The lack of fuel, caused by the strike by drivers of hazardous materials, is creating "great inconvenience" to car rental companies in the Algarve, in a week in which reservations are around 100%. Armando Santana, president of the Algarve Rent-a-Car Companies Association, emphasizes that companies are "in a situation they've never been in" and "you can't work".
In statements to the Sul Informação, Armando Santana explains that “cars, when they arrive from customers, bring little gasoline, because there is no chance of refueling and that will make rental impossible. We cannot deliver a car to another customer without fuel. This situation will cause great inconvenience».
The problem of the impossibility of supplying vehicles does not only apply to customers, since “companies are also unable to supply. Apart from one or two cases of multinationals, which have their own deposits, 95% of the rent-a-car companies do not”.
According to Armando Santana, “until yesterday, at the end of the afternoon, we worked hard enough. A customer would arrive with the car half full of fuel and we would tell the next customer that he could continue his journey, to confirm. But today there must be people who won't want to pick up their vehicles, especially Portuguese people who, at this time of year, come to us for family travel. I've had cases of clients, with reservations for tomorrow, asking if we can deliver the full van. But we cannot guarantee that and people will be undecided whether to travel or not».
The ARA manager explains that it is expected that customers will not cancel reservations, but refuse to pick up their vehicles. «It's what we call a “no show“This leads to us not being able to bill customers. Even if we could, it didn't make sense. These are force majeure reasons: neither the customers are to blame, nor are we».
Like Sul Informação advanced, the District Civil Protection Commission will ask the Government to extend the minimum services, which guarantee a 30% supply, also to the Algarve, and António Costa, prime minister, said today that he is already studying the possibility.
However, even if this situation were to be verified, according to Armando Santana “it is not enough” to avoid problems. "According to the projection we had, there were practically 100% reservations starting tomorrow and in hotel units too."
In addition to the lack of supplies for drivers with hazardous materials, “no one is leaving the gas pump without topping up. This made things get to where they are. There was a situation in the summer, similar a few years ago, but it was not so serious», he concludes.
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