If you’ve had to book a rental car at home or abroad in the past year, you’ll notice that the cost has soared. The shortage of new cars caused by the pandemic and then the semiconductor shortage meant manufacturers no longer farmed out excess stock to car rental firms and diverted supply to dealerships.
Here’s our guide on how to keep your car rental costs under control.
Where to get a quote
The company you use for car hire will be dictated by price but also by location. You may have to settle for the firm with an office nearest to you and one which opens and closes at times you’ll want to collect the car then drop it back (many close Sundays or don’t open early). You can get your car delivered to home, but this costs extra.
There can also be extra charges for hiring from an airport or city centre location. Book with a BVRLA member, which adheres to a professional code of conduct.
As an alternative to going direct to big name firms, car hire brokers are third party online sites which will give you a comparison list. In a recent survey of six car hire brokers, Which? recommended Zest for its high customer satisfaction rating. It provides quotes from big name brands in the UK and abroad, and includes important extras.
What you do and don’t get in every car rental
Most companies only provide a basic online drive-away quote that will not include additional extras, such as child seats, sat-navs, paperwork for taking the vehicle abroad or additional drivers.
You choose the type of car you want by size, but don’t expect to get exactly the model used in the illustration. The phrase ‘or similar’ means you’ll get a car of roughly the same type and size. If you’re lucky you may end up with a slightly bigger model, depending on what’s available on the day.
All renters get the ability to use the car for an unlimited mileage in the period of time they rent it for. It should be fully cleaned and ready to go with a full tank of fuel. You top it up on return unless you’ve bought a pre-arranged package, otherwise the rental company charges for fuel and time – and they will certainly charge you more than the going rate at the local petrol station.
To give an example of a basic hire cost (although it’s hard to compare like-for-like) we got an online quote for a Ford Focus (“or similar”) for a long weekend rental in February 2023 from a greater London branch starting at 3pm Friday and ending 10am Monday.
It’s worth noting that you can’t have a half day hire, so make the most of a 24-hour period, i.e., if you rent on a Friday from 3pm, you won’t save any money returning the car at 10am Monday and will still be paying for up to 3pm Monday.
With Europcar, the starter online price for this weekend was £257, compared to Enterprise at £173 and Hertz (for a Vauxhall Astra) at £196. Rental companies like to have upfront payments rather than at the desk, so if you paid at the location these quotes became £281, £191 and £235 respectively.
The insurance racket
You will be insured to drive the car dependent on your age. Generally, UK and European car hire agreements will automatically include CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), theft and third-party liability. This means that if you end up damaging the vehicle, or causing damage to something else, you only need to pay out up to the excess limit, and the car hire company’s own insurance will cover the remainder.
However, that excess can still amount to thousands of pounds. This is where the hire car companies try to extract more money from you to reduce this excess to zero or a nominal sum.
It’s up to you, but many of us have experienced pushy up-selling of extra insurance products at the desk when we were about to get the keys. Taking our weekend sample quote to reduce the excess to zero, Hertz wanted £87 extra.
Insurance excess policies
You don’t have to have excess insurance from the hire car company. Which? is plain on this: ‘insurance from car hire companies is overpriced and poor quality when compared with the policies offered by third parties.’
The alternative to insurance add-ons from the car hire companies is to buy an excess reimbursement policy independent of your rental. The policy is provided by a third party, has no connection to your rental company and does not eliminate your agreed excess.
You reman liable for this amount, which is usually held as a deposit on your credit card. In the event of damage or theft of the vehicle, you pay the excess to the rental company and make a claim on the excess reimbursement policy. You just need to be sure that your credit card limit can comfortably absorb the excess.
Buying an excess reimbursement policy is extra chore but the savings can be remarkable. For example, Insurance4carhire at Swinton provides UK and foreign excess cover by the day or for annual multi-trip policies. Its quoted price to cover an individual for the exact period of our sample hire was £12.79.
Another provider Reduce My Excess, which is backed by insurer AIG, quoted £10.80. Car hire broker Zest includes excess reimbursement insurance as standard and a free second driver at some locations.
Ten tips for a stress-free rental
- Book early. This especially applies to holiday hire cars and for peak times in the UK such as Easter, Christmas and bank holidays.
- Book online and pay upfront but be aware that you can’t cancel less than 48 hours before the rental.
- Get the size of car right at the outset – the cost difference to the next size up is usually not that high.
- If you need an additional driver, add it onto your quote. It costs more if you suddenly decide at the desk.
- Buy excess insurance at the same time as you hire online, but only if you have a high limit on your credit card to pay any charges upfront then claim them back.
- Bring your own sat nav. If the data allowance on your mobile phone will stand it, use maps and buy a holder to stick it to the windscreen or dash.
- Bring your own child seat or booster cushion. This can save you about £40 on our sample three-day hire.
- Allow enough time at collection to agree any existing damage with the staff. Take pictures.
- Bring it back full or you will be charged both for the fuel and for the time taken to refill. Work out where the nearest filling station is to the rental location and allow enough time to top up.
- Allow enough time at drop off to walk round the car with staff and confirm there is no extra damage. If there is, agree it and take pictures.
Alternatives to traditional rental
If you’re likely to want to frequently hire a car for short periods (even by the hour), then joining a car club might be a much better option than a traditional rental, with much better flexibility, as we explain in our car clubs feature.
Full insurance is usually included and the excess is often much lower. You don’t have to wait until an office is open to collect or return your car and you might be able to find a car club car just around the corner from your home.
