The leading British-based car rental comparison site, Carrentals.co.uk has cautioned Easter holidaymakers that reservations are essential this year lest would-be drivers find themselves at the receiving end of surging hire demand as witnessed in the last few weeks of summer.

The well-known website warned that attractive money-saving deals and model availability may be limited in their offerings following initial reservations throughout the industry pointing to an unusually high demand for vehicles. This Easter appears to have become the default holiday period for many who ‘stay-cationed’ over the festive season in a bid to overcome the inflated prices of the recession-hit tourism and travel industries.

The downside is that higher demand will drive rental prices up, with much of Europe already advertising Easter rates that are up to 13 percent higher than for the same period in 2009, when the credit crunch was being felt most severely.

Carrentals.co.uk has advised that the traditional favourite destinations such as Tenerife, Alicante, Rome and Faro have all show strong performances in the field of advance Easter bookings.

The managing director of Carrentals.co.uk, Gareth Robinson, stated: “In the past 12 months we have seen lots of car rental providers get less investment from banks and this in turn has meant that providers have been forced into cutting fleet sizes. This means that prices have gone up for Easter because of reduced availability and we can see this continuing into the summer”. Robinson added that the comparator was ensuring that car hire customers were aware of rental climate and were adequately counselled on how best to use the market to benefit their holiday.