Rental-car firms experience drop in demand

Press, 14 May 1979, Page 2

Rental-car firms experience drop in demand

Rental-car firms are experiencing an unseasonal drop in demand in spite of their exemption from the week-end ban on petrol sales. The fall in demand has been accompanied by a fall in the number of Australian tourists in New Zealand, according to South Island rental-car firms. Rental-car drivers are also allegedly being overcharged for petrol at the week-end by small-town garages. The manager of one rental-car firm said he could understand some fee being charged if the garage owner was “dragged out in the middle of the night.” But in many cases the garages were already open for other purposes. Week-end petrol regulations say that garage owners may charge a “fair and reasonable” fee for unlocking their pumps. The fee can be charged only once each opening, and can be split between, say, a group of rental-car drivers. If the garage is already open for other purposes, no fee may be charged. A Christchurch garage proprietor said it would be awkwad if a proprietor had to call in a staff member to open the pumps, as union rules said that workers had to be paid a minimum of three hours on double time if they were called back during the week-end. Obviously, if the owner wanted to cover costs, the petrol-buyer would face paying a very “unpalatable” fee. Rental-car drivers are exempt from the petrolsales ban, and have to produce only their rental agreement to obtain petrol

at the week-end. They do not have to obtain an emergency permit from the police.

There has been an increased demand for minibuses, but it seems to have come from New Zealand residents and not from tourists. Some firms believe there has been a big downturn in the number of Australian tourists coming to New Zealand, and that this can be attributed to adverse publicity about the price and availability of petrol. “They are reluctant to come here in case they cannot get fuel. It is difficult to get across to them in Australia that they can get petrol at the week-

ends Over here,” said the manager of Dominion Rent-A-Car, Ltd, (Mr B. Harrison).

The manager of South Pacific Rent-A-Car, Ltd (Mr E. Mullaly) said that not many Australian tourists were coming to New Zealand. Competitive air fares might have caused the decrease. This view was echoed by the managing director of Trans Tours, Ltd (Mr B. Robertson). He said that tour-coach businesses had noticed a decrease in Australian tourists in January and February, when cheaper air fares to destinations other than New Zealand were first advertised in Australian newspapers. The trade had “levelled off” since then, but there were still fewer Australian tourists than at this time last year. Mr Robertson said there might be a temporary swing away from rental cars among tourists because of the energy crisis.

Australians are still coming to New Zealand for group tours and conventions, and the drop

seems to be in the number of individual tourists, according to the manager of Noahs Hotel (Mr A. Ashbolt). The newspapers in Australia were highlighting the shortage of petrol in New Zealand, said Mr Ashbolt. The attitude among potential tourists seemed to be: “What’s the use of going there if we can't get petrol ” The Japanese and American markets, on the other hand were holding up well. . As far as the local market is concerned, business has picked up with school holidays, but New Zealanders seem more cautious as to how they spend their money, according to the rental firms. “We think over-all there has been a lessening in .movement,” said the South Island manager of Tasman . Rent-A-Car, Ltd (Mr R. Bond). Mr Mullaly (South Pacific) said he was disappointed with demand at the moment. He expected it to improve when the ski-ing season opened.