Cheap car hire article discussion

femigirl

hi guys, want to hire a car from UK to south africa(johannesburg) from the end of the month for 10 days, is it cheaper to rent from UK or do it from south africa. I am getting quotes like £110 plus for 9days 2/4 door, manual carfrom opodo etc.

please help

LesD

loobylou2 wrote: »

Hope someone can help with this as I'm a bit confused. We are going to France for a fortnight on 25th May and planning on hiring a car. The problem is that I don't drive but my OH who is 72 does so obviously he will be the one doing the driving while we are there. He dosen't have a credit card though so I'm the one who will be doing the booking and I'm getting really confused with it all. After I have booked online will I have to pay more when we collect the car to cover insurance etc and is there a way around paying huge fees? Also, will it be ok if I book online using my card but OH drives? I spoke to Hertz yesterday about this but to be honest got a bit confused when the guy on the phone told me that as well as paying for the car online I'd have to fork out about 500 pounds at the airport as well!!! Any advice/help re this would be very much appreciated as we're doing the trip on a very tight budget and its already turning out to be costing more than I'd anticipated. Thank you.

Hi Loobylou.

You probably will need to understand what the Hertz man says as car hire T&Cs are different for each supplier. Most want the CC to be in the name of the main driver, but some don't! And, as Hertz is a franchise, you really need to check with the actual location.

As for what you'll have to pay at the airport, again you need to check what your contract says. You may have to pay for fuel. You then need to check if you have to return the car full or empty. Check the insurances. You may have to pay extra for cover for wheels, tyres and glass. Also, check what insurance 'excess' you may have to pay in the event of any damage.

Sometimes, hire agencies require a 'deposit' to cover the amount of the 'excess'. Sometimes this is just a CC 'charge' which is not put through if you return the car satisfactorily. But sometimes, the actual cash is taken and then refunded later.

See Picasso's posting above for an annual 'excess cover' policy if you are likely to travel frequently.

If you say which airport you are hiring from, some MSE member may have actual knowledge of the Hertz people at that location. I've just checked their French website and the T&Cs are not very clear I'm afraid.

loobylou2

Thanks a lot for this. We are flying to Grenoble.

wolfie_bill_2

Just wanted to make readers aware of what I consider to be "sharp practice", as used by Atlas Choice Car hire.

I searched for a week's car hire in Malta and found a deal with Atlas - they emailed the details to me. I then, as I thought, booked that car at that price. Atlas responded that they would confirm the booking.

Approx 2 days later Atlas responded by saying that they had booked a different car for us, at £25 additional cost and I need not worry about giving my credit card details as the transaction was already scheduled :mad: If I had wanted the new car offered I would have done my search on that basis !

I tried to complain to Atlas by phone; hung onto to a repeated message on two occassions for about 10 minutes - no answer :mad: I also emailed my complaint and wanted to cancel. However today (after returning from holiday) I have received a reply stating that they have had problems with their server !!

Atlas subcontracted the hiring to Swan Sea car hire on Malta, who charged us 42 Euros for 1/2 tank of petrol and delivery charge !! There appears to be no way of knowing what these charges are going to be until you pick the car up.

My advice is to avoid Atlas Choice - they are not worth considering as the "savings" are not REAL

lorweld

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markhart

achingdrum wrote: »

Even despite the very helpful article still fairly confused!
The complete waiver via that the hire company came in was £22 vs about £18/19 with Questor/Dailyexcess etc. Ours doesn't cover the underside (doesn't exclude it in T&Cs but that's what they are saying on the phone) .

However Questor/Dailyexcess etc all seem to be underwritten by AIG and seem to limit to £2000 or £3000 which wouldn't be enough for a write off.

Hi,

Just looking at booking a car for Mallorca this summer and spotted the post above. Does anyone know exactly what this means? Wouldn't a write off be treated the same way as any other damage i.e. the customer would pay the fixed excess and the cover provided by the supplier would pick up the rest?

Any thoughts?

Mark.

Leedslad_3

As far as i am lead to believe.

The excess is the amout that you liable for the car in the event of damage or theft even if it is a write off you would still only pay whatever the excess is.

However as always if you check teh T&C for each company this should give you a more clearer picture as it will change from company to company.

red55_2

Trying to book one way car hire in USA from Virginia to Colorado. All companies tried so far have a $500 drop off fee.Whilst I agree the car might have to be returned to its original starting place, $500 for the privilege seems a rip-off. Any ideas?

Bacardi_queen

I'm looking at booking car hire for a week in August in Ibiza, and whilst I was booking the flights, I came across Europcar4easyjet. They have a double the difference price guarantee and when I noticed the prices they were quoting for a week, I nearly fell off my chair!

I'd already had some quotes back in the region of £150-£200 from the comparison sites suggested on here, and Europcar4easyjet were quoting nearly £450. Double that difference would pay for the entire hire!

However I'm a believer in "it's too good to be true" so I really want to be able to understand their T&Cs (available here http://www.easyjet.co.uk/EN/Book/Car%20Lowest%20Price%20Guarantee.pdf) which state that "Only online prices, direct from International Car Rental Companies owning or operating their own fleet of vehicles will be matched, i.e. car rental companies operating in more than one country".

The price I have been quoted from Europcar is £428.99 for a 2 door Kia Picanto 1.1 pick up from airport at 18:30 on the 28th August and return at 23:30 on the 4th September.

The best price I am getting for the same time and dates with other companies that might be comparable are:

Holidayautos - £201 (2dr Ford KA or similar)
Hertz - £203 (Peugeot 107 or similar Mini, 2-4 Door, Manual, Aircon,MCMR)

There's quite a few others, such as Expedia, Xoticar, Carrentals.co.uk, economycarhire, but I imagine they're brokers rather than actual car companies owning or operating their own fleet. Actually, I think even holidayautos is a broker.

Can anyone confirm which are brokers and which are actual companies that own their own fleet? And do you think there are any other terms and conditions that may trip me up? For example, "The claim must be based on a like for like comparison of the vehicle type, location, rental and rate conditions". Does this mean that a Kia Picante can't be compared to a Ford Ka even though they're both 2 door cars classed as economy? And both state that you would get this car "or similar"?

Any help would be really appreciated, thanks!

Bacardi_queen

bump, anyone able to help with the above query? Am thinking of booking today but worried that I'll pay and have my claim turned down! Wouldn't mind some advice to help me avoid any loopholes!