Hiring a nice car for a wedding
Discussion
Has anyone had any success in hiring a car for a short journey to a wedding? We are getting married next month and the venue is about 5 miles from home (SW London). There is nowhere at the venue for the traditional grand entrance, so we were going to just hire a nice exec car.
Plenty of places advertise this type do service , and the cost seems to be about £50-£90 per hour for an S-class, which is fine. The problem is that when you phone up to book, the cost goes up to about £250 because the wedding 'service' is different. Clearly, this is the most blatant example of wedding tax, but has anyone managed to find one of these companies who don't do that?
Plenty of places advertise this type do service , and the cost seems to be about £50-£90 per hour for an S-class, which is fine. The problem is that when you phone up to book, the cost goes up to about £250 because the wedding 'service' is different. Clearly, this is the most blatant example of wedding tax, but has anyone managed to find one of these companies who don't do that?
It's not that simple though. You wouldn't try and hire a room at a hotel by the hour and this is essentially the same. Whether or not you need the car for 5 minutes or 5 hours doesn't matter. They have their costs to cover before they even get to you. Notwithstanding what they can get from other bookings on the same day. An S Class for a wedding car though - surely sights are set higher than that?
Crossflow Kid said:
Saying that the hourly cost is £50-90 and then complaining that a "wedding hire" is upwards of £250 doesn't really add up.
At £90/hr £250 gets you just shy of three hours of car hire....which sounds about right for a wedding.
It does add up for our wedding! What we are looking for is a single journey about 5 miles across outer London. The ceremony and the reception are in the same venue, so the car would not be required again.At £90/hr £250 gets you just shy of three hours of car hire....which sounds about right for a wedding.
If they can do 'non-wedding' hire for £50-£90 per hour, I just can't see why wedding hire is £250 per hour (in our case)
stain said:
It's not that simple though. You wouldn't try and hire a room at a hotel by the hour and this is essentially the same. Whether or not you need the car for 5 minutes or 5 hours doesn't matter. They have their costs to cover before they even get to you. Notwithstanding what they can get from other bookings on the same day.
That's true, but I actually went through the online booking process with one of the companies, and they were quite happy to offer me an hour's hire for £90 for the exact time I wanted it, but when I confirmed it was for a wedding, it was £250! As I said, we could always lie and say it is not for a wedding, but I don't want problems arising on the day. stain said:
An S Class for a wedding car though - surely sights are set higher than that?
We are talking about a single short journey, where the car has to pull up around the back of the venue and the bride won't even be seen getting out of it. It seems pointless spending much more - horse and carriage wouldn't work for this route, and vintage Rolls or equivalent is not really our thing anyway.kingston12 said:
That's true, but I actually went through the online booking process with one of the companies, and they were quite happy to offer me an hour's hire for £90 for the exact time I wanted it, but when I confirmed it was for a wedding, it was £250! As I said, we could always lie and say it is not for a wedding, but I don't want problems arising on the day.
It's the culture we live in that forces them to do that. Forty years ago if there was a problem with the car peole would say they were sorry to hear that and ask how they could help; now people say that it's ruined their day and sue for compensation so the service provider has to insure them themselves and take reasonable steps to arrange cover.I'm getting married next year, and I'm car mad
Not bothering with a car as we are having the ceremony at the same place as the reception
lots of clucking from the outlaws about this, but there are lots of little 500, 1000, 1500's etc all adding up and a car just seems too much money for something so trivial in the bigger picture
The other half said she'd be happier turning up in my off roader toy than some hired car we could never afford to own
Not bothering with a car as we are having the ceremony at the same place as the reception
lots of clucking from the outlaws about this, but there are lots of little 500, 1000, 1500's etc all adding up and a car just seems too much money for something so trivial in the bigger picture
The other half said she'd be happier turning up in my off roader toy than some hired car we could never afford to own
I was going to offer the use of my Mercury Grand Marquis for an hour as you must be near me, going by your name, but unfortunately it stopped working last night
It had spent it's year with it's former owner being used as a wedding car.
If I get it working, I'll PM you.
Before anyone says it, not for cash as I know it invalidates the insurance
It had spent it's year with it's former owner being used as a wedding car.
If I get it working, I'll PM you.
Before anyone says it, not for cash as I know it invalidates the insurance
TA14 said:
It's the culture we live in that forces them to do that. Forty years ago if there was a problem with the car peole would say they were sorry to hear that and ask how they could help; now people say that it's ruined their day and sue for compensation so the service provider has to insure them themselves and take reasonable steps to arrange cover.
Good point.Spare tyre said:
I'm getting married next year, and I'm car mad
Not bothering with a car as we are having the ceremony at the same place as the reception
lots of clucking from the outlaws about this, but there are lots of little 500, 1000, 1500's etc all adding up and a car just seems too much money for something so trivial in the bigger picture
The other half said she'd be happier turning up in my off roader toy than some hired car we could never afford to own
Very similar situation to us. I have got a 2 seater, so turning up in that is a bit out of the question. Not bothering with a car as we are having the ceremony at the same place as the reception
lots of clucking from the outlaws about this, but there are lots of little 500, 1000, 1500's etc all adding up and a car just seems too much money for something so trivial in the bigger picture
The other half said she'd be happier turning up in my off roader toy than some hired car we could never afford to own
We need effectively a 5 mile 'posh-cab' ride. I am guessing it would cost £10 in a mini cab, £15 in a black cab, and I am quite happy to pay several times that to get something relatively decent, but almost 20 times the cost of a black cab seems rather excessive!
t!
kingston12 said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Don't tell 'em it's for a wedding?
An option, I suppose, but there must be a reason that they charge much more for a wedding[/quote=kingston12]Oh, indeed. Because they can. Because "But you don't want to cut corners on your wedding, do you?" is the worst kind of emotional blackmail.
kingston12 said:
and I wouldn't want any issues on the day!
"Issues" like what? The driver arriving and muttering because it's five miles to the registry office rather than the airport or a meeting?Danm1les said:
Do you not know someone with an executive car that could take you and get them to wear a suit?
im potentially going to ask an uncle to do this, he will be in a suit already, and the be honest he'd much rather be driving the mrs about than stood about at the place being nice to people he doesnt likeIf it just from point A to point B in a poshish car then don;t Addison Lee etc offer S Classes? I've no link to them, but Swiss Cottage Cars picked me up the other day in an Audi A8. They normally send a Prius or similar so was just lucky I suppose. It was about 10 miles and cost about £20.
I'm sure they'd (and any of the dozens of other companies) would be able to book you a 7 Series/S Class/ A8 for much much less than £250. Jesus, for the cost difference, book two of them and choose the nicer car. Pay both obviously and you still have a good saving.
I'm sure they'd (and any of the dozens of other companies) would be able to book you a 7 Series/S Class/ A8 for much much less than £250. Jesus, for the cost difference, book two of them and choose the nicer car. Pay both obviously and you still have a good saving.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff