A majority of car rental companies around the globe are stepping up their safety protocols amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study from the international car rental website DiscoverCars.com.
The survey of its 359 car rental partners conducted last month found that 84 percent have implemented specialist sanitation for each of their cars across all locations. In many cases, these enhanced cleaning measures include disinfecting seats, steering wheels, ventilation and radio systems, among other important areas.
Meanwhile, more than one-quarter of the companies surveyed (27 percent) now offer additional COVID-19 protection in the form of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as antibacterial gel and wipes, face masks or gloves at no cost while 12 percent have PPE available at an extra cost.
Hand-sanitizing gel (60 percent) is the most common item being supplied by car rental companies, followed by masks (46 percent), wipes (17 percent) and gloves (10 percent), the research shows.
Some companies are also requesting that customers sign a form stating that they do not have any COVID-19 symptoms and have not been in touch with anyone who has prior to the rental. What's more, if a customer does report symptoms upon their return, many car rental companies are placing vehicles in quarantine until they can be sanitized and safely rented out again.
Discover Cars reports that COVID-19 protection is the third-most-popular request from customers in its booking system (4 percent), trailing only automatic transmission (10 percent) and tying with air conditioning (4 percent). The website also notes that online check-ins and contactless handovers are becoming increasingly popular among rental car customers.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research shows that rental car prices have declined all around the world due to the pandemic, with Sweden (57 percent decrease), Canada (48 percent decrease) and Portugal's Azores archipelago (44 percent decrease) experiencing the biggest drops in cost compared to last year.
In the U.S., Discover Cars reports that Florida has seen a sizable 18 percent drop in price in June 2020 compared to the same month last year.
Poland (5 percent decrease), New Zealand (5 percent decrease) and Iceland (13 percent decrease) have been the countries least affected in terms of car rental costs this year compared to 2019 while Norway has actually seen a 13 percent rise in price.
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