There are going to be an estimated 85,000 rental vehicles in the Balearics this summer, between 4,000 and 5,000 more than last year 2022, according to the Balearic Association of Rental Vehicles.
According to the president of the Aevab, Ramon Reus, by June 1 70 percent of the fleet of vehicles available had already been reserved. And according to Reus, 100 percent of the vehicles will be booked from July 1.
But despite the problem of the large number of vehicles, Reus is concerned about the fact that very few of the vehicles are registered and taxed in Balearics, “The situation remains the same as last year, with companies that are taxed where the vehicles are registered. The trouble is that it is allowed because this is a free market.” Reus argues that it shouldn't be allowed.
“The best thing would be for road taxes to be paid in the Balearics, if you drive in this autonomous community.” He said he is “in favour of limiting the entry of vehicles onto the islands, as long as it is done properly, without harming existing professional companies".
“This is a free market and everyone can come,” said Reus, but he stressed that “as long as they do it well, without generating a bad image that then affects everyone”.
He also defended the car hire sector. “Between 7.30am and 9.30am, the roads of Mallorca, especially motorways, are jammed, but this it is not because of rental vehicles."
“As a Mallorcan, I don’t want there to be more roads, but I think we need one, of around five or six kilometres, from the Alcampo shopping centre to Son Espases, the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) or the airport, without having to go through Son Hugo, where there are traffic jams,” he said.
According to the president of Aevab, “an example of a road that nobody wanted is the Llucmajor-Campos road” and yet “in the end it has proved to work, reducing traffic density and avoiding deaths”.
For this reason, Reus has expressed his willingness to “reach a consensus” with the new government on mobility policies in order to “help the government to make everything work, as is to be expected from businessmen”.
With regard to the presence of Uber in Mallorca, which began operating last Thursday in Palma, Calvia, Andratx and Llucmajor, for groups of up to six people, the president of the Aevab has said he understands that “it does not affect rental vehicles”.