How to avoid being ripped off by a car rental company?

jimi_man

Lavendyr said:

eDicky said:

Lavendyr said:

you will need to tell them that you have car hire excess insurance,

Why will you need to tell them? I disagree - if you don't want to buy the hire firm's extra insurance just politely say 'no thanks', and nothing else, as would an experienced hirer.

OK, you don't need to, but it can be helpful if you do. 

I agree with eDicky. It just gives the car hire company an opportunity to come up with a list of reasons as to why your insurance is no good. Less is more in this situation and they are used to people saying no and that’s it. 

531063

Stay away from Goldcar, look up their reviews

Bluebelle_28

Hi i was looking into hiring a car at Glasgow Airport, to plan to travel and stay on the isle of bute and isle of arran, these islands are within easy access to mainland by ferry. Would anyone know what the t&cs are with rental companies (Europcar and avis). It doesn't seem to be very clear on their t&cs. I just noticed something about mainland uk, them having trackers if i go over boarder in Ireland and be afraid this would occur extra hidden charges?

My other question... has anyone hired a car (in uk) without a credit card before and who was this with? What is the process? I only have a debit card, no credit card. 

Many thanks 

user1977

Bluebelle_28 said:

Hi i was looking into hiring a car at Glasgow Airport, to plan to travel and stay on the isle of bute and isle of arran, these islands are within easy access to mainland by ferry. Would anyone know what the t&cs are with rental companies (Europcar and avis). It doesn't seem to be very clear on their t&cs. I just noticed something about mainland uk, them having trackers if i go over border in Ireland and be afraid this would occur extra hidden charges? 

I am pretty certain that when Europcar talks about "mainland UK and Northern Ireland" they don't literally mean the geographical mainland of Great Britain, just "the UK minus Northern Ireland" i.e. England, Scotland and Wales (including their respective islands) and that the prohibition is taking it outside the UK.

No reason why they ought to care about you going on Scottish ferries (though you may wish to bear in mind whether the fares make it financial sense to take your car with you, and booking availability on the ferries, as well as problems with reliability because of weather or ferry breakdowns - it's not unknown to be stuck on Arran if your ferry is cancelled, and the next x crossings are fully booked).

NoodleDoodleMan

There are ongoing issues in respect of the ferry to Arran - best check it out in detail beforehand.

The normal route is from Ardrossan, however there is a stopgap service from Troon due to problems, reportedly to end in the not too distant future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0m8078j49yo

There is hardly a week goes by that BBC Radio Scotland's "Good Morning Scotland" doesn't have a feature about ongoing ferry issues - a big headache for the Scottish Government.