Car Hire Tips UK

When the car rental companies are organizing their fleets and setting their prices they look at the most popular times to rent and price up accordingly. For leisure rentals this means that the most popular time to hire a car is at the weekend. No great surprises there.

The same is true when people hire vans too, as you tend to do jobs that need vans at the weekend too. This gives the rental companies something of a problem. In order to service the demand of the leisure customers at the weekend they need to provide enough cars and vans to cover their orders. This means that in the week they could be stuck with too many cars doing nothing.

As a customer, you really want to be renting when they have too many cars doing nothing because this is where you can get some really great rental bargains. One of the ways rental firms measure performance is on vehicle utilization so there’s really nothing worse than having cars sitting around doing nothing.

That’s where you come in. If you need a car at the weekend when everyone else does you’re going to pay the going rate, but imagine you turning up when the car park’s full and there’s no queue. If you get this right, you’ll be amazed at how cheap you can get that car rented for.

I know it’s often impractical to travel during the week instead of the weekend but just compare the rates you can get sometimes, before you need to travel and you might see some rates that make you think twice before you follow the crowd.

One final tip on this theme is to look out for seasonal events that can also cause this effect on rental companies. Christmas is hugely busy so imagine how many cars are parked doing nothing at the beginning of January. The same logic can apply to regional events, festivals, sports events, etc. so do some research if you can and travel when it you can get the best deals.

Most of the time when people are getting quotes for car hire they’ll go for either a compact or economy car, based on the logical assumption that these are going to return the best prices; and for the most part you’d be right. However, this is somewhere else where you could sniff out a bargain.

Because most people book economy and compact cars these are in the greatest demand, have the greatest overall fleet and the lowest holding costs for the rental company. The larger car groups are in much lower volume and have far higher costs if they don’t get rented out to customers.

Because of this the rental companies will manage their availability of the larger car groups as carefully as possible to avoid getting stuck with these cars in the car park. With this in mind if you’re making a last minute booking it’s worth checking the prices on larger cars too as you might be in for a pleasant surprise.

There’s two ways you can benefit from this situation. The first (and most obvious) way is that the rental company may well have priced a larger car cheaper than a car in the smaller but more popular compact category. If this is the case you might as well take advantage right away and get more car for your money.

The second (and less obvious) way to benefit in this situation is to try and get a free upgrade. This method can take a little more cheek on your part but it’s worth asking about free upgrades when you collect your vehicle.

If it’s late in the day on a Friday for example, the station doesn’t want to be stuck with any big cars in the car park, as it could be stuck with them until Monday. If they’re going to be stuck with anything, they’d much rather it was a small car as it’ll cost them less and there’s always the chance that they’ll shift it on Saturday.

In this scenario you could well get a car two or three groups bigger without having to pay any more (or very little more) for the privilege, and the rental station will probably be happy with the deal too, so it’s worth asking.

I recently traveled from Leeds to London on the train as I wanted a nice stress free journey, and ideally needed to get some work done on my laptop while I was traveling. Having a meeting in 4 hours time, I took a train that would arrive, leaving me half an hour to spare for the final leg across London.

Although the train ticket was more expensive than hiring and fuelling a small car to do the same journey, I thought with the journey times being so similar it would be an ideal opportunity to catch up on a bit of work on a stress free journey.

The ideal was shattered early on. I arrived for my train and was pleased to see it was waiting for me, on time and all ready to go. However, when I tried to find a seat with a table that was another matter. It wasn’t that there weren’t any; they were just all plastered with “Reserved” notices. A little disgruntled I settled down in a slightly more cramped single row seat.

Pulling down the little seat back table in front of me I realized that it wasn’t big enough to accommodate my modest (15” screen) laptop so up it went again and my lap really was the only place to use. Oh well, there was a plug to my side so providing I could get comfy, at least I knew I wouldn’t run out of juice.

The train set off and I began to work, trying out several yoga moves to either stop the pins and needles setting in or avoid the glare of the sun (yes, you remember that day too?). Suffice to say it wasn’t going great. After about half an hour I gave up, consoling myself that I could at least have a little nap and arrive fresh for my meeting later on.

Just outside Doncaster station the wagons ground to a halt. And there we sat for about twenty minutes before a voice came over the intercom apologizing for the delay while an “incident” was occurring in the Doncaster area. I never did find out what that “incident” was.

So a further half an hour later we arrive in a very busy Doncaster where we’re asked to change trains for reasons unknown. It dawns on me that I’m going to be late for my meeting so I try to find out my new ETA from a nearby rail worker. He has no idea and advises me not to trust what’s written on the computer screens either as they’re on the blink. Apparently the only reliable source of information is blaring out from the distorted station speakers.

The “incident” continues; the station gets fuller as other trains arrive. About an hour later a train for London is on the platform and a sweaty, angry horde of commuter clamber onboard in search of a seat. I refuse the cattle train option, reasoning that if the “incident” is over another train should be along soon.

Sure enough, after another ten minutes there’s another train going my way and this one is a little less cramped so I climb on. Finding one of the few available seats I take a deep breath and work out how late I’m going to be for the meeting. It all adds up to just over two hours so I join the throng of people ringing through to let people know when they’ll arrive.
The meeting was scheduled for two hours and other participants needed to be elsewhere after so it looked like my day was pretty much ruined at this point. Having no other reason to continue the journey I got off at Peterborough, swapped platforms and headed home.

Now I know I was unlucky, I know that trains sometimes run on-time too, but I couldn’t escape that feeling of helplessness that there was nothing I could do to escape my fate. At least, stuck in traffic, I can plan alternate routes, take short cuts, avoid traffic jams. On balance, next time I’ll take the car.

If you’re looking for cheap car hire, most of the tips you’ll read, including a lot of those here, will tell you how to get the cheapest price when you rent a car. But there are more ways to cut the cost of your car hire than just the price you pay for the rental.

With the ever increasing price of fuel these days following a few simple rules to cut the amount of petrol (or diesel) you use could end up saving you a lot of money. Luckily, rental cars are usually well maintained and the tyres correctly inflated so they should already be reasonably efficient to start with.

Avoid short trips
Avoid taking lots of short journeys if possible. Try to combine short trips so that once you warm up the engine, you keep it running for a while. Continually warming up your engine for lots of short journeys will waste fuel.

Turn off the air conditioning
Try not to excessively use your air conditioning, as this will cause your car to burn more fuel. On the other hand, driving with the windows down is also inefficient as the drag on the car increases, especially at high speeds.

As a general rule, it’s most efficient to use air conditioning for motorway driving only when necessary and wind the windows down on slower journeys.

Drive Slower
Avoid erratic driving. Driving like a boy-racer by flooring the accelerator at the lights when in a rush or slamming on the brakes when driving too fast you will increase your cars fuel consumption (up to 60%). Try to accelerate and brake smoothly and steadily to improve fuel economy as well as your road safety.

Drive at the recommended speed. If you drive too fast you will notice your fuel gauge dropping quickly. Every 5 miles per hour that you drive over 60mph can reduce your fuel economy by 10%. If you’re not in a hurry to get anywhere, doing 70mph will use between 20% and 30% more fuel than doing 50mph - suddenly being stuck behind a lorry doesn’t seem so bad!

Don’t rev the engine. Revving the engine whilst stationary does nothing except waste fuel!

Lose excess weight
Avoid driving with an unnecessarily full car. An empty roof rack or a full boot will add to your fuel consumption.

Avoid idling
Avoid excessive idling of your engine. Many people run their engines whilst stationary in order to warm them up but the car is then consuming fuel but not going anywhere. Instead invest in some decent de-icer and try to drive off straight away.

If waiting somewhere for more than a few minutes, waiting to pick someone up or stuck in a  traffic jam then it is often more economical to switch the engine off. Idling also adds to pollution.

Use the gears wisely
Drive in the correct gear. The correct use of gears can make savings on your fuel bill of up to 15%! Most fuel is consumed in the lower gears when starting as more power is needed but when driving at higher speeds you should drive in the highest gear possible for best fuel economy.

Read the road ahead
When driving, try to look ahead and read the conditions of the road. Look out for anything that might require you to slow down or stop such as traffic lights or someone attempting to park. By anticipate what is coming up, you’ll not only be a safer driver, but you’ll save fuel by starting to slow down early and not needing to come to a stop.

So, follow this simple guide and you save a few more pounds.

You’ll have no doubt seen all the press coverage about environmentally friendly hybrid cars, how green they are (or not) and how you should consider one if you’re going to rent a car in the future. So, let’s take a look at them and see if it’s the right choice for you.

Firstly, what is a hybrid car? Hybrid cars combine the use of two power sources to power the car. There are a number of different hybrid car types available including electric cars, bio-ethanol cars, diesel cars, bio-diesel cars, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cars, and alternate fuel cars such as hydrogen cars, but the most common hybrids cars available on the market today use a combination of both petrol combustion engines and electric motors.

The benefits come from driving a car which combines a petrol engine with other fuel sources, which will then produce less CO2 and pollution. This is better for the environment in the long run but in addition to this there are some financial benefits as often hybrid cars are exempt from the London congestion charge and can qualify for cheaper car tax.

So, if you’re looking to rent a car sometime in the near future, you now know a bit more about your choices when it comes to a hybrid.

With much talk in the media about the environment and the ecological impact of virtually everything we do, it’s time to take a look at the car rental industry to see how “green” car hire is and what the rental firms are doing to become more eco friendly.

Most of the major car rental companies have already recognised the growth in customer demand for low emission cars and have started to change their fleets to accommodate.  The range of low emission cars currently available is quite limited, both in options and rental locations, but it’s growing quickly with changing patterns in customer demand.

So, who’s doing what?

Avis Sweden has invested in more than 400 of the new ethanol-powered Saab 9-5 BioPower cars, along with around 75 Ford Flexi-fuel and 20 Toyota Prius. In the US, Avis have added 500 Nissan Altima Hybrid vehicles and 1,000 Toyota Priuses to their fleet. In the UK they have reduced their rental fleet emissions by 4%. Avis has also been a carbon neutral company since 2000.

Hertz have introduced a “green collection” which allows you to choose from a range of cars that offer a weighted CO2 output level of less than 140g/km and achieve 40 - 65 MPG, depending upon vehicle size. This weighted CO2 level is already below the 2008 voluntary levels set by the EU for the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. This collection is available from 50 selected outlets across Europe.

Holiday autos have also launched a range of hybrid cars in selected locations across Europe through its rental partners. If you want to go really green though and live in London, why not try out an electric car. Future Vehicles (www.futurevehicles.co.uk) was one of the first to set up in this market, offering cars within the M25 area.

If you’re hiring a car and are travelling with young children, some car rental companies (and a legal requirement in some countries) will insist that you provide the kids with a suitable car seat. Of course, this is an extra that the rental company will charge you for so make sure you find out about this cost in advance.

When booking a child’s car seat make sure that you’re getting the right seat for the job, e.g. forward facing, backward facing, etc, etc. You need to specify this at the time of ordering to make sure that they will have one when you arrive.

When you actually arrive to collect your hire car make sure that the seat you’re provided with is in good condition and fits securely in the vehicle. If you’re unsure or it doesn’t look right, ask them to have a look and see if either you’re doing something wrong or whether the seat doesn’t fit correctly in the car you’re hiring (in some cases they might even change the car as they have more of them than car seats).

If you’re child is a little older and only requires a booster seat this might not be available from the rental company so you’ll have to make separate provision by either bringing your own, or buying one locally when you arrive.

If you’re renting a car for while you’re on holiday chances are you’ll be driving in a foreign country. When taking a hire car abroad there are several things that you need to consider including the differences in driving conditions, speed limits, local laws, and more, so it’s best to be prepared before you go.

One of the biggest differences between countries is which side of the road to drive on. If you’re British and have driven in Spain for example, you’ll know that this can be a bit of a culture shock compared to what you’re used to.

Whatever the case, make sure you’re familiar with the basic road signs, any legal requirements of driving in a different country (in some countries carrying things like warning triangles is a legal requirement so make sure your hire car has one if required).

Also remember that signs in different countries can mean different things. For instance a circle with 50 in it means a fifty mile per hour speed limit whereas in France a very similar looking sign means a fifty kilometre speed limit.

If you’re travelling in a new country with all these different conditions to keep you busy it’s a good idea to plan your route in advance and have a good map reader as your front sear passenger. The last thing you need to do with all these new conditions to worry about, is start looking at a map at the same time.

Car rental rates are usually governed to some extent by length or rental so you can get hourly rates, daily rates, weekly rates, even monthly rates if you plan to rent a car as an alternative to short term leasing. In between all of these there are also things like special “weekend” rates (which can be as long as 4 days) and a range of other rates depending on when the rental company needs to move it’s fleet around.

All very interesting you might think, but how does that benefit you? Well, just having an idea that this is how the rates work means that with a little flexibility in your travel arrangements you could save yourself a lot of money.

To demonstrate this, let’s take an example of two rental requests with very small differences to the rental but huge impact to the cost.

Rental 1
Check out on Thursday morning at 11:30 am
Return on Monday at 12:30pm

Rental 2
Check out on Thursday at 12:00 noon
Return on Monday at 11:30am

While the two rentals look very similar they would be charged very differently. For instance Car Hire Company X will charge Rental 1 out as a 5 day rental on their daily rates, but Rental 2 from the same company would be a 4 day rental on their discounted weekend rates. So, half an hour or so adjustments to your journey can make a big difference.

All car hire companies have age restrictions on who can drive their fleet of rental cars. This age varies both from company to company and also depending on which country you want to hire a car in.

Age restrictions can allow young drivers to rent cars from 18 years old in some cases, but often go up as high as 25 before you don’t need to worry about it anymore. With some luxury car hire firms the minimum rental age can be much higher, even as high as 45 on some sports cars like Ferraris.

As with additional drivers, young drivers may often have to pay a premium for hiring a car. In most cases this additional cost can be justified by the extra insurance cost to the rental company for hiring cars to drivers between the ages of say, 21 to 25.

For corporate car rentals these rules sometimes don’t apply as the company will have a separate agreement with the rental firm to cover the additional insurance liability of hiring to young drivers.

Of course age restrictions don’t only apply to young drivers. If you’re advancing in years it pays to check whether you’re still allowed to rent a car. Some companies will stop renting to you after you’re 75th birthday for example.