The pandemic has upended America’s rental-car market

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The summer of 2021 seems to mark a renaissance for the great American road trip. Good luck finding a rental car

When lockdowns were imposed last spring, travel came to a standstill. The market for car-hire at airports disappeared almost overnight, says Greg Scott, a spokesman for the American Car Rental Association , a trade group.members laid off or furloughed around 60,000 employees in 2020, about a third of the industry’s American workforce. Hertz, a car-hire behemoth, declared bankruptcy last May. Avis, another industry giant, saw its second-quarter revenues decline by 67% year-on-year.

Fast forward, and the summer of 2021 seems to mark a renaissance for the great American road trip. Americans hankering for a getaway but unable to travel abroad have set their sights on Hawaii, Florida or the national parks. Demand for rental cars has rocketed. But because companies have sold off so many vehicles, there are few to be found. An Expedia search for a hire car in Honolulu next weekend showed cars costing at least $350 a day.

For rental-car companies, rebuilding fleets will take time. An international shortage of semiconductors, which are used in cars’ electronic systems, has slowed manufacturing. A lack of new cars and, perhaps, a hesitancy to return to public transport have pushed up second-hand car sales by 30% in the past year. Things aren’t all bad, however. Barclays, a bank, suggests high prices are helping firms recoup their losses.-Haul on the beach. But the firm is not the only alternative to rental cars.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Baby, you can’t drive my car"

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