Had a car accident but need a rental car cheap!

CrustyMcMuffin

Hi, Today Mrs McMuffin had a an accident in the car. Thankfully she and little McMuffin are ok but the car was whisked off by the police to a local garage. Now, being true money savers, we decided not to go for the courtesy car option as part of our policy but are now in a spot of bother as we don't have a spare car and kind of need one. Any ideas how to get a car rented fairly cheap? We're going to ask the garage tomorrow when they phone if they have anything available we can rent for a good price. Are there any other alternatives we can look into? Checking car rental sites and to say they are expensive would be an understatement.

I know, I know next time make sure and have the courtesy car cover included.

goldspanners

i would imagine £25 a day would get you something small.
or you could buy something else for a few hundred quid and run this until your other car is dealt with.

MarkyMarkD

Buying something else might seem like a good idea, but it will be hassle and expensive to get it insured in parallel with your main car.

johnswife

www.carhire3000.com just did a google and this site seems reasonable.

e.g. cardiff for 3 days £68 approx

Quentin

If the accident was someone else's fault, then you can claim your car hire costs back from the third party.

dacouch

A lot of the Insurers use Enterprise as they are pretty cheap, try speaking to your Insurer as they often have a discount for their customers through Enterprise. Or Enterprise may be able to advise you (As with anything like this ask for a quote before you mention it so you know you are getting a genuine discount).

As Quentin has mentioned if the accident is not your fault you can recover reasonable costs back from the other party

pinkneonmartini

when i was without a car i hired a punto from Budget, it was great, £60 for two days just to get me to work and back, but i live a couple of miles from manchester airport, so literally walked into arrivals and went desk to desk getting quotes from everyone and they were the cheapest by a mile! Plus i had a brand new 5 door punto that had only done 2,000 miles lol!

Annoyingly i've just checked if i rented one tomorrow for a week it'd only be £120! i paid £60 for two days!

use the comparison tool on moneysupermarket.com to find what you need

Premier_2

How to get a cheap rental car:

1. Negotiate. All rental prices are negotiable, and it's amazing how low they can be. But you need to ba able to speak to someone who is authorised to change the rate.
Our employer used to get amazingly low prices from the likes of Hertz & Avis, but we did use them a lot.
I had to rent a car privately from Enterprise for a few days when my car was in for repair. They offered me what I thought was a good deal anyway but when I took it back the manager asked if I wanted to keep it over the weekend for no extra charge. When I declined as I had just collected my own car, he gave me his card offering a 50% discount on any future rental.
I'm sure if I spoke to him before renting, I'd have got a discount on the price I paid.

2. Try the smaller, independant rental companies. They are usually cheaper and it's certainly easier to speak to someone empowered to negotiate the price.

3. Look for a rental company that offers used cars for rent. Not necessarily rent-a wreck, but some small companies use 2-3 year old vehicles that are very good, just not brand new.