Beijing Games drives up car rental prices

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-08 15:50

Cars parked at rental firm Hualei Bangde Car Lease in Beijing. Wang Jing

Sunny Lo has never felt such regret. When he came to Beijing on August 3, he was told there were no cars available for him to rent on his stay during the Olympics.

"I tried to call different car rental firms, but the answers were the same - I can only rent a Mercedes-Benz S-Class after this month. It's far beyond my budget," said the Dutch Chinese representative of a European health food provider.

He arrived in Beijing from Amsterdam five days before the Games' opening, to help arrange his manager's accommodation and more importantly, to rent a car for them during the competition.

"I ought to have booked it two months earlier. That way, we could drive by ourselves freely rather than taking taxis," said Lo.

Beijing is to welcome more than 2 million visitors to the city to watch the Games. The sheer number of people combined with the new restrictions that came into effect on July 20 with the aim of easing congestion and pollution in the city, has meant that Beijing's more than 200 rental firms have been preparing for the opportunities. But some cars such as luxury vehicles are still short in supply, despite the fact that prices have doubled and even risen to four times the norm.

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