Europcar Made A €20 Million Loss

Europcar made a €20 million loss during the first quarter of the year, down from a loss of €69 million during the same period last year.

Its total revenue came to €418 million, up slightly from €414 million in the first quarter of 2015.

It was the eighth quarter in a row of growth for the Group, which it put down to the success of the sales initiatives launched within its Fast Lane transformation programme.

Chairman Philippe Germond said: "Europcar has achieved sound performance over this first quarter. We keep up the deployment of the second phase of our transformation program, Fast Lane, focusing on commercial initiatives and on our customer journey.

"Our low cost brand, InterRent, recorded very good results over the quarter with a growth of 90% of the rental revenue, especially in our Southern European countries, strengthening our ambition on this growing market."

The group admitted the trend was less favourable on the corporate side, especially in Belgium due to the recent terrorist attacks and in the UK, in particularly for the car replacement activities.

Its corporate net debt amounted to €247 million at the end of March, down from €235 million on December 31, 2015.~

SOUTH AFRICA: Best And Worst Car Rental Companies In South Africa

Car market information site, Carinfo.co.za has reviewed local car rental companies in a bid to fish out the best service in the country.

The site, which offers information about the car industry, including reviews and free online car insurance quotes, looked at the six major South African car rental agencies: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Tempest and Thrifty.

The first metric looked at the number of locations each company has; the second was which services the companies offer; and the third metric included consumer ratings of each service.

It then used a simple point system to score the companies (winner – 5 points, runner up – 4 points and third place – 3 points), to determine a winner.

Carinfo said it specifically avoided price as a metric, due to the multitude of variables which ultimately affect the final price of a rental.

These include the age of the driver, the kind of car for rent, the length of rental, location of pick-up, and others. “All of these will effect your final pricing,” Carinfo said.
How the companies performed

Car rental locations

South Africa is dominated by two car rental companies when it comes to physical presence. Avis has the highest number of locations, at 98, followed by Budget, with 91.
Company Locations
Avis-------------98
Budget-----------91
Europcar---------65
Hertz------------37
Tempest----------28
Thrifty----------22

Services offered

Services were broken down into 10 categories, including loyaly programs, child seats, luxury cars, accident services, and others.

Avis and Europcar tied for the top spot in the category, followed by Budget and Hertz in second and third, respectively.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer reviews were sourced from consumer portal, Hellopeter, looking at positive and negative reviews, and scoring companies based on the percentage of positive reviews in total.

Carinfo noted that users were more likely to report a negative experience than a positive one, and that most consumers probably don’t make frequent use of rental services, so a single negative experience would stand out.

Nevertheless, based on the data, Hertz had the best customer feedback, followed by Avis and Tempest.
Conclusion

Taking all the data into account, Carinfo named Avis as the best car rental company in South Africa, with a total of 14 points.

Budget, Europcar and Hertz tied for second, with 8 points each, and Hertz placed third, with 3 points.

Carinfo emphasised that its review was not necessarily a scientific one, but rather served to provide data as fairly as possible, to help consumers make more informed decisions when it comes to renting cars.

SOUTH AFRICA: Uber Signs R200 Million Car Rental Deal In SA

Driver-partners of internet ride-sharing service Uber will have easier access to cars following a R200 million agreement with vehicle finance provider WesBank and FirstRand’s enterprise development fund Vumela.

The companies announced on Tuesday in Johannesburg that they’ve struck up a partnership to offer Uber driver-partners the opportunity to rent cars from WesBank as part of a three-year full maintenance lease programme.

Uber driver-partners will be offered these programmes based on their established earnings and quality record, said Uber and WesBank. Driver-partners also need to have been with Uber for at least three months.

The aim of the partnership is also to help driver-partners establish their own passenger transport business and contribute to providing 15 000 work opportunities for Uber partners in South Africa over the next two years.

The agreement, though, does not involve offering car loans but rather an opportunity to build up a credit record. Driver-partners will then also have the opportunity at the end of the three-year period to buy the car at a value that takes into account depreciation.

“The (Uber) technology is really about empowering these entrepreneurs. But there was always a piece missing. It wasn’t always easy for Uber drivers to get finance,” said Alon Lits, the regional general manager for Uber in Sub-Saharan Africa, at a media briefing in Johannesburg.

“While it’s not ownership, they get all the benefits of ownership. It gives them something to aim towards,” Lits said on the sidelines of the media briefing.

Chris de Kock, the chief executive officer of WesBank, also commented on the deal at the media briefing.

South Africans have challenging credit records as out of every 100 applications for financing, 60 are declined, said de Kock.

But he said that WesBank had created a new model that involves Uber subtracting income off of drivers’ fares to service the car rental agreement, tapping FirstRand’s enterprise development fund Vumela for security in case drivers can’t pay back amounts owed, and using a cents per kilometre model that determines how busy the drivers are and how much they need to pay each month to service the agreement.

“We own the car at all times. It’s not a traditional finance agreement at all,” said de Kock.

“We have worked very closely with Uber and we have developed a unique understanding of being a driver-partner within their network,” said de Kock.

“We have worked out what are the right affordability criteria. We have agreed with them (Uber) that they will subtract that income… and pay us that revenue before it goes to the driver,” said de Kock.

Meanwhile, Vumela has pledged R20m for the first 1 000 vehicles and is also expected to provide WesBank with financial risk mitigation and support measures that will “enable the provision of the full maintenance lease option to Uber driver-partners”, according to a statement from the companies.

Uber added that the programme is “not limited to drivers with an existing record of income with Uber but open to all prospective professional transport providers as well”.

“Hertz, Europcar, Pace and Fleet Data Technologies have launched a short-term rental programme, negotiated by Uber, that gives drivers of metered taxis or other passenger transport vehicles the option of renting an accepted vehicle at improved rates,” said Uber in a statement.

“They can then use these vehicles, in partnership with Uber, until they have built an earnings and quality record needed to qualify for the full maintenance lease programme,” said the company.

AUSTRALIA: Rise In Chinese Arrivals Boosted Tourism Industry In August

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Australia rose by 16 per cent in August.

A strong rise in the number of tourists from China, Hong Kong and India contributed to 6.5 per cent growth in international arrivals to Australia in the month of August.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows number of short-term arrivals from China, Hong Kong and India all rose by 16 per cent in August, which compared with 7 per cent from from the United Kingdom, 5.5 per cent growth from New Zealand and 2.2 per cent growth from the United States. On a rolling 12-month basis, the number of arrivals has also increased by 6.5 per cent to 7.18 million.

"There's plenty of positives to take out of these numbers, notably China and India, where the work our industry has put in during recent years to target the two countries's burgeoning middle classes is undoubtedly now paying dividends," Tourism Australia managing director John O'Sullivan said.

Tourism Australia expects growth from the Chinese market will continue to be strong and is forecasting a 20 per cent jump in arrivals during the week-long Mid-Autumn Festival that ends this Thursday. ANZ chief economist Warren Hogan has estimated Chinese tourists accounted for 7 per cent of all growth in the Australian economy in the year to June 30.

The tourism marketing group is now planning to focus on Australia's aquatic and coastal beauty to help build further demand from international tourists. Filming on its latest campaign started last week in Katherine, Northern Territory and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland.

In contrast to the strong inbound figures, the growth in the number of Australians heading overseas fell sharply to just 0.15 per cent, down from a far stronger 4.4 per cent in July. The number of Australians heading to the US rose by 4.6 per cent in August despite the lower Australian dollar and departures for New Zealand rose by 2 per cent. However, there was a 10 per cent fall in the number of Australians headed to Indonesia, possibly in part because a volcano eruption disrupted air travel during that month.

The lower Australian dollar is believed to be part of the reason that outbound growth has been slowing. Car hire firm Europcar on Tuesday reported double-digit rises in bookings for December, January and February, with drivers also hiring the vehicles for a longer than typical 10 days.

Europcar Australia and New Zealand chief executive Ron Santiago said the forward bookings suggested that more people would be holidaying at home this summer, rather than travelling internationally.

"Certainly travellers are more prepared this year and locking in their car hire much earlier than usual to get a good rate and peace of mind that their holiday is booked and ready to enjoy," he said.

"The dollar could be somewhat of a factor in the desire to holiday at home, but the tourism industry in Australia has also responded really well and is making a great case to explore our backyard rather than travel overseas."