There is nothing really exciting about renting cars. It is not a particularly sexy industry but it does meet an age-old and fundamental human need: Helping the likes of you and me get from A to B other than on foot.
One of the oldest rental companies is Germany's Sixt Autofahrten und Selbstfahrer, founded in 1912 by Martin Sixt with seven cars - four Mercedes and three Luxus-Deutz-Landaulets. Sixt specialised in day-trips and custom tours. His clients were almost exclusively members of the British aristocracy and wealthy Americans.
Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, tradition has it that in 1916, Joe Saunders was the first person to start a car rental business using his Model T Ford. The story goes that his first customer was a travelling salesman who needed transportation for a date with a girl.
Two years later, in 1918, 22-year-old Walter Jacobs - the son of a man who rented a horse and carriage to sell his made-to-order suits - borrowed $2,500 dollars, bought a dozen Model Ts and formed the Rent-A-Ford company. Mr Jacobs charged $10 a day and included the first 100 miles for free. By 1923, the company was generating $1 million in annual revenues and Mr Jacobs decided to sell. He found a buyer in John Hertz and his Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company.
In 1926, General Motors bought the Yellow Truck Company and the car rental business became known as the Hertz Driv-Ur-Self System. Mr Hertz not only gave the business his name but also the now familiar yellow and black corporate colours of Yellow Trucks.
At the time, car rental companies became associated with the criminal underworld, especially during prohibition in the US. Bank robbers, prostitutes and bootleggers often used hired cars; Walter Jacobs kept Al Capone's brass spittoon in a corner of his office until he retired from Hertz in 1968.
After the repeal of prohibition in 1933, the industry was able to regain respectability and grow. But it was after World War II that the car rental industry grew rapidly. This growth was linked closely with the boom in the airline industry and the development of the fly/drive concept, a logical next step after rail/drive, introduced by Hertz in the late 1920s. In 1946, former army pilot Warren Avis founded the "we try harder" company at Willow Run Airport in Detroit with an $85,000 investment, the first car rental operation located at an airport. Soon after, Avis Airlines Rent-A-Car Systems facilities were opened at Miami Airport and other US aerodromes.
Hertz opened the first European fly/drive facility at Paris's Orly Airport in 1957. Avis moved into Europe in 1965.
What, you may ask, has all this history to do with Malta? Not a lot, except that the success of the big two has spawned a global industry that is now worth billions of euros annually. And it is an industry still closely linked with airline transportation: Just take a look at the arrivals hall at Malta International Airport. Every one of Malta's big seven has a rental booth there.
In Malta, of course, there are more than just seven car rental companies. In fact, there are more than 200, but many, although officially licensed, are not operational. According to Rent A Car Association (RACA) president Anthony Meli there are about 100 serious players.
The big seven - Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, National, Meli's own Sixt and Thrifty - handle 55 per cent of the market, with the balance spread among the remaining 90, or so, rental companies.
These figures are not at all surprising when one considers that the big seven are international brands with representation in just about every country on the planet - and in Europcar's case, it is also Air Malta's fly/drive partner. Arriving tourists will have reserved their four-wheeled transportation probably at the same time they reserved their flight seats. This, of course, places the homegrown brands at a distinct disadvantage, or does it?
Several of these have carved niche markets for themselves by either dominating the location they operate in - Billy's Car Hire in Mellieħa, Pitty's Rent-A-Car in Żabbar, Marshall's in Fgura and Wembley in the St Julians/St Andrews area - or by being associated with specialised services, such as chauffeur drive - Wembley, Merlin and Ħamrun's John's Garage, for instance.
Another factor that helps keep some of the smaller operators in business is price. The intensity of the competition on the local market has forced prices down and rental rates here are among the lowest in Europe. But this can also backfire. When the cost of a rental is too low, it may scare punters away. They might not believe the car could possibly be roadworthy or safe. Naturally, the cheapskates do not last very long. Their cars, not as well or regularly maintained as those from more professional outfits, do break down and often stay that way.
Another reason there are so many car rental companies on the islands is because for many they are a "supplement to their other businesses", Mr Meli explained.
"In some towns, grocers, butchers and stationers own car-hire companies and this has to stop," he said.
RACA puts the blame on the government for this situation. Three or four years ago the law was amended stating that only two cars were needed to start a rental company, down from four. The association wants the rules changed to a minimum of 20 cars.
However, as easy as it is to set up a rental company, official statistics do not show a mushrooming of the industry. According to the National Statistics Office, in March 6,395 cars were available for hire, of which 1,133 were licensed as chauffeur-driven and 5,262 as self-drive. The corresponding figures for March 2007 were 1,107 chauffeur-driven vehicles and 4,900 self-drives. In a year there was an increase of 362 new self-drive cars, mostly fleet replacements by the majors, and just 26 more chauffeur drive cars.
The increase in the overall number of rental cars also reflects the effect low-cost carriers had on the industry last year.
No statistics are available for this segment of the tourism industry but according to Mr Meli, who runs the Sixt franchise in Malta, his business enjoyed a 9 per cent increase last year. And he believes this was also the national growth average for 2007.
He is also upbeat about this year. Reservations during Q1 were up but bookings for April are down on 2007, "because Easter came early this year".
One of the oldest rental companies is Germany's Sixt Autofahrten und Selbstfahrer, founded in 1912 by Martin Sixt with seven cars - four Mercedes and three Luxus-Deutz-Landaulets. Sixt specialised in day-trips and custom tours. His clients were almost exclusively members of the British aristocracy and wealthy Americans.
Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, tradition has it that in 1916, Joe Saunders was the first person to start a car rental business using his Model T Ford. The story goes that his first customer was a travelling salesman who needed transportation for a date with a girl.
Two years later, in 1918, 22-year-old Walter Jacobs - the son of a man who rented a horse and carriage to sell his made-to-order suits - borrowed $2,500 dollars, bought a dozen Model Ts and formed the Rent-A-Ford company. Mr Jacobs charged $10 a day and included the first 100 miles for free. By 1923, the company was generating $1 million in annual revenues and Mr Jacobs decided to sell. He found a buyer in John Hertz and his Yellow Truck and Coach Manufacturing Company.
In 1926, General Motors bought the Yellow Truck Company and the car rental business became known as the Hertz Driv-Ur-Self System. Mr Hertz not only gave the business his name but also the now familiar yellow and black corporate colours of Yellow Trucks.
At the time, car rental companies became associated with the criminal underworld, especially during prohibition in the US. Bank robbers, prostitutes and bootleggers often used hired cars; Walter Jacobs kept Al Capone's brass spittoon in a corner of his office until he retired from Hertz in 1968.
After the repeal of prohibition in 1933, the industry was able to regain respectability and grow. But it was after World War II that the car rental industry grew rapidly. This growth was linked closely with the boom in the airline industry and the development of the fly/drive concept, a logical next step after rail/drive, introduced by Hertz in the late 1920s. In 1946, former army pilot Warren Avis founded the "we try harder" company at Willow Run Airport in Detroit with an $85,000 investment, the first car rental operation located at an airport. Soon after, Avis Airlines Rent-A-Car Systems facilities were opened at Miami Airport and other US aerodromes.
Hertz opened the first European fly/drive facility at Paris's Orly Airport in 1957. Avis moved into Europe in 1965.
What, you may ask, has all this history to do with Malta? Not a lot, except that the success of the big two has spawned a global industry that is now worth billions of euros annually. And it is an industry still closely linked with airline transportation: Just take a look at the arrivals hall at Malta International Airport. Every one of Malta's big seven has a rental booth there.
In Malta, of course, there are more than just seven car rental companies. In fact, there are more than 200, but many, although officially licensed, are not operational. According to Rent A Car Association (RACA) president Anthony Meli there are about 100 serious players.
The big seven - Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, National, Meli's own Sixt and Thrifty - handle 55 per cent of the market, with the balance spread among the remaining 90, or so, rental companies.
These figures are not at all surprising when one considers that the big seven are international brands with representation in just about every country on the planet - and in Europcar's case, it is also Air Malta's fly/drive partner. Arriving tourists will have reserved their four-wheeled transportation probably at the same time they reserved their flight seats. This, of course, places the homegrown brands at a distinct disadvantage, or does it?
Several of these have carved niche markets for themselves by either dominating the location they operate in - Billy's Car Hire in Mellieħa, Pitty's Rent-A-Car in Żabbar, Marshall's in Fgura and Wembley in the St Julians/St Andrews area - or by being associated with specialised services, such as chauffeur drive - Wembley, Merlin and Ħamrun's John's Garage, for instance.
Another factor that helps keep some of the smaller operators in business is price. The intensity of the competition on the local market has forced prices down and rental rates here are among the lowest in Europe. But this can also backfire. When the cost of a rental is too low, it may scare punters away. They might not believe the car could possibly be roadworthy or safe. Naturally, the cheapskates do not last very long. Their cars, not as well or regularly maintained as those from more professional outfits, do break down and often stay that way.
Another reason there are so many car rental companies on the islands is because for many they are a "supplement to their other businesses", Mr Meli explained.
"In some towns, grocers, butchers and stationers own car-hire companies and this has to stop," he said.
RACA puts the blame on the government for this situation. Three or four years ago the law was amended stating that only two cars were needed to start a rental company, down from four. The association wants the rules changed to a minimum of 20 cars.
However, as easy as it is to set up a rental company, official statistics do not show a mushrooming of the industry. According to the National Statistics Office, in March 6,395 cars were available for hire, of which 1,133 were licensed as chauffeur-driven and 5,262 as self-drive. The corresponding figures for March 2007 were 1,107 chauffeur-driven vehicles and 4,900 self-drives. In a year there was an increase of 362 new self-drive cars, mostly fleet replacements by the majors, and just 26 more chauffeur drive cars.
The increase in the overall number of rental cars also reflects the effect low-cost carriers had on the industry last year.
No statistics are available for this segment of the tourism industry but according to Mr Meli, who runs the Sixt franchise in Malta, his business enjoyed a 9 per cent increase last year. And he believes this was also the national growth average for 2007.
He is also upbeat about this year. Reservations during Q1 were up but bookings for April are down on 2007, "because Easter came early this year".