Toronto, Ontario — The overall length of rental (LOR) decreased by 6/10ths of a day in 2020’s fourth quarter, breaking a historical upward trend typically seen October through January, according to Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s recent LOR report for the fourth quarter of 2020.
As 2020 drew to a close, Enterprise Rent-A-Car analyzed results by province and vehicle condition to determine any significant increases or decreases in Length of Rental (LOR). Historically, LOR starts an upward trend in October that peaks in January. Excluding Total Losses, overall LOR in Q4 2020 was down by 6/10ths of a day (12.3 days in Q4 2019 vs. 11.7 days in Q4 2020).
Among all provinces–excluding the crown provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan–Alberta was alone in recording an LOR increase. LOR in AB was up 1.7 days year-over-year, which can be primarily attributed to the historic levels of damage to insured vehicles caused by summer 2020’s hailstorms. Despite the results in Alberta, LOR decreases in the other provinces, particularly Ontario (which saw a year-over-year decrease of 1.5 days), balanced out the country’s overall results.
For drivable vehicles, LOR in Canada was down by a half-day year-over-year. Alberta’s drivable LOR (up 2.0 days) was again the only increase at 12.7 from previous year’s 10.7.
Non-drivable vehicle LOR saw small increases in both Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, while Alberta’s increase was at 1.1 days (20.0 vs. 18.9 prior year).
Ontario’s Q4 2020 results were significantly lower than Q4 2019 in both drivable vehicles (-1.5 days) and non-drivable vehicles (-1.9 days). While summer and fall of 2019 saw a number of weather events in eastern Canada that raised LOR last year, 2020’s lower results may also be due, in part, to the current pandemic climate with fewer damaged vehicles, leading to improved repair cycle time.
Length of Rental analysis comparing 2021 to 2020 may bring additional insights to understand how provincial and national results have been impacted by the pandemic conditions, and whether or not these results are a new baseline going forward.
