hiring a car in the UK

[Themasterandmargaritas]

Any recommendations for car hire companies in the UK?

Also what do I need to do re: car seats?Hiring them with the car seems hugely expensive. Dc are 8,6 and 3.

Vivizo, is that the name? or Sixt.

Beware of hiring through a website where the agreement is with the website and not with the hire company. Also be aware of "total cover" insurance deals where the insurance is not connected so if there's damage you have to pay up front and then claim back. A pain in the arse.

Buy car seats it's probably cheaper.

On the insurance thing, I mean: if you buy total cover for every kind of prang even if it's your fault, you expect that you won't have to pay when you hand the car back because you are covered.

However on some, you have to pay upfront and claim. Very annoying if you are leaving for another country.

i've had good experiences with Avis and Enterprise

how long will you be here? can you bring car seats with you?

First hire will be for 3 days then off to France with Ryan Air so I can't take them with me or there will be no room for clothes!

Second hire will be for two weeks. I can pop to Tesco and get boosters. Can the 3 yo go in a booster? He weighs a bloody tonne.

Also look for independent CDW it worked out at £11 for 3 days against £11 per day from Avis. Just google CDW insurance . Don't wait until you go to pick car up as they will only tell you then that you are liable for the first £600 or so of damage. Also walk round the car VERY carefully . The one we had from Birmingham Airport Had a big scuff on bumper they had missed and that we would have been stung for and TWO illegal tyres.

i'd want a 3 yr old in a 5 point harness personally. though technically you can put them in a highback booster if you really want to

I'd second Enterprise - they always seem to be heaps cheaper than the competition, and are always charming when we use them: drive me home after I drop off the hire car, didn't charge me a penny when someone drove into the back of the car and scratched the bumper (only a small scratch mind, but still...).

Thanks. In the end i used world wide reservations who are like a car hire broker and I've got a decent deal ending up with Alamo. In terms of CDW where can i get cover on the net rather than using Alamos?

excess protection.co.uk

NB I've no experience of them so can't guarantee!

we used these people Did not have to claim so cant actully say how good they would be. We decided to get extra CDW after TWO lots of friends had little bumps in hire cars and got charged £600 .

We have rented abroad with car hire 3000 - they are also a broker, but they do their own CDW excess waiver which was around £12 for 5 days in France.

We did have to claim - our excess was £500 with Europcar - & once we'd sent all the paperwork (PITA) they paid up, no problem.