United StatesTravel returnsBaby, you can't drive my carThe pandemic has upended America's rental-car marketHawaiians could be forgiven for bewilderment when they saw U-Haul trucks and cargo vans parked on their pristine beaches.In April Kaleo Alau, president of U-Haul in Hawaii, told the local news station that the moving company had received calls from concerned citizens who thought the vehicles' position looked suspicious."We're like, OK, let's go and check it out, make sure it's not stolen," said Mr Alau. As it turns out, "it's just somebody at the beach!"Hawaii is not the only state where Americans are resorting to unusual forms of transport to get around.The country is facing a national shortage of rental cars because of the recession and disruptions caused by the pandemic.When lockdowns were imposed last spring, travel came to a standstill.The market for car-hire at airports disappeared almost overnight, says Greg Scott, a spokesman for the American Car Rental Association (ACRA), a trade group.ACRA members laid off or furloughed around 60,000 employees in 2020, about a third of the industry's American workforce.
