Why a Car Rental Shortage is Making the Case for ‘Rideswitching’

“The propensity to travel has recently increased again, and at the moment, we see people clamoring and looking for solutions and workarounds to be able to continue their travel plans.”

As the car rental industry struggles to stay afloat amid a car shortage, MarketScale TV explores innovations in ridesharing and carsharing with a company that’s working to reimagine the car sharing process to be more efficient for all parties, better understanding why this car rental shortage has implications across the mobility ecosystem and how rental companies, as well as OEMs, should strategize around innovations to carsharing.

Reece Griffin, Founder of MirrorTrip, a ride-switching company, and car rental website for one way travel, sat down with Voice of B2B Daniel Litwin to explore how the car shortage is inadvertently accelerating innovation in the industry. MirrorTrip works to connect travelers with similar travel plans to turn the depreciating asset of a resting rental car into an active one, saving renters hundreds of dollars in drop-off fees and reducing, for rental companies, the hassle of managing vehicles across various locations.

The global semiconductor shortage continues to create new domino effects for different industries; for the auto industry, OEMs slashed car production at the onset of the pandemic as demand for new vehicles dropped. To retain their business, semiconductor chip manufacturers turned to other B2B partnerships to stay afloat, including supplying more for computer and mobile device companies. Now that car demand is spiking back up, a lack of semiconductor chips means OEMs are struggling to meet that demand.

“The propensity to travel has recently increased again, and at the moment, we see people clamoring and looking for solutions and workarounds to be able to continue their travel plans,” Griffin said.

We’re also seeing the car rental market struggle post-COVID for similar reasons. After selling off major portions of their fleets to survive the pandemic’s financial crunch, car rental companies are faced with a surge in demand and limited supply. Griffin expands on how this has forced consumers and industry players to reconsider the traditional car rental process.

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