Any recommendations for decent car hire companies in southern England? Anyone got any recent experience favourable or otherwise? I particularly wish to avoid any of those that try to frighten you with last moment threats of massive charges for tiny amounts of damage unless you pay their 'enhanced' insurance levy. Europecar did that to me a couple of years back and I've never forgetten them for it. Shame, as I'd used them before on very many occasions and they'd previously been very reasonable. Any thoughts?
Pity you did not say "Scotland" because I went through this and ended up with Arnold Clark who were excellent - they had a small firm feel to them, even though they are everywhere in Scotland.
I vaguely recall I saw another of the household names trashed in my searching of reviews.
Could you be more specific on which bit of Southern England? Someone might know a smaller local firm...
Recently had a very pleasant experience with Enterprise car hire whilst my car is being repaired. Scratch and dent "allowances" seem very generous and unlikely to affect anyone renting.
They were reasonably flexible during our recent car-written-off exercise, although I was a bit annoyed when the Ins Co. engineer blabbed to them that he was going to write our car off (too expensive to repair). They called up the same day asking for their hire car back, before we even knew the Ins Co's decision. But they backed off after I complained to the Ins Co.
[Course, I should just have referred Enterprise back to the Ins Co, as it was with them that I had the contractual relationship.]
Questor insurance (among others) will sell you a years worth of excess insurance for two for about £40 covering Europe including the UK. Well worth it if you hire more than once, they also do individual trip insurance.
I've been using them for a few years, but have no ideas if they'd actually pay out and I don't want to test it. You have to pay then reclaim from them.
As with courier companies there can often be a big difference depending on your locality* . Both often work on a franchise and/or self employed basis and regardless of central company policy, assuming there is one, it's the way this policy is interpreted at local branch level that matters. So while some managers, as with couriers, may go out of their way to offer as good a service as possible others it appears simply couldn't care less. The best way would probably to post a question on your local website if you have one, for recommendations ideally for a specific branch of a national, or for a local firm
michael adams
*as can also apply to ISPs and telecoms but for different reasons.
We had one claim (we had to leave the hire car for pick up instead of handing it back directly and it picked up a dented bumper) and they paid up promptly without a whimper.
If you are going to hire for more than a couple of days the £50 or so covers your excess insurance and then anything after that is profit. We use the worldwide insurance for when we are flying abroad and as a bonus we get "free" cover in the UK.
IIRC we tend to use Europcar precisely for the reasons that you now don't. They lead with very cheap up front rental then try to claw the money back with extra insurance charges. This makes them outstanding value if you have your own insurance or a strong appetite for risk.
On a similar basis, having excess insurance means I can just pick the cheapest rental from
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and then ignore all the options they try and cross-sell. Generally the best deals are found at airports where there is plenty of demand and plenty of parking for stock.
A lot of the companies there are actually fronts for the real hire agencies
- often they claim to be a selection of 'international brands' as well. eg in a given airport there might only be two car hire desks run by local firms and you can rent the same car from Avis, Thrifty, Europcar, etc via different intermediaries for different prices.
This is extremely handy when you're in a hurry because you don't need to nitpick T&C too much. Pay by credit card - one of these intermediaries did go bust recently. Usually they want you to print off a voucher - but often you can email it to the rental desk (which is handy when travelling and don't have a printer).
Take a windscreen mount and 12v charger for your phone to use it as satnav - another charge that's easy to dodge.
Note that windscreen mounts are illegal in many countries. Also in at least one case, using a satnav is illegal unless it automatically locks out all user controls whilst the vehicle is in motion, and possessing maps with speed cameras is illegal in some countries.
Be careful taking such technology between countries - check what's permitted, and note that foreign drivers are often targetted for fine/bribe revenue.
In my experience mobile phone satnavs are *better* than dedicated ones anyway because they (usually) have faster processors and thus things like recalculating when you miss a turning are much faster.
Indeed. Or even a short term one if you're unlikely to rent more than once in a year. I did this when I hired a car in Australia a few months ago. [Bought the policy in the UK before I went.]
I've been happy with Enterprise car hire. I spend over 10k per year with them for my staff car hire, and haven't had a problem with additional charges. I also used them privately when I needed a van to move my daughter's stuff back from Uni, again no problem.
I've got about a dozen staff who sometimes need to travel to client sites all around the country, typically for a few days at a time.
Some weeks I don't need anything (all office based work). Other weeks I may need anything up to four cars.
The office doesn't have any car parking. I CBA to try to manage it myself, and I don't think I could save money by employing someone to do so, even part time.
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