South African car rental businesses are being forced to reassess their fleet sizes as the number of visitors coming to the country for the World Cup tournament falls short of expectations. At the beginning of the year there was an increase in the number of vehicle sales to car hire firms in anticipation of the tournament. However, over the last couple of months, the number of new vehicles being bought has tailed off dramatically.

According to executive chairman of McCarthy motors, Brand Pretorius, Budget Rent A Car has already started reducing the size of its fleet. Just over a month ago the firm reduced the number of vehicles on offer by 1,200 units. The company has looked at forward reservations and come to the conclusion that the added number of vehicles it had brought in for the tournament will not be required. Budget may reduce its fleet by another 1,600 units over the next few weeks if demand does not pick up.

Pretorius said that one of the main problems was that the corporate market was not materialising as expected for the games.

Martin Laubscher, CEO of Barloworld Motor, also admitted that there was a great deal of uncertainty in the business about the amount of customers coming to South Africa for the football. He added that the Barloworld group was prepared for whatever might happen in the market.

Although the company has around 2,000 more vehicles in its fleet than it did 12 months ago, and although utilization rates and rental days have remained static, Laubscher remains confident.