Men v Women – Why Do Men Rent More Cars?

According to a United Nations estimate in 2015, approximately 51% of the population are women, so why is it that only 18% of car rentals booked are by women? We have poured over the data from over 5,000 rentals to see where women rent the most cars and which nationalities have the highest percentage of female car rental main drivers.

Nationality: What Nationality of Women Rent the Most Cars?

Whilst it’s a reasonably close affair, we’ve discovered that Spanish women are the most likely to rent cars with 31% of all rentals booked by Spanish drivers being driven by women. Closely followed by New Zealand with 30% and French women rounding out the top 3, where 24% of rentals being booked by women. The UK sat bang on the global average with 82% of British car renters being men and 18% women.
 

• Spain - 30.8%
• New Zealand - 30.0%
• France - 24.1%

It’s not surprising to see Saudi Arabia propping up the table with just 6.2% of Saudi’s renting cars being women. Given that only recently women have been allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, many don’t have driving licenses so won’t be able to rent cars, although since the ban was been lifted on 24th June 2018, we expect Saudi women to rent cars more often both at home and abroad as more women are likely to apply for a driving license. Portugal comes a close second with only 8% of rentals booked by women and New Zealand just 12.7%.
 

• Canada - 12.7%
• Portugal - 8.0%
• Saudi Arabia - 6.2%

Destination: Where do Women Rent the Most Cars?

When we look at destination country for where women rent more cars than anywhere else, Australia comes up top with 30.7% of car rentals in Oz being driven by women. South Africa comes in second place with near 29% of cars rented being booked by women. Ireland is a safe 3rd with more than 1 in 4 rentals being booked by women, all significantly over the 1 in 6 global average.
 

• Australia - 30.7%
• South Africa - 28.9%
• Ireland - 27.5%

And where are you likely to see the fewest rental cars driven by women? You guessed it, Saudi Arabia. Until 24th June 2018 you’ll not have seen a women driving a car at all in Saudi Arabia, let alone a rental car. In Italy, we see only 9.7% of rental cars driven by women, the same percentage shared by Canada.
 

• Canada - 9.7%
• Italy - 9.7%
• Saudi Arabia - 0%

So Why do Women Rent Fewer Cars than Men?

There’s no simple answer and whilst the stats are interesting, the reason behind them is far from clear. Not wanting to light a fire under the time-old debate of who make better drivers, men or women, we have a few thoughts on why more men rent cars than women.

Confidence

Are men more confident drivers than women? Particularly if renting abroad that could be a factor, that certainly doesn’t mean men make safer drivers, statisticss suggest that men (in particular young men) are involved in more road traffic accidents in Europe than women. Perhaps men are more confident and willing to drive a rental car abroad?

Additional drivers

The data is based on the lead driver of 5,000 rentals and does not take into account additional drivers, so whilst the figures are heavily in favour of men, women could still be driving rental cars as an additional driver and we wouldn’t know.

Credit Cards

As the main driver usually needs to have a credit card in their name we suspected this could be a cause, however a recent study by Experian suggested that women have 23.5% more open credit cards than men. Given that statistic, we can’t use access to a credit card as a reason, in fact the opposite. Although whilst a credit card is often required to rent a car, you can rent a car with a debit card, something that is becoming increasingly popular.

Full details on men versus women car rental by nationality;
 
Full details on men versus women car rental by destination;