Fuel price hike leads to increase in cost of car rentals

PUNE For Manoj Gaikwad, it was a hard decision to cancel his trip to Nagpur with family

PUNE For Manoj Gaikwad, it was a hard decision to cancel his trip to Nagpur with family. But, thanks to the increased fuel rates and its impact on rental car charges, he had to. “I am originally from Nagpur, my parents stay there and as the unlock started, I was planning to go for a week to Nagpur. When I enquired about hiring a car, I was shocked to know the rates. Earlier, a car rental was ₹10 to ₹12 per km, which is now ₹15 per km at least. We are already suffering financially, so I cannot afford to pay such a high rentals, so we cancelled our trip,” said Gaikwad.

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In the last one month, prices of petrol and diesel have spiked. Currently, a litre of petrol in the city costs ₹101 and diesel is at ₹93 per litre. This has ultimately led to increase in charges for car rentals and tourist bus tickets.

“Just like everyone else, the transportation sector has also felt the impact of the Covid lockdown and the fuel hikes. Almost every one of us are without work for the last 1.5 years, and there were hardly any private trips in the last two months due to lockdown. Then there is this fuel hike, so we were forced to increase our rental rates. Now, our per km charges are ₹15, which earlier was ₹12,” said Rajan Shine, owner of a transport company.

Kiran Desai, another car and bus rental company owner, said, “Business is down since the last one year, and on the other hand our monthly EMIs, maintenance of the vehicles and salaries of drivers and staff has been going on. It is becoming difficult to manage, and this fuel hike has added to our problems. We have to increase fares and rental charges.”

Smita Mulani, an IT professional, said, “Next week we are planning to go to Aurangabad for a family wedding. We booked a 17-seater bus. For one day we have been charged ₹15,000, with toll charges extra. This rental is high, but as the wedding is important we do not have any other option. The fuel rates are impacting common people’s lives.”