As Tết approaches, Vietnam’s self-drive car rental market is entering its annual peak. Yet this year’s surge feels structurally different. Prices have doubled, in some cases tripled, compared with ordinary days. Booking windows are longer, conditions stricter, and supply visibly thinner. What appears on the surface as seasonal inflation is, in fact, a reflection of deeper consumer recalibration under economic pressure.
Across Hà Nội, popular compact sedans such as VinFast Fadil, Honda City, Hyundai Grand i10, Hyundai Accent and Toyota Vios are quoted at VND 1.2-1.6 million per day. Seven-seat SUVs and MPVs — including Kia Seltos, Mitsubishi Xpander, Suzuki Ertiga, Toyota Innova, Toyota Fortuner and Kia Sedona — range from VND 1.7-2.5 million per day. Premium sedans and luxury vehicles such as Toyota Camry and Mercedes-Benz can reach VND 2–4 million daily in the North, and up to VND 7 million per day in HCM City for short-term rentals (Vietnam News).
For many households, this translates into rental bills of tens of millions of đồng for a single holiday period.
From a consumer behavior perspective, the spike is not simply about festive demand. It is about deferred ownership.
In 2025, cautious spending defined middle-class financial decision-making. Big-ticket purchases — particularly cars — were postponed amid income uncertainty and tighter credit sentiment. Yet the cultural weight of Tết travel remains unchanged. Returning to hometowns, visiting extended family, and organizing multi-stop gatherings are not optional rituals. When ownership is delayed but mobility demand remains fixed, rental becomes the pressure valve.
This substitution effect is critical. Consumers who might have upgraded or purchased a vehicle in prior years are now entering the rental market simultaneously. Demand is therefore layered: habitual renters plus temporary renters who would otherwise be owners. The result is structural strain rather than purely seasonal heat.
On the supply side, fleet expansion has not kept pace. Rental operators face higher maintenance costs, accident repair expenses, and depreciation risks. Post-holiday vehicle conditions often require significant refurbishment. In a tighter economy, smaller operators are reluctant to scale inventory aggressively for a peak that lasts only weeks. Risk-adjusted supply remains conservative.
The most telling signal lies in booking behavior. Many rental companies now require 7–10 day packages, even when customers need only three or four days around the Lunar New Year. This bundling strategy serves two functions: revenue maximization and operational simplification. Short fragmented bookings create handover congestion and higher coordination costs during peak days. Longer packages reduce logistical friction while ensuring guaranteed yield.
Consumers, however, experience this as rigidity.
In HCM City, renters report that vehicles once available for VND 800,000–1 million per day now cost VND 1.6 million or more (Vietnam News). Availability close to Tết is extremely limited. Customers seeking small automatic cars within a modest budget often encounter only long-duration, higher-priced packages. The emotional undertone is not outrage — it is resignation .
Interestingly, seven-seat vehicles remain the most sought-after segment. This preference reflects not just family size, but social density. Tết travel frequently involves transporting gifts, luggage, and multiple generations. Space equals convenience, and convenience during Tết is valued more than cost efficiency. Practicality outweighs brand aspiration.
Yet premium rentals also see strong traction. Vehicles from brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz command VND 3–7 million per day for extended packages. Here, rental fulfills a different psychological function: symbolic elevation. For some consumers, Tết is an occasion to temporarily access a lifestyle tier otherwise postponed. In uncertain times, short-term symbolic consumption can substitute for long-term asset accumulation.
Another layer shaping the market is regulatory tightening. The Government’s Decree 336/2025/NĐ-CP introduces a stricter compliance framework for self-drive car rental services, with penalties of up to VND 60 million for procedural violations from March 1 onward. While intended to professionalize the sector and clarify liability, regulation may further discourage informal or small-scale operators from participating, thereby constraining supply in the short term.
Taken together, this year’s Tết rental surge illustrates three broader shifts in Vietnam’s consumer landscape.
First, flexibility has become a financial strategy. Consumers are increasingly comfortable replacing ownership with access when macro conditions feel unstable.
Second, price sensitivity coexists with ritual inflexibility. Households may cut discretionary spending, but they will defend culturally significant consumption moments.
Third, market maturity is revealing operational bottlenecks. The self-drive rental segment, once fragmented and opportunistic, is now encountering the need for scale discipline, compliance alignment, and digitalized booking systems to manage peak volatility.
For market observers, the question is not whether prices will normalize after Tết — they will. The deeper question is whether deferred car ownership will continue to convert into recurring rental demand throughout the year. If economic caution persists, rental may transition from seasonal necessity to a semi-structural mobility solution.
In that scenario, operators who invest in fleet reliability, transparent pricing, and trust-based customer relationships will be better positioned than those relying solely on peak-season arbitrage.
Tết 2026 is therefore less about inflated daily rates and more about adaptive consumer logic. When aspiration pauses but mobility cannot, access becomes the bridge.
