Car hire is currently one the fastest growing industries in China’s capital city of Beijing due to the recent restrictions put in place to limit car ownership to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

Over the course of the last 5 years the number of cars on Beijing roads has almost doubled, resulting in nightmare driving conditions with gridlocked roads, and also increased pollution levels within Beijing.

In an attempt to curb car ownership, Beijing has issued a month long ban on purchasing cars, after which a car plate lottery scheme will be put in place. Just 20,000 people picked at random from the lottery will be permitted by purchase a car in the city. A ban on car number plates from outside Beijing has been put in place during peak times to help further reduce congestion on city roads.

However the upshot of these stringent car ownership rules is that car hire in the capital is booming. Beijing residents are flocking to car rental dealers due the convenience car hire services offer.

Selected car hire providers have reported that over 90% of their fleet is regularly out on rentals at any given time. Due to the surge in demand for car hire, some operators are planning to double their fleet.

The good news for car hire customers is that the competition between providers in hotting up, which means that operators are continually coming up with great offers of up to 50% off rental rates in order to outdo their competitors and secure more customers.