Last summer many tourists arriving at Faro Airport hoping to hire rental cars were disappointed to find that there were no rental cars available. Due to the poor economic conditions in Portugal, there were widespread shortages of rental cars.

The reason for the shortages was simply a case of supply and demand. The local rental companies were forced to operate with smaller size fleets than normal due to the recession. This resulted in prices increasing dramatically with customers paying 2 or 3 times the normal rates. In some cases there were simply no hire cars available at the airport.

The poor summer weather in Northenr Europe last year made the situation worse, with a lot of last minute holidaymakers heading for the sun.

There is already a similar problem being experienced by the industry in 2010. It is already virtually impossible to hire people carriers and minibuses in Faro for the UK summer holiday period.

The advice from the car rental companies is simply to book as early as possible, or consider alternative means of transport.

Blue Valley Car Hire are an independent company offering an internet booking service for low cost car hire at Alicante, Faro & Malaga and Murcia Airport.