The amount of money it will cost travelers to hire a car over the holiday season has just recently jumped by 65 percent. This goes double for many of the very popular European destinations that people like to visit during Easter.

Travelers that are going to head to the Mediterranean next month, trying to get a little sun after such a cold winter, will most likely be in for quite a shock when they see the prices of car rentals. A very big cutback on car hire fleets, which was caused by the recession, has caused demand to outstrip supply. The fact that this has been a very robust holiday booking season has not helped. All of these factors have caused prices to be forced way up.

Some companies have been trying to monitor the cheapest small, economy car in different areas. In Malaga, Spain, a month before Easter, the cheapest economy car was £134. This is being compared to £84 the month before Easter last year. In Alicante, Spain prices have jumped from £88 to £140 for eight days. However, Spain is not the only place that is seeing an increase in car hire prices. Nice, France is also watching its prices climb steeply. Right now the only place that has seen car hire cost fall on an annual basis is Faro, Portugal.

A travel expert from Travelsupermarket.com, Bob Atkinson, said that two years ago Spanish businesses were going through the roof. Thousands of people were coming to Spain every week. Thus, car hire companies developed massive fleets. Since then, the market has collapsed. Car hire firms have now slashed their fleets and drove up prices.

The best thing that holiday travelers can do is to search car hire comparison sites to make sure they are getting the cheapest deals. Travelers who do not, run the risk of overpaying for their car hire.