MILAN – Federconsumatori’s accusations in view of the summer: sAccording to the first estimates of the National Observatory, Italians ready to take a vacation will be stable compared to 2020 (this year it will be 42%). But for many – a third – it will be 3-5 days with friends or relatives. The constant seems to be the means of transport: many will choose to travel by car, using their own or renting one.
“And this is why we are sounding the alarm on expensive car rentals: there are many citizens who, in recent weeks, have reported serious increases in car rental at airports, stations and ports.
So the National Observatory has decided to start a cost monitoring, comparing the weeks 22-28 June, 16-22 July and 16-22 August, and very strong differences emerge in the prices applied. On average, in the week of June, the rental of a car (medium-sized petrol sedan) costs – without additional insurance and ancillary costs – is 379.22 euros. The same car, in the central week of July under consideration, costs 736.73 euros, with an increase of + 84% compared to June. Finally, in August, in the week from 16 to 22, the rental cost amounts to an average of € 706.95, with an increase of + 77% compared to June. Looking at the data in detail, it emerges that the highest costs are applied to Bari, Palermo, Catania and Olbia. The higher price increases compared to June occur at the stations of Milano Centrale, Turin and Naples airport in July (with increases reaching + 310%).
Even compared to last year, the increases are definitely out of control: they amount on average to + 45%, with peaks of + 227% when renting the car in the central week of August. For this reason, aIn the light of these incredible increases, we sent a report to the AGCM and the ART, inviting them to investigate the dynamics of these costs and to intervene to deal with the speculations in progress, as already happened with the prices of train tickets on the occasion of the Christmas holidays “.
So far the Federconsumatori. Which raises and explains a further danger: “I rtasks, especially in the South and in the islands, are particularly serious and intolerable in view of a strong penalization of tourism in the Belpaese: thus you risk foreign destinations, also taking advantage of promotions and discounts “. This is the thought of Emilio Viafora, President of Federconsumatori : “In this delicate moment in which the tourism sector is trying to recover after a black year, similar pricing policies are completely inconceivable and counterproductive for everyone: citizens and operators in the sector.”
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