N.L.’s rental car problem has ‘boiled over the top,’ says expert

The rental car market in Newfoundland and Labrador is stretched thin over busy sunny months.

ST. JOHN’S — Travellers take notice: Newfoundland and Labrador’s rental car squeeze has made it one of the hardest places in the country to book a ride.

Many of the major rental car agencies located at the St. John’s airport and elsewhere in the city are booked for nearly the whole summer. Low availability is vexing tourists — and has caught the attention of Tourism Minister Andrea Barbour.

“Access to car rentals is an important issue,” her department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation said in a statement.

“The department is in regular contact with Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador and car rental companies on the rental car supply.”

Freshwater Motorplex in St. John’s — a car and off-road vehicle dealer that has added a handful of rental cars to its business — is one of many locations that is set to be completely booked through the summer, according to salesman Matthew Beck.

“We have our full fleet out currently, and it’s the beginning of the summer season, so we expect to be completely booked up.”

The dealership added rental cars to its business over the past five years — seeing increased need from locals and Canadian travelers since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our rental market really increased during those times,” Beck said. “We have some regulars that have booked years in advance. We have clients that have booked now for December.”

‘Nearly impossible’

Rental car giants like Enterprise and Budget do move vehicles around the country to serve hot tourism markets, but supply is limited throughout the system, according to rental car guru Bob Hoch.

Hoch runs Kingofcarrentals.com, offering his own booking service that interfaces with agencies around the world.

He said declining vehicle production around the world and increased demand for in-Canada travel from Canadians have made somewhat of a perfect storm.

“Newfoundland, of course, is a super touristy place in the summer and it’s always been nearly impossible to get a vehicle,” he said. “Well, this year, it’s just kind of boiled over the top and vehicles until late summer are non-existent at this point.”

Hoch said he tells his clients that if they want to get a rental car in Newfoundland and Labrador, they should try to book a year ahead of time.

“Vehicles for May, June and July sold out months and months ago.”

Many of the province’s biggest attractions — the icebergs near Twillingate or puffins near Bonavista — are hundreds of kilometres away from St. John’s and not served by a public transport system.

Despite the sky-high demand, it’s not simple to add new cars to a rental car fleet, according to Beck. He said Freshwater Motorplex is always thinking about it — but more cars mean higher insurance bills and maintenance costs, too.

And while the demand peaks in summer months, there’s a big drop through fall and winter.

“The cost associated with having those rentals kind of has to have a benefit to it as well,” he said.

Car rental app Turo launched in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2022, with the backing of Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador.

Then board-chair Brenda O’Rielly said tourism businesses had been losing revenue with customers backing out of booking due to low rental car availability.