Car rental prices rising for Expo, minibuses and BPVs in demand

With the World Expo only 10 days away, car rental prices, especially for BPVs and minibuses, are starting to skyrocket.

According to Give Win Car Rental, most of their customers are corporate customers, and the hottest vehicle types right now are minibuses. The price will shoot up 50 percent during the May Day holiday, and they are already fully booked.

Dazhong Car Rental, which is one of the Expo designated service suppliers, has only a short supply of minibuses and BPVs. The company only has less than 100 Toyota Coasters, a popular type of minibus.

"Take the Buick GL8 for example, the regular price is 600 yuan ($87.9) a day. It costs 700 ($102.55) to 800 yuan ($117) during the Spring Festival. We don't know what the price during the Expo will be yet, but it will probably increase," Ehi Car Rental staff member, surnamed Zhou.

Jiang from Shanghai Rang Lee Car Rental told the Global Times that the days around the May Day holiday and National Day see the highest prices.

Jiang added that the normal price of the Benz S600 is usually 2,800 ($410.2) to 3,200 yuan ($468.8) a day, but the current price is up to 24,000 yuan ($3,516).

"Prices will nearly double, some even triple, during the Expo," Xu Jun from Dazhong "There are only a limited number of cars available."