COMMERCIAL vehicle hire specialist TLS has criticised as 'an excuse to increase prices' the decision by rental companies to levy a daily surcharge to offset the new £25 vehicle registration fee. TLS has announced that it will not follow suit, joining Practical Car & Van Rental as one of the few daily rental operators not to impose the surcharge.

Car hire companies moved en masse earlier this year to introduce a separately identified charge of around 95p a day to cover the additional cost of the registration fee and annual increases in road fund licence. But TLS chief executive Peter Roberts said: 'It is not really fair to isolate the first registration fee and use it as an excuse to increase prices.

'It is, essentially, no different to a manufacturer increasing its prices. There are a host of factors that determine rental companies' rates, including vehicle purchase price, residual values, interest and maintenance costs, utilisation and length of hire period. While it would be very tempting for rental companies to highlight an imposed cost and then use it as a reason for hiking prices, it really is rather too obvious.'