To think car hire booking is the most stressful thing about holidays?!

[IcarusFlies]

Need to book a car for 2 weeks, mid Aug (eek!) from a major European city. Found a suitable vehicle finally, after endless googling of boot sizes… air con… meet and greet to make it easier to pick up… automatic… then read the small print… and finally check the reviews for the car provider itself. Abysmal!! Back to square bloody one. How does anyone ever bloody book a hire car?!? Please help, I’m so stressed by now. ARGHHH

Use a car hire company? Hertz or similar?
Choose your car, pay, done

I was using an aggregator website. I had looked at the direct providers but they’re about 20% more expensive…

Yanbu, so much small print: huge excess, special insurance to cover the excess, some special insurance only covers certain things, even the big companies ime

THANK YOU. But I have to get the car booked tomorrow… absolutely must.

Take out insurance for car hire - so much cheaper than paying so the super cover from the car hire provider. Look on the Martin Lewis website for details.

Thank you, I will do that. I was being offered coverage of the excess for £100…

If you are in peak times, I would book it, whether with a third party or direct (direct is better for many reasons). They always go up, and can become unavailable. I waited for just 36 hours to have my friend who I was going with (in February, so not peak times) and it was going up as I watched. We went for a complete package in the end where they covered everything, despite being quite thrifty travellers. Yes it was dearer, but despite being a careful driver, I could not guarantee that some things that happen to a car would not happen. I booked a manual, but got an automatic, and was thankful for that. There are loads of things you can do to make a hire car cheaper abroad - reducemyexcess etc. but time is not on your side. Wishing you the best, xx

Yeah Insurance4 car hire are great- years worth of cover for what most car hire companies charge for a fortnight!

Also, have you looked at Zest? I find the prices very competitive and fully comp is included. "Which" recommended provider too!

We use Skyscanner for car hire usually, don’t bother looking at all the search results. Go in and filter straight away, the filters are simpler to use on SkyScanner than other sites I’ve found. I select to only see the big international companies and also I usually want to pick up in the airport terminal rather than shuttle etc. You can select the features you want - we also go for unlimited mileage.

We pick Hertz, Sixt or Enterprise usually - whichever is best value. This is because I usually don’t want to risk a local company and these three have been the best overall we’ve found. Avis and Europcar are also fine, but I have to use Sixt for work where possible due to policy and DH has to use Hertz or Enterprise, so we’re most used to them.

We buy excess reimbursement insurance separately from ChewInsurance (we have an annual policy, you can buy single trip policy). This is the better way to do it if you can afford to pay the excess up front and then claim it back.

Oh and if you’re using the standalone excess reimbursement insurance rather than buying the car hire’s waiver, you will normally need to provide the car hire company with a credit card to hold on file. This will need to be in the name of the person making the booking. The limit will need to be big enough to cover a deposit.

We use Questor and it is 80 pounds for annual for worldwide !

I use https://www.holidayautos.com/#/searchcars

https://turo.com/us/en/search?country=GB&defaultZoomLevel=9.847752661730242&delivery=false&deliveryLocationType=googlePlace&endDate=07%2F16%2F2023&endTime=10%3A00&isMapSearch=true&itemsPerPage=200&latitude=52.54476451174272&location=Map%20location&locationType=MAP&longitude=-1.1045367172922624&northEastLatitude=52.81489674175435&northEastLongitude=-0.7392174238140115&pickupType=ALL&region=England&sortType=RELEVANCE&southWestLatitude=52.27295952566791&southWestLongitude=-1.4698560107705134&startDate=07%2F13%2F2023&startTime=10%3A00&useDefaultMaximumDistance=true

Ive used Turo quite a few times this year, and it’s so much cheaper. I’m in the US, but I’d guess it’s a good deal in the UK too.

I use a comparison website and always go with a well known firm as they don't muck you around with ridiculous charges the way some local firms do.

As for looking up the details of every make of car I can't be bothered. I'm not buying it, only hiring it for a few days. I really don't care which car I get so long as it is large enough to carry 2/4 people and a bit of luggage.

Most companies won't guarantee a car type anyway. They may quote you for a Ford focus, but it will be for a Ford Focus 'type' or equivalent. When you turn up it could be a Golf or the same size Seat, Citroen, Opel etc. There's no point in getting bogged down in the details of a particular model.

You also need to be mindful that for almost all car hire companies you're booking a class of car, not specific car and the class doesn't always make sense. Trying to ensure you have particular features or boot size is really difficult. Car rental companies sold off/didn't restock during vivid and have been feeling the effects ever since- there are just not enough cars available so prices are sky high. It's definitely worth taking note of provider reviews but even then if it's a national or international company things can vary hugely from one rental location to another.

*during Covid

Thanks - I’m aware we might not get the exact model but I’ve been trying to make sure we get one with enough boot space, which has been the challenge. Thank you, you’ve all been really helpful and I’ll give it another go today.

I did it! Finally. Thank you for all your help, that’s a weight off my mind.

Are there car share schemes in the area, or use public transport?