Anyone got any advice when looking for a hire car. Might have to hire an Astra at short notice this weekend, doesnt have to be high spec model, just an Astra that goes.
Only ever hired a car whilst on holiday Portugal and Spain so not sure of what costs you have to pay here, eg insurance, upgraded insurance etc.
Thanks
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Daisy,
I would do your homework now . Get out the Yellow Pages and phone around and see what the best weekend deal is , around the airport where I am the bigger companies like Hertz and Avis seem to have some competitive 'all in' weekend deals, Friday Night to Monday Morning.Try them and a couple of the smaller locals or even holiday autos on line.
As to insurance, you need to check what is included. Personally I believe in taking full collision damage waiver.
Remember if you do hire to check the car for any bumps and scrapes BEFORE you take it away and ensure that these are mentioned on the contract form.
Judging by the forecast I would try for a car with air conditioning.
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Thanks for the advice. Just done a few quick quotes online and I'm look at prices between £50 - £70 all in with the big names. Tried one local company but they only do Ford's.
Soon as boss man goes out I will start telephoning a few to see what they can offer me.
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I would say that if you've got a weekend deal at £50, are you going to save much more than a fiver or so by phoning around?
Is it worth it in your time and effort?
It really depends how far the hire depot is from your home and how much it will cost you to get there and back assuming you have to rely on some other form of transport than a car.
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Why not try and get one of the 3 day vauxhall test drive cars?
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If you're a member of the AA, Europcar have good prices. I got a Polo for £32 for the weekend 2 weeks ago. I had an Astra for one day from another outfit and that was about £45.
O
--
Jaguar XJS V12 - comes with free personalised oil tanker.
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Be real thorough when you check for damage before taking the car out. Check inside the boot as well as the outside. I got caught with paint damage inside the boot of a car I hired. Looked like the previous user had been carrying paving slabs in the boot. Paint was all scraped. It didn't show up when I had a quick glance because the body colour was deep blue but when I had a closer look it was very obvious. Gave it a quick rub over with boot polish and didn't have any hassles on return but I was lucky.
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Also, If you get one with A/C, make sure it is working before you accept the hire, I have had a hire company come after me before for over £300 just because I informed them it was not working, and they tried to charge me for the repair. Just go over the whole car with a fine tooth comb and make a note of EVERY little defect no matter how small.
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If you are going to hire a car for more than one week a year it is NOT worth paying the Super CDW (IMHO) but is cheaper and easier to buy a year's cover for £50 (from a firm I had better not mention in case I upset the mods) which covers the Super CDW for every car you hire and however often in the 12 months. I know there is some admin involved but £5 a day to cover a 500 Euro risk is a nonsense. I have a £15000 car insured full comp for £220 a year with protected no claims, a 2nd named driver and legal expenses.
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Why dont you try your local Vauxhall dealership. It was the cheapest i could find in hampshire for a few days in Scotland. Or even try a vauxhall out for three days.. Brian
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best if you book at least 2 days in advace via web if you want cheapest, usually avis or national are fairly cheap, although both have high excess on their insurance if you take the default package, 750 pounds on one, 500 on the other
if you upgrade the insurance they will charge circa 12 pounds a day to reduce the excess to about 150 or 200 pounds, but there will still be an excess, they have a massive profit margin in this
if you plan to hire more than a few days in a year you can buy a policy which will cover the full excess for 12 months for only about 50 pounds per year, from an insurance company not conected with the hire company, do a quick google to find appropriate insurance company - you can see you only need to hire for more than 4 or 5 days per year for this to be a bargin
other than that check and make them note any minor scratches when you pick it up, or you will be charged for them on return
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also dont make the mistake of just jumping in and driving away, as i did this and had a flat tyre on one wheel once, check the car
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I echo everything written here, especially about checking it over. I hired mine (not through choice, insurers choice) from Enterprise Rent-a-car. The bill for ten days was a eye watering £500+ sum (paid for by someone else?s insurance supplier, so I didn't care)
Enterprise were pretty good at checking it over, noting the tiniest of imperfections without me having to prompt them. However, also make sure the spare tyre is installed. They checked mine on departure and arrival, so I was ok there, but they may only check when you come back, and if it?s gone they?ll charge you.
Also, be careful with the petrol too. When I collected the Micra hire car, the tank was seemingly full, but when I refilled it before returning it, it swallowed nearly another gallon. So it wasn't full at all. This is quite hard to check, but i didn't want to get charged £0.90 per Ltr for every litre missing upon returning it. (Had to returned with a full tank)
I tried to burn my additional gallon of petrol by going to the hire place in 2nd gear only, but it was starting to make my ears bleed...
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