The car hire tips thread

[davefl]

@sloth This is the problem, there is no pattern to these pricing algorithms that we mere humans can understand.

Fwiw, I found in the past 2 years carehireba was alwways cheaper than the avis/budget sites for the USA, but it isn’t for europe this time.

If you have a membership Costco often works out even cheaper but apparently the entirity of Austria and/or Vienna Airport don’t exist as far as they are concerned.

[sloth]

davefl wrote:

@sloth This is the problem, there is no pattern to these pricing algorithms that we mere humans can understand.

Fwiw, I found in the past 2 years carehireba was alwways cheaper than the avis/budget sites for the USA, but it isn’t for europe this time.

If you have a membership Costco often works out even cheaper but apparently the entirity of Austria and/or Vienna Airport don’t exist as far as they are concerned.

Agreed, but checking around always seems to give the best price ime. I also find they generally lower prices up until 3 weeks prior to the rental and free cancellations help with this

I am a Costco member. What is the discount link/method for this pls?

[davefl]

@sloth https://www.costcotravel.co.uk/car-hire/offers/car-hire-offer

Additional driver free on costco rentals

[sloth]

davefl wrote:

@sloth https://www.costcotravel.co.uk/car-hire/offers/car-hire-offer

Additional driver free on costco rentals

Thanks, made a note for future

[YC]

Noticed electric cars are about 30-40% cheaper than equivalent petrol vehicles when renting (e.g. Italy). Is it just a lack of demand given more complicated charging needs?

[Richie]

On a recent trip my flight was cancelled and I had to make a dash to the airport to get an earlier flight, the drive was about an hour, I wouldn’t want an electric car to have a low battery in that kind of no notice situation.

[Rich_A]

YC wrote:

Noticed electric cars are about 30-40% cheaper than equivalent petrol vehicles when renting (e.g. Italy). Is it just a lack of demand given more complicated charging needs?

Last couple of rentals I’ve noticed the same. Polestar for a similar price to a group A/B car with Hertz. I think they’re still working out demand (and logistics for charging between rentals).

Zero information given about charging, and I’m glad I already had a year of EV ownership under my belt

[chelseafifi]

Hi would really appreciate any advice/recommendations on car hire at Cape Town 9 days, first time visit, I have Amex Plat so I assume I can turn down any extra insurance they usually try to sell and also have Hertz Gold and Avis Preferred. Thank you

[JenT]

Avis coming out a lot cheaper for us in South Africa this September compared to Hertz. Used both companies before at Cape Town Airport – no issues but make sure any preexisting damage is marked on the documents before driving away.

[Harry T]

chelseafifi wrote:

Hi would really appreciate any advice/recommendations on car hire at Cape Town 9 days, first time visit, I have Amex Plat so I assume I can turn down any extra insurance they usually try to sell and also have Hertz Gold and Avis Preferred. Thank you

We had no issues with Avis last November, booked via BA Holidays. The car was rubbish, even after an alleged upgrade due to my Avis status, but this isn’t a bad thing in South Africa!

[Metty]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

I’m £100s ahead on this summer’s car rentals by cancelling and rebooking at lower rates.

Only frustration is the Avis refunds don’t happen until you phone to chase them. There’s little hassle phoning, they usually pick up pretty quickly and the call-centre people seem to be onshore UK and know what they’re doing, but the refunds aren’t actually processed when you cancel, they’re processed when you call.

Thanks so much for this post. I have booked and cancelled 2 Avis bookings recently and have failed to notice that the refunds did not arrive as promised. The cancellation email says ‘For pre-paid bookings (Pay Now bookings), your refund will be processed in full immediately and should reach your account within 5 working days.’ Hmmm.

I owe you a beer or three!

[YC]

Looking to hire a car for ~2months in London. Any tips for long term hire? Also, can I check if there are any issues with Amex platinum car insurance cover for this period and if in the UK?

[davefl]

Have you considered one of the car share schemes like Zipcar instead?

[davefl]

Car hire rental in the USA now back down to sensible pre-pandemic rates.

One way in florida with Sixt for 8 days in Dec, mid size car, £28/day.

[yorkshireRich]

In Feb 2024 we are looking at going round the Nz, the South Island.
We are fairly flexible and looking at car hire from Queenstown or Christchurch and only wanting the car for a few days. The prices vary massively. Avis is around £600 for 3 days, and Hertz wasn’t much better.

I’m hoping it may go down slightly.

[lesscleverandrew]

Penalty Charge Notice 1 year later, from the Algarve

I received a penalty charge notice from a UK company – EPCplc supposedly acting on behalf of the portuguese authorities for a violation on 22 October 2022 for being in an electronic toll collection lane without one of those electronic tag thingies. The notice has a picture of “a” car but the dates and times match.

The thing is: I did hire the electronic tag at the desk (for the duration of the rental) when I picked up the car and I heard it ping a few times as I drove on the motorway from the airport.

The other thing is the car hire company assured me when I collected the car that they pay the charges and charge it back to my card without markup.
I am somewhat inclined to believe them because the gadget in the car beeped through several tolls and yet I have been issued only one PCN.

The car hire documents show the vehicle was rented with “ELECTRONIC TOLL PAYMENT TAG/PASS/FE – Returned (AH-80-FV)”

I am tempted to ignore the letter and/or contact the car hire company. Any advice?

[lesscleverandrew]

lesscleverandrew wrote:

The notice has a picture of “a” car but the dates and times match.

Correction, the photograph is the car I hired.

[The Savage Squirrel]

lesscleverandrew wrote:

I am tempted to ignore the letter and/or contact the car hire company. Any advice?

It would seem very sensible to at least contact the car hire company and give them the opportunity to sort it out. In fact if you don’t do this then you can’t justifiably complain when the fine and any escalation becomes your problem and not theirs.

[FatherOfFour]

I am looking at hiring both a regular car (minvan/MPV) and a campervan when we go to Australia. I want to get some kind of excess protection cover, but understand it’s probably not best to go with what I’m offered by the company itself.

Is it possible to get a policy that covers both the car and an RV? Anyone have any experience of this? (Don’t have Amex Plat)

[lesscleverandrew]

I have used questor. They paid out but I needed supporting documentation including the actual repair cost invoice by the repairing garage so it can be quite a wait to get paid. The moneysavingexpert website has a few tips on annual car hire excess insurance.

[FatherOfFour]

Thanks, will take a look

[JDB]

FatherOfFour wrote:

I am looking at hiring both a regular car (minvan/MPV) and a campervan when we go to Australia. I want to get some kind of excess protection cover, but understand it’s probably not best to go with what I’m offered by the company itself.

Is it possible to get a policy that covers both the car and an RV? Anyone have any experience of this? (Don’t have Amex Plat)

Have you checked what the hire firm’s rate is? It can be very low in Australia to remove the excess entirely so that if anything does happen you don’t have to deal with it on a pay now claim later basis. I paid under A$25 for this for a week in Tasmania earlier this year.

[lesscleverandrew]

The Savage Squirrel wrote:

lesscleverandrew wrote:

I am tempted to ignore the letter and/or contact the car hire company. Any advice?

It would seem very sensible to at least contact the car hire company and give them the opportunity to sort it out. In fact if you don’t do this then you can’t justifiably complain when the fine and any escalation becomes your problem and not theirs.

Update on this. I contacted Europcar, Faro airport – from whom I hired the car with electronic toll tagging device. They confirmed that they received a EUR1.60 charge from the tolling company for my vehicle but were unable to pay it because they could not debit my card – yet they had put a prepaid hold on the card. The thing is: 1/ they were able to contact me, several times in fact, for customer feedback and 2/ this is the service they offer – to field the toll fees on the customer’s behalf.

Once you return a vehicle you have no visibility into the toll fees. You simply have to trust that the car hire company acts honestly and will contact you in the event of something going wrong. So a EUR 1.60 fee has metastisized into something much bigger.

[cin3]

TooPoorToBeHere wrote:

I’m £100s ahead on this summer’s car rentals by cancelling and rebooking at lower rates.

Hertz (via the AU site) is often looking quite competitive with Avis now but I’m sticking with Avis for now (potential 8% TCB + 6-points-per-£ on Nectar Connect).

Only frustration is the Avis refunds don’t happen until you phone to chase them. There’s little hassle phoning, they usually pick up pretty quickly and the call-centre people seem to be onshore UK and know what they’re doing, but the refunds aren’t actually processed when you cancel, they’re processed when you call.

My Avis refunds seem to work fine…

[JenT]

My latest ones have, but they withheld all the money on 3 earlier this month and I had to prompt them for it. Then they reduced the refund amount by £40 each time, even though they were fully refundable bookings, so had to chase that amount. The final straw was this week when they ‘forgot’ to send the Amazon gift cards as part of the bookings I used. Definitely worth monitoring Avis as it seems very variable what actually happens.