At the moment, the almost 300 car rental companies operating in the archipelago are just trying to survive even though they are facing a second year of no tourists and financial losses. Many are supported by ERTEs and ICO loans, and in total the 'rent a car' sector have disposed of 70% of their fleet in the last year in order to control costs.
This offload has allowed most of the companies to breath more easily and continue in these extraordinary times, but some of the smaller ones have already made closed and others are at the limit.
Of the estimated 82,000 rental vehicles in circulation on the islands before the pandemic broke out, rental companies have kept approximately 30%, around 24,000 units, a figure which represents a return to levels of 36 years ago, to 1985.
