Car hire grows by 6.7%, partly driven by Chinese manufacturers
Aniasa: “The sector registers over half a million cars a year – 33 per cent of the market – and we need to simplify the process and support new models of mobility”
The car hire market in Italia – encompassing both short- and long-term hire – has grown by 6.7 per cent, with a market share exceeding 33 per cent between January and May, thanks mainly to the boost provided by ‘short-term’ contracts. This is the figure that emerged from the annual meeting of Aniasa, the association of car hire companies under the umbrella of Confindustria, held in Rome. It was an opportunity to take stock of market trends and to clarify the tax and regulatory issues that are holding back the sector’s further development.
Let’s start with the figures: short-term contracts are driving volumes forward, whilst long-term contracts are slowing down; there is also growing interest from private individuals, who now account for one in five rental contracts; finally, Chinese manufacturers are the key drivers, having seen their volumes double across both types of hire within a year. It is short-term hire, in particular, that accounts for the largest share of Chinese-made cars, with over 22,000 registrations from January to May and a market share of 23.2 per cent, representing nearly a quarter of the market.
On the regulatory and tax front, the president of Aniana, Italo Folonari, points the finger at a ‘layering’ of regulations that is placing a strain on the sector – which accounts for over half a million registrations a year (33 per cent of the market) – and which has recently seen a further development, in the Fiscal Decree, concerning the Provincial Registration Tax, which is causing operators great concern. The new regulations introduce territorial criteria which, according to Aniasa’s president, Italo Folonari, ‘are characterised by a high degree of interpretative uncertainty and are a potential source of significant disputes’.
In particular, the reference to the ‘primary day-to-day management’ of the business as the criterion for identifying the local authority responsible for collecting the tax risks triggering a series of disputes and, above all, runs counter to the desired simplification of the regulations. For over 10 years, the Association has been calling for the centralisation of the collection of taxes owed by car hire companies, with revenue redistributed amongst regions and provinces on the basis of objective criteria determined by them – a model which, incidentally, already exists in France and Germany.
The regulatory framework for the sector, which in part dates back more than 20 years, Folonari insists, “must adapt to the new mobility landscape, in which an increasing number of businesses and individuals are opting for car hire rather than vehicle ownership”. The latest regulatory measures, which have created a series of problems for vehicles over five years old, do not help the sector, nor do the rules on fringe benefits, which have restricted tax benefits to fully electric and plug-in models only. Finally, the proposal for ‘green fleets’ currently being developed by the EU represents a further complication.
