Car hire and fuel prices dropping to encourage tourists

Good news for those in Europe, fuel prices are falling despite economic conditions! This also makes those holiday makers save on car rental.

According to the Post Office Travel Services’ Motoring on the Continent report, holidaymakers will pay up to 12 per cent less for unleaded petrol and as much as 31 per cent for diesel.

Switzerland Austria and Spain have emurged as the cheapest, with 1p more for unleaded petrol but much less for diesel.

Unleaded petrol in these three countries now costs around 34 per cent less than in the Netherlands – the most expensive of 12 destinations surveyed by the Post Office.

The UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe as the only country were diesel is more costly then petrol, making it the second most expensive country after Norway.

The report also showed information on holiday car hire across 20 countries.

The top for value car hire came out as Portugal, which registered a year-on-year price drop of 21 per cent – the third largest after Greece (-36 per cent) and Sweden (-32 per cent).

Sarah Munro, Post Office head of travel said:

‘This year’s report shows more evidence of price cutting activity to boost tourism in popular European summer holiday resorts. ’The huge drop in car hire costs in both Portugal and Greece is great news for UK tourists and is another factor that should be taken into consideration when choosing a holiday this year.’ ‘Whilst price reductions introduced since last year are making motoring holidays an attractive proposition, tourists need to check the price of unleaded petrol compared to diesel to ensure they don’t get caught out.’