Travelers who are looking for a car hire could have to deal with sell outs and price hikes due to a car hire shortage. The leading car hire comparison site, Carrentals.co.uk, says travelers that do not book their car hire early are running the risk of paying increased prices or finding no availability at all. The comparison site has already reported shortages in Alicante and Malaga for August.

The recession seems to be the major factor contributing to the car hire shortage. As a way to deal with the falling demand for 2009, car hire companies cut their stock levels. Travelers are now left to deal with this and are suffering through hefty prices for car hire. Many places have even reported prices that are almost double the normal rate.

Gareth Robinson, who is the managing director of Carrentals.co.uk, said: “Lack of car hire availability is proving to be a big problem for many travelers this summer. The car hire companies have scaled back in light of the credit crunch, but visitor numbers during peak periods have held up. It’s customers who are being let down, with some paying hundreds of pounds more for their car than they did a year ago.”

He also noted, “Travelers need to book early and look beyond the big brand names. We compare up to 50 rental companies on our site, meaning that if one supplier has sold out one of the smaller suppliers may still have some availability. It’s all about shopping around and booking in advance to avoid getting caught out.”

Carrentals.co.uk can compare car hire deals in over 9,000 location from 50 different rental companies. This includes such companies as Holiday Autos, Sixt, Budget, Alamo, and EasyCar.

Travelers can compare the latest car hire deals at www.carrentals.co.uk.