AMMAN — The Jordanian Car Rental Association
recently contacted the
Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC) regarding
its demand to increase the operating life of rented cars from six to eight
years, “to protect the sector from collapse,” but no final decision has been
taken yet.
اضافة اعلان
“All we want is to survive,” the head of the
Jordanian Car Rental Association, Saleh Jallouq, told
Jordan News,
adding that the operational life of rental cars was 12 years before the
COVID-19 pandemic, but was reduced to six years at the beginning of 2020.
At the time, the LTRC added a year, bringing the
operational life to seven years. Today, the association members are asking for
the operational life to be raise to eight years, as the sector witnessed no
real recovery in 2021.
Jallouq said that in 2021, many 2014 and 2015 model
cars had to be taken out of service, although they had not been in use that
year due to the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector in
particular. This year, the association members do not want this to be the case
for the 2016 cars.
Because of the closure of many sectors due to the
pandemic, the rental car sector witnessed losses due to the cessation of
tourism and the need for employers to keep employees even though they could not
pay their salaries, so many resorted to selling cars and resorting to
high-interest loans, often incurring debts, Jallouq said.
Jallouq said 13,000 rental cars were operating
before the pandemic, and that the sector was in the process of purchasing
others, but now, fewer than 9,000 are operational, and the number could become
much lower if the 2016 cars will stop working this year.
The head of the association said he had talked to
the LTRC in October last year to submit his demands for raising the operational
life of rental cars so that the sector could recover, adding that the
commission looked into the issue, but no actual measures were announced.
Jallouq said that the sector also suffers because of
the high-interest rates asked by banks and financial insurance companies and
stressed the need to take care of this investment sector because of its
significant direct role in encouraging foreign tourism and developing Jordan in
several respects.
LTRC Spokesperson
Abla Weshah told
Jordan News said that
the commission is still studying the demands, and no decision has been taken
yet, but one is expected.
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