MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Rental cars for the summer vacations are cheaper in many vacation destinations than a year ago, according to data from the travel portal Check24. On average, car rental prices for early bookers are 15 percent cheaper than last year, the Munich-based company announced on Wednesday.

According to Check24, the figures differ from country to country: in Portugal and Spain, rental cars for summer vacations are currently over 20 percent cheaper, while in Turkey they are seven percent more expensive - although rental cars are still the cheapest there, according to Check24.

The analysis is based on the company's own data for 15 countries, including Germany, as of December 27. In Germany, early booking of a vacation car is therefore seven percent cheaper than a year ago. In addition to insurance, hotels and flight tickets, the online portal also arranges rental cars - from over 300 car rental companies, according to its own information - and therefore has a financial interest in as many bookings as possible.

According to Check24, the reason for the discounts is that many car rental companies have increased the size of their vehicle fleets again following the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, however, demand is also increasing. According to a spokesperson, car rental bookings for the summer vacations are over 50 percent higher than in 2022 at the same time for the previous summer vacations./cho/DP/zb