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Car rental business in Karachi has recorded almost 100 percent growth during Eid season and dealers/operators are optimistic that their business activity would further gear up in the coming days, it is learnt.
Dealers said that car rental business usually starts flourishing at least one week before Ramazan and continues till 15 days of Eid-ul-Azha. In this business, Eid season starts about a week before Eid-ul-Fitr and continues to thrive till the advent of 'Muharram'.
"In fact, people start booking small and luxurious cars one week ahead of Eid fiesta and the number of bookings grows during three days of this season," said Ahmer Bin Shahid, proprietor of Joat Tours and Travels.
"Since taxi and rickshaw fares increase substantially one week prior to Eid festivities, people prefer to book small cars for their day-long visits or shopping activities," he said.
"During Muharram, people usually avoid marriage parties. So, our business falls to almost 20 percent, which is negligible because we can easily cover that margin afterwards," he added. Car dealers said that during Eid holidays they had offered different car rental packages to their customers.
"During Eid days, luxurious or big cars were offered at Rs 16,000 for four days and small cars were available at Rs 8,000 for four days," said another dealer. The month of Ramazan is also considered as 'off season', and dealers say their business activities come almost to a halt during this month.
"Car dealers remain idle during first 20 days of Ramazan. However, those who have contracts with any company or organisation enjoy the month of Ramazan as well," the dealer remarked.
Another car dealer said: "Due to stiff competition, almost all car dealers of the entire city charge same rents. However, in the early days of this business, the dealers used to book hefty profits." People associated with this (car rental) business seem optimistic that their business besides profit margins would surge in the coming days when wedding season would kick off.
Besides the wedding season, routine business has been running smoothly and people are booking small and big cars for business meetings and other personal use. "When relatives of someone arrive from some other city, it is better for a host to get a car on rent rather than hiring a taxi for their entertainment," said a dealer in PECHS.
He said that environments of this business got a fillip in just two years and now thousands of people, especially youngsters, have started car rental business all over the city. "Different banks offer car financing schemes, under which thousands of cars have been financed so far. This is the main reason behind the substantial growth in this business," Ahmer said. He said that car rental business has witnessed an enormous growth of 400 percent during past two years due to car financing schemes offered by banks.
Around 1000 small and big showrooms are being operated across the city who have some 40,000 small and luxury cars. The biggest market of this business in the city is in Liaquatabad, followed by some other areas of the city like Paposh, Federal 'B' Area, Nazimabad, Malir, PECHS, Sindhi Muslim Society, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Defence.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2006

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