As the car rental shortage persists, Canadians are increasingly turning to alternative solutions to access a car so they can enjoy their summer travels as planned. Turo, Canada’s largest peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, is seeing a spike in usage to meet the demand, with bookings up 796% year-over- year for the Canada Day long weekend.
Calgary looks to be the go-to domestic travel destination for the season– it’s seeing one the biggest booking spikes amongst all cities this Canada Day and is one of the fastest growing cities for bookings this summer.
According to Turo bookings data, the top four travel destinations in Canada this summer are:
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Calgary
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Richmond (Vancouver), BC
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Toronto
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Montreal
“During this busy summer travel season, we are seeing many Canadians turn to Turo as a solution to the current rental car shortage,” said Cedric Mathieu, VP & Head of Turo Canada. “Canada Day long weekend is no exception, as we’ve seen almost an 800% increase in booking year-over-year, showcasing that Canadians are eager to travel this summer and want a convenient and safe alternative for their road trips.”
Car in the mountains. Will/Unsplash Photo
A Turo Canada spokesperson said they’re seeing that that traditional car rental companies either have no inventory or have skyrocketing prices this summer.
“Turo is a great alternative where you can choose the exact car you want, where you want. Depending on what car you choose, it can be on the more expensive side (Tesla’s, convertibles, luxury cars) or more affordable (sedans, compact cars etc),” she said.
Cars are quite expensive this summer, but I went onto Expedia.ca today and found plenty of options for Calgary for the week of August 6-13. A Chevrolet Spark, an economy model, was listed at $1,298 for the week, while a midsize SUV was listed at $1,797.
Avis, on the other hand, was sold out for those dates in Calgary.
At Turo, I found cars for the same period in Calgary, but generally for more money. A 2010 Mazda SUV was priced at $1,418, but a 2020 Nissan Qashqai was listed at $2,224 and a 2017 Qashqai at $2,363.
