Seasonal demand for rental cars in Russia increased by 17.3%

The season for the car rental market is considered to be five months of the year: from May to September. During this period, Russians most often take vacations and stimulate the development of domestic tourism, as well as the influx of foreign tourists. In the 2025 season, the demand for rental cars in Russia increased by 17.3% compared to the first quarter, representatives of Rexrent told Izvestia on September 9.

The service was most in demand in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Volgograd, which experts call important starting points for intercity routes. The growth in demand is due to the development of car rental aggregators and the expansion of services provided.

The trends in the rental market this year were the emergence of intercity fares. The user can rent a car to travel along a specific route, leaving it only in the destination city. At the same time, prices for such trips are often more profitable than air and railway tickets, especially if you travel with the whole family, the company noted.

"The next stage of the "struggle" for the customer is the unification of the tariff, the creation of return routes so that the user can return to the starting city, ideally with the same car and at a fixed reduced price. A pilot project of such "shuttles" has already been launched. Therefore, it can be predicted that in 2026 the number of trips by rental cars in Russia will double," said Evgeny Melekhin, CEO of Rexrent.

We found a balance: sales of new cars increased by 1.3%

The car market showed moderate growth in August

Earlier that day, analysts at Delimobil told Izvestia that in the first six months of 2025, the number of companies using rental cars for work tasks increased by 53%. The dedicated fleet is particularly popular: the number of corporate clients in the long-term rental segment has almost doubled.

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