Car Hire Top Tips / Advice

Rental_Sales_Agent

Hey MSE family :hello:

My name is Tim and I work as a Rental Sales Agent at one of London's major airports and at one of the big players, I really enjoy my job, however I am an ethical seller and after reading quite a few negative experiences I would like to provide some top tips for your car hire needs.

1) Payment. Read the conditions. Sounds simple? Way too many times a day do I see people coming to the counter having paid online with one of the following: prepaid card, virtual card, partners / parents card, debit card (despite being very clear only credit card). We are then asked why payment was accepted online, this is simply put as when making the booking you have agreed that you have the required credit card in your name.

Customers then on arrival get very upset when they are informed that payment cannot be accepted by these methods, in the majority of cases if you can change the card to one that is accepted in your name then a refund will be processed to the original.

However there are still many cases where the customer has only come with cash / prepaid cards or debit cards that are not accepted. In most of these cases you will be left with no car and no refund as you failed to meet the conditions of rental.

Always check the payment card you are using is in your own name and that it is an accepted payment method. Also leave enough funds to cover the security deposit that will need to be held at the desk regardless of what level of cover you have taken out.


2) Documents. Passport and driving licence should be enough? Not always. If your paying at a company that accepts debit card for example you will be asked for proof of address, so make sure it is an acceptable one like a bank statement or a utility bill (dated within the last 3 months).

Again you would be shocked about the amount of people that will say the handwritten address on the contacts page of the passport is proof or the address on the drivers license, it simply is not good enough. Bring a physical bill, not a doctors letter or a debt letter these will not be accepted.

DVLA licence check code is another important one to remember and you can get one a few weeks in advance by going to the government link (as I am a new user this cannot be posted) be prepared that if you have more than 6 points that most companies will not rent and that if you have any drink driving / dangerous driving or similar related offences then you have pretty much no chance unless the agent does not check properly.

Have your passport in hand, DVLA check code (printed is better as DVLA site is down way too often) and a recent acceptable form of proof of address.


3. Provide All Details. This is contact details and flight details. It is important to provide flight details as many rental companies have a clause of only holding a car for 1/2 hours after your confirmed pick time. Even providing a flight number does not guarantee this but can help. If you know that the flight your on will be delayed make every effort to contact the rental agency to inform them of this, then this should help avoid further problems at the rental counter.

Without this if the rental agency is overbooked you may see your booking cancelled, usually a refund is provided, remember to remain as calm as possible though as this can be cancelled with charge also, being rude to the rental agent who is effectively doing as instructed by the employer may see this happen.

Another possibility that may happen is you may be offered an alternative category than the one you booked, this is the agents opportunity to effectively up-sell you if you did not notify them. This happens often, but is often cheaper than re-booking with another supplier / losing what you already prepaid.

Provide as much contact information as you can do so. If your flight plans change inform the car hire company as soon as possible. Book for one hour after your flight lands to give yourself a little extra flexibility.


4) How to book. Consider this, you have many options when booking a car. You can book usually when booking through your airline / travel provider but these are not actually your airline making the booking for you, they are just a layer between you and another third party provider like Rental Cars or Cartrawler which also have hundreds of sub branded companies.

It can usually work out cheaper to book through them and certainly easier than shopping around yourself. I do not believe it is worth it, many of the problems arise when in fact using a third party.

The most common issue is the insurance they sell you online. You bought an insurance online and make your way to desk expecting to be fully covered for your trip, that is when the rental agent will inform you otherwise and put the fear in to you. You could be charged £800 / £1000 / £1200 / £1500 (depending which company) for any damage when the car returns. Then you need to reclaim the money (most are not even this honest and will just tell you the policy is not even accepted).

The category of car you get. Remember this does state or similar and the online third party may well show you a picture of a car that the supplier you go to do not even have on fleet. They book with all the car hire companies who all use a variety of different cars, so please do not get your heart set on a specific category or throw a tantrum about it in this case.

The luggage room. I see voucher after voucher from third party booking agents that claim a Ford Focus or similar will have a boot size for 3/4 luggage's. Be realistic they do not. Often when you book direct you will get a much more sensible offering of 1 luggage and 1 hand luggage. In fact the actual referral to 3/4 luggage was meant as hand luggage by the third party but they do not clearly state this.

In my opinion. Book directly as if you need to make any changes many time the third party do not provide these details to the main supplier and it ends up in the customer getting over charged. When you book direct they have all your contact information, when you book in direct they do not.

If you book directly the agent will be more courteous to you in general as you being the customer will get a customer survey score at the end and this directly impacts the employee's commission level, this does not happen on third party bookings.

If you are a person that does want cheap insurance then buy an annual policy online these are often cheaper than the ones even the third party offer and at least there is no confusion in what you have.


5) General advice. Travelling can be exhausting and frustrating we get that. However far too often the customer is tired and really rude. Manners cost nothing and can be the difference between having a nice free upgrade on the shiny new fleet delivered, just because the rental agent liked you (even if you do not buy anything!) or the car that has done 25,000 miles and has a list of damage longer than the rental contract.

I do not expect you as customers to feel any sympathy, you are just there to get what you asked for, however please remember that the people behind the counter are just doing a job, that is a stressful job with lots of targets, yes it is designed to part you with your cash to up-sell and it is a commission job. That said just giving the rental agent the chance to ask their questions and responding in a polite way goes a country mile.

If you are a customer that like to add insurance for peace of mind (I genuinely do) and yes its going to be more expensive in the long run, but some people prefer less hassle then add it at the desk, If you have booked directly it will be the same price, you can usually negotiate a free upgrade with it too! Same applies with 2nd drivers (these fees can be waived) with insurance if you barter a good deal! if you pre book them though you have no chance as the rental agent gets nothing from pre booked items.

If you have any questions / would like support I am around every day or so to answer.

:beer: