Vehicle rental: environmental and sustainability implications

This report describes a first phase of research to examine the environmental and sustainability implications of short-term self-drive vehicle rental. It is based on discussions with, and data from, five of the largest companies in the UK – namely, Avis, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty. During the research, a number of positive features of rental emerged. Compared with private cars, on average, rental cars are relatively new and well-maintained; they spent more time in use (and less time parked); and have lower carbon dioxide emissions. For example, the average CO2/km value of the car rental fleets surveyed was 12% lower than the average value for the British car fleet. Rental is used by a considerable number of people with disabilities, and the costs of rental mean that is likely to be cheaper than personal ownership for occasional car users. Rental may also play a key role in the adoption of new vehicle technologies – in particular, electric cars. Meanwhile, a number of priorities for future research remain – in particular, understanding what people would do were rental not available, and how the availability of rental interacts with car ownership decisions for certain groups. It is also clear that rental has been neglected by public policy makers, and requires more strategic assessment and integration in mainstream transport planning.