoy something more than simply the hotel pool. The car-hire agencies are, though they may not consider themselves so, part of the overall promotion of Mallorca. The alternatives to car hire are not that brilliant. The number of excursion coaches was cut last year as well. Public transport, in the form of buses, can be good (and cheap), but it can also be completely useless. Try, for example, travelling from Alcúdia to the east coast of Cala Bona or Porto Cristo. Fine if you don't mind spending several hours on a scenic route of the island's interior, can do the trip on the day that the bus goes and don't have to come back the same day.

No, I can understand people getting upset and demanding that something be done. But what? Cap prices? How would that work? Moreover, this is, after all, meant to be a free(ish) market. The best advice, the only advice is to shop around. The online broker agencies may offer better deals. Hard to know for sure, and the car-hire industry on the island is saying likewise; hard to know for sure exactly the number of cars that will be available, hard to know for sure whether there will be sufficient cars to go around. It might be less hard to know that some visitors will vote with their feet. And walk instead.


QUIZ - "Keep The Car Running"? Canadian indie. One of the best.

Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.