Hire car advice

[Archie_tect]

I would often hire a car about 3 or 4 times a year for a week/2weeks at a time. generally the excess is about 600 quid and the insurance on that is about 6 quid a day.. so its alot cheaper for an annual policy for 40 quid. Think about it.. most people don't buy the house insurance with the mortgage (unless its stipulated as part of the mortgage deal) so I don't see a problem with getting a cheaper and often more comprehensive (covers tyres and windscreen) policy.

Wow, meenaghman, I didn't appreciate the excess waiver cover was for a year. I thought you meant £40 per hire period.... your annual excess cover would be fantastic! Brilliant!

 

[mark barker]

Have you considered buying a cheap & cheerful car? I usually pop down to my local auctions and pick something up with a couple of months MOT & tax. If you're not too fussy you can get good runners for under £100 (plus auction fees). Drive it until it dies (or the duration of your trip) and scrap it or sell it on afterwards. I've yet to make a loss on a car this way. Insurance can be arranged for short term usage for not much money, so potentially good savings to be made...

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks everyone.

I didn't mention the dog! Er, there will be a smallish dog too ...

I think potential dirt and damage to a car from the bikes & dog plus the added security of a van is making that seem like a better bet for us.

I like the sound of the 3rd party excess protection insurance - thanks for that link.

We will definitely go for the 'refill tank ourselves' option.

We will be leaving early on a Saturday and getting back on the following Saturday evening so I think paying for extended rental is unavoidable.

We definitely will not be looking at buying a vehicle for the trip - the driver already owns an old vehicle but we don't trust it to get us to Scotland and back!

 

[Night Train]

I always get the accident damage waiver when I hire. It means that I don't have to worry about scrapes, knocks or other damage.
I don't generally damage vehicles but just this weekend my car got hit while parked on the street over night, not bad but scrapes and paint taken off on the rear quarter.

Make sure that you go over the vehicle with a fine tooth comb before signing for it. Note down every bit of damage and anything that doesn't work otherwise you could get charged for it when you return it. Needless to say, make sure it is legal, lights, tyres, tax disc, etc. as any fines are down to the driver not the hire company.

I usually get my vans from Salford Van hire, mainly because they are local and convenient.

Picking up and returning with a full tank is better then a part full tank. I got a hire car that had a quarter tank. I filled it but didn't use it all and returned it with half a tank and had to lose the cost on that.

 

[ColinJ]

I always get the accident damage waiver when I hire. It means that I don't have to worry about scrapes, knocks or other damage.
...



Make sure that you go over the vehicle with a fine tooth comb before signing for it. Note down every bit of damage and anything that doesn't work otherwise you could get charged for it when you return it.

All this is making me nervous! It would be really easy to miss a little dent or scratch on the bodywork, or maybe a tiny rip in the upholstery.

As for things not working ... I'd expect the vehicle to be in perfect working order and to have cover against anything going wrong during the hire period. I'm not a mechanic and neither is my pal so we are only going to spot an obvious defect when the vehicle is picked up. Some subtle or intermittent fault is probably going to slip past us.

Surely if we buy the insurance, we are covered so we shouldn't need to check the vehicle, other than to make sure it looks and sounds like it would get to Scotland and back okay?

I was hoping that we could hire something reliable that would get us to Scotland and back without breaking down. If something did go wrong, I'd want to be able to call the RAC or AA or similar company to sort us out. If the fault was on the outward journey, I'd want the fault to fixed quickly or a replacement vehicle provided promptly to allow us to continue. I'd want to be covered against theft, driving accident, vandalism or accidental damage inside the vehicle.

Basically, I want to know upfront how much we are paying and for there to be no comeback on us no matter what happens, and I want to be sure that our trip goes ahead as planned, with no serious delays. I'd want this to cost less than £300 for Sat am - Sat pm (or Fri pm to Mon am if the hire company wasn't open at convenient times at the weekend). Is that realistic?

Given that Globalti found a van hire which was £125 for 7 days, I can't believe that somebody wouldn't provide a suitable vehicle with all the insurance and breakdown cover we needed for less than £300 for 8-10 days.

 

[Archie_tect]

Time to get surfing?

 

[ColinJ]

Time to get surfing?

I've been looking around this afternoon.

All this talk of extra charges for valeting and checking vehicles with fine tooth combs makes it sound like car/van hire companies are just looking for any old excuse to sting you with extra charges!

Returning a vehicle with the same amount of fuel in it that it started with is obviously fair.

I think it is only right to return a vehicle in a pretty clean condition but I would have thought that removing any litter, avoiding stains from spilled food & drinks (and oil!), and then spending 10 minutes hoovering the interior before returning it ought to be enough, surely?

 

[Night Train]

With the accident damage waiver you shouldn't be stung for anything. A clean up of litter, mud and spills is just courtesy but not everyone does. I have collected cars that still had kids toys in the back and sandwiches in the glovebox. Trucks, however, have always been spotless, even the old tired ones.
With one car I had to return the contents of the boot to the previous user.

However, the driver would still be liable for any defects that would make the vehicle illegal.
I usually do a lights and tyre check and then cross compare the documents as a minimum.
I'll also try to check any electric windows, sunroof, central locking (works on all doors), just so that I can be sure the vehicle can be made secure when I need to park.

The hire company will have either a group recovery policy with the AA or RAC but some commercial vehicle hire may have their own, or local, garage service. You can check the limitations of this before you hire.
Some companies will have a 'return to base' recovery so, for example, your weekend in Scotland could be made pointless if you were nearly there and then recovered back to base for a replacement vehicle.

I was doing a house move from London to Salford when the truck broke down. The recovery man was instructed to take the truck back to the hire depot to tranship the load to a replacement truck. I convinced him to take me to my destination instead, as it was on the way, and then help me unload first before going to the depot for a replacement.

 

[Black knight]

I also use an annual excess cover policy.

Bought mine through Questor. Was about £50 iirc.

Covers the excess up to £2K but also covers quite a lot extra like theft cover if the vehicle gets broken into.

https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/

 

[asterix]

Quite along time ago we used to hire a van a lot - once or twice a week - and I can't remember any problem with unfair claims for damage. The vehicles we hired were newish but rarely in pristine condition.

 

[Maz]

Another vote for a small van.

Some vans come with plyboard panel-lined floors, so any scrapes/oil stains will hopefully go unnoticed. I reckon it would be worth laying down an old bedsheet for keeping the car clean, considering your cargo. I do this in my car when taking stuff down to the recycling centre.

I wouldn't get a family car and fold down the rear seats - it'd be too easy to scrape or mark the car's upholstery, etc.

 

[pshore]

I must be getting old - I am worn out just reading this thread. The complications of booking a holiday make me want to stay at home instead.


Saying that, I have just been trying to book bikes onto trains for a cycle tour. It's as much of a head banger. I pressed the wrong option earlier and got through to an Indian call centre. They tried so hard but alas as soon as I heard the hissy line I knew they didn't have a chance.

 

[Archie_tect]

...and got through to an Indian call centre...

*smoke signal* "Quick, send help, my blanket's caught fire..."

 

[ColinJ]

Another vote for a small van.

Some vans come with plyboard panel-lined floors, so any scrapes/oil stains will hopefully go unnoticed. I reckon it would be worth laying down an old bedsheet for keeping the car clean, considering your cargo. I do this in my car when taking stuff down to the recycling centre.

I wouldn't get a family car and fold down the rear seats - it'd be too easy to scrape or mark the car's upholstery, etc.

It looks likely to be a small van and I'll definitely be putting old sheets/blankets/duvets under/over/between the bikes.

There's a small garage round the corner from me that does van hire so I'll stroll round and have a word with them when I go to the market tomorrow. Let's see if they can compete with the big boys!

 

[soulful dog]

Make sure you check the windscreen washers work before you drive off in your van! They'll be much needed to help wipe off all the dead insects on those windy Scottish roads....

I use hire vans for work and the amount with washers that don't work is unbelievable, even had the problem on a couple of fairly new vans.