UK Car Rental for £1 - Cheap way to get to the airport

Westin

Both Europcar and Hertz are offering one-way car hire across the UK for only £1 a day which could be a bargain for some looking to travel cheaply.

This could be a useful way to get to the airport for your holiday, or back closer to home after a cruise port arrival.

Neither companies are of course doing this to make money – in fact they are looking to save money. Car rental firms often have misplaced vehicles and are looking for ways to get cars back to their high demand depots or bases rather than have to move them around the country on car transporters. They benefit and the renters benefit from this arrangement.

The best availability seems to be picking up a car and taking in to an airport such as London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, London Luton and Manchester, although you may find other £1 deals available.

A quick random check offered me several options from Bristol in May and June to London Heathrow. I also found a Plymouth to Inverness one, although that is a long journey in a day unless you have a friend to share the driving.

£1 plus petrol would work out considerably cheaper for a family on the train between Bristol and LHR. Plus, no hassle with luggage just load it in the boot and off you go.

The Europcar deal for £1 includes; Collision Damage Waiver, Theft Protection, location service charge, Vehicle Licence Fee and Tax.

https://www.europcar.co.uk/deals/one-way-uk.step

The Hertz deal for £1 (called Hertz One) includes; Collision Damage Waiver and Theft Protection. They quote a Young Driver Surcharge applying to renters aged between 23 and 25.

https://www.hertz.co.uk/rentacar/special-offers/hertz-one-uk

It seems you can only book a month of two ahead but never the less I think it's a good deal. I hope some MSE's find it useful.

EssexExile

It was going well until it said "We choose the car for you". Unfortunately I can't use just any car.

It looks like a good idea for those that can though, as long as you don't mind using public transport when you get back from your trip, or renting a car with a steep one way fee.

Westin

Fair point EssexExile but might be useful to some who could use the £1 offer who perhaps has an early morning flight ex LGW/LHR/STN where public transport would be difficult - but return on a later flight back to the UK when perhaps a train/coach might be running.

lisyloo

This could be a useful way to get to the airport for your holiday

Or if you commute into London and could (for example) drive to heathrow and get the heathrow express into London (trains are awful at the moment).
I'm not confident of getting pick ups on a Sunday but might take look.

bobsmum

i've used both Hertz and Europcar for £1 hires.

Last November we collected a car from Hertz at Bristol Airport in the evening, leaving it at Heathrow the following afternoon. (Due to it being 2 days before Xmas when we returned, the hire fee for that journey would have been £300, so we returned by coach!).

In December 2016 we did a one-way with Europcar from Heathrow for £1, returning to Bristol city centre.

Both times it was easy, painless and cheap. The only extra cost was for fuel, which you would have to pay with any rental car. We also have an annual car hire insurance policy so there was need to take any additional insurance. I suspect there may be an extra charge for a second driver, and probably some more small print...

If you don't mind what sort of car you get - we had a small manual hatch-back both times - it's certainly money-saving, although the route choices/depots are quite restricted with both companies.

jamesbrownontheroad

Been watching out for opportunities to use the Europcar offer, currently many more routes than Hertz, and will be using it to get to London later this week.

A few quibbles - the Europcar One Way website doesn't list pick-up locations alphabetically, making it harder to search for departure points. Also the whole page seems to hang if you select departure and arrival points and then want to go back to change one of them.

Of interest is that Europcar's offer includes some on the continent as well. I spotted some in Germany last week, and there are currently a handful of opportunities to drive from the south coast of Spain to Madrid in the late summer / early autumn.

Confusingly, there are also some one-ways from rental stations on the Balearics going to Barcelona - maybe not such a good deal if you have to pay for the car ferry!

DigForVictory

A link I'll share with a colleague who helps a victim support refuge. Sometimes, it helps to use a clearly hired car to remove folk. Not knowing the size may or may not be an issue.

benjus

This is great, thanks - we're using different airports for leaving and returning for our upcoming holiday, so airport parking isn't an option. We arrive back late at night so were planning to book a taxi for the return anyway, but this is perfect for getting us to the outbound airport.

jamesbrownontheroad

benjus wrote: »

This is great, thanks - we're using different airports for leaving and returning for our upcoming holiday, so airport parking isn't an option. We arrive back late at night so were planning to book a taxi for the return anyway, but this is perfect for getting us to the outbound airport.

Indeed - the pattern with Europcar seems to be pretty consistent. UK towns and cities to (but not from) Heathrow, Luton, Stansted, Birmingham or Manchester Airports.

I've just collected a brand new Fiat 500 Lounge to get me to Luton tomorrow morning. However, this discounted rate is apparently not very familiar to some Europcar employees. After leaving the branch I checked the paperwork in more detailed and it seems the car was issued to me with the full price and additional one-way charge to be paid on delivery. It took a call to Europcar Customer Services to ensure these costs would not be levied. I'll let you know tomorrow if it doesn't go smoothly. Check the paperwork every time folks

benjus

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

Indeed - the pattern with Europcar seems to be pretty consistent. UK towns and cities to (but not from) Heathrow, Luton, Stansted, Birmingham or Manchester Airports.

Gatwick too.

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

I've just collected a brand new Fiat 500 Lounge to get me to Luton tomorrow morning. However, this discounted rate is apparently not very familiar to some Europcar employees. After leaving the branch I checked the paperwork in more detailed and it seems the car was issued to me with the full price and additional one-way charge to be paid on delivery. It took a call to Europcar Customer Services to ensure these costs would not be levied. I'll let you know tomorrow if it doesn't go smoothly. Check the paperwork every time folks

Thanks for that - I'll make sure I check the paperwork.

jamesbrownontheroad

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

I've just collected a brand new Fiat 500 Lounge to get me to Luton tomorrow morning. However, this discounted rate is apparently not very familiar to some Europcar employees. After leaving the branch I checked the paperwork in more detailed and it seems the car was issued to me with the full price and additional one-way charge to be paid on delivery. It took a call to Europcar Customer Services to ensure these costs would not be levied. I'll let you know tomorrow if it doesn't go smoothly. Check the paperwork every time folks

I discovered the problem.

I collected the car early, and the Europcar employee at the departure station did not adjust the return time accordingly, causing it to generate charges for an additional day and one-way charge.

Neither the departure station nor the arrival station could fix this, so it took a few calls to Europcar customer service to have the charges cancelled.

One other important perk to note... £1 One Way rentals appear to count as qualifying rentals in the Europcar Privilege programme. Sign-up for the loyalty scheme before your first rental, and after three rentals you'll get a free weekend (Friday-Monday) rental. :T