Hire car price delight

[dunc_sx]

First time I've hired a car in the UK and it's probably naivety but I was pleasantly surprised by the price. 4 days in the cheapest thing they had ('23 fiat 500) for £59, so £15 a day. I then had to extend it for a further week at very short notice, zero notice actually and it was a further £94 for that week (£13 a day).

No surprise extra charges etc at the desk, was just pleasantly surprised in this age of mental prices it seemed pretty reasonable to me.

Thought it would be nice to spread a positive experience story for once

Dunc.

[Sheepshanks]

Have you still got the car?

[Sebring440]

Sheepshanks said:

Have you still got the car?

No, it's a hire car.

[Bobupndown]

What company was that with?

[vikingaero]

If it was with Greenmotion, then you got off lightly. Many excess insurance companies specifically exclude claims from Greenmotion - go figure.

Or the other flip side is, were you put on the correct rate? For years I flew Air UK to Glasgow and hired from Europcar and it was cheap. They put me on an Air UK Staff rate where the insurance was covered by Air UK.. Only problem was that I should have been on an Air UK customer rate with insurance.

[Sheepshanks]

vikingaero said:

If it was with Greenmotion, then you got off lightly.

..that's why I asked if he'd handed it back yet.

[66HFM]

Which company was it from Dunc?

[dunc_sx]

Sheepshanks said:

Have you still got the car?

Sorry for the delayed response, yes returned the car, no issues or charges. It can't be far from being cheaper than buying a new car when depriciation is considered.

It was Budget, standard rate, online quote. Just checked again and it has gone up to £19 a day for 7 days, I assume rates constantly change due to various factors

I also put a hire car insurance policy on this which was £10 total for the full hire, this covers the silly £1.5k insurance excess.

Edited by dunc_sx on Thursday 15th February 08:37

Edited by dunc_sx on Thursday 15th February 08:45

[KTMsm]

The problem is that the rates change massively

I have a mate who is a courier and he has found it cheaper to hire a van year-round once his mileage and days off the road are taken into account

The problem is at Christmas I think he said it can cost 10 times the amount as everyone is wanting to hire a van - to the extent it was almost worth him buying a van just for November and December

[Tiglon]

dunc_sx said:

Sorry for the delayed response, yes returned the car, no issues or charges. It can't be far from being cheaper than buying a new car when depriciation is considered.

It was Budget, standard rate, online quote. Just checked again and it has gone up to £19 a day for 7 days, I assume rates constantly change due to various factors

I also put a hire car insurance policy on this which was £10 total for the full hire, this covers the silly £1.5k insurance excess.

Edited by dunc_sx on Thursday 15th February 08:37

Edited by dunc_sx on Thursday 15th February 08:45

£13 per day = £395 per month. That is definitely not cheaper than buying it. Or leasing it.

Shockingly good deal for a short term rental though.

[RD-1]

I once got a Land Cruiser for a week, for its daily rate due to a website pricing glitch.

I didn’t save any money over the small hatch I was aiming for, but got a more interesting car for a similar price overall

[oobie38]

RD-1 said:

I once got a Land Cruiser for a week, for its daily rate due to a website pricing glitch.

I didn’t save any money over the small hatch I was aiming for, but got a more interesting car for a similar price overall

Bet it wasn't similar by the time you added in the fuel costs

Always the way for me in the states- start out intending to hire a Hyundai econobox, end up with something struggling to get into double figures, all for 'the same price'

[ds666]

I booked a " cheap car " via Easyjet last week - collect at Belfast , drive to Dublin , 2 days .
When I arrived I had to pay £20 for extra mileage and £30 to " cross the border " WTF . When I got back I had an extra bill for £135 for a chip in the windscreen . Chap after me had £600 for damage . I have excess cover , so ok.

I should have know when I arrived at the desk - there was an a4 page of damage charges . Fair enough , but the MG I drove already had damage on every single panel and wheel . Would have taken hours to note down all the damage. Never seen such damage ( other than holiday rentals )


Drivalia - business model - quote cheap and fleece the customer for damage that they probably won't notice was there already as the cars are so damaged before you hire it - keep the " repair" money and flog the cars at auction with the damage

[Pica-Pica]

RD-1 said:

I once got a Land Cruiser for a week, for its daily rate due to a website pricing glitch.

I didn’t save any money over the small hatch I was aiming for, but got a more interesting car for a similar price overall

I have often hired a 3.5t van because they were cheaper than a car, and a reasonable drive. I think van prices have increased over recent years, though.
That seems a good deal/idea if you only need a car once a month or so, for a few days.

[Tomo1971]

Sheepshanks said:

vikingaero said:

If it was with Greenmotion, then you got off lightly.

..that's why I asked if he'd handed it back yet.

I used to hire from GM every week from Luton Airport - generally 3 days at a time. At the time (going back to 2017) the insurance excess companies would cover them, most dont any longer.

Anyway, never had any issues with them - always took a 3 or 4 minute 4k video of the car.

Had some stonking hires from them

C-Class AMG LIne, was about £30 for 3 days
A-Class AMG Line, £25
Several Mini Cooper S's - 192bhp....cheapest was £9 (yes, £9 for three days) - I think i took £9 of rubber off the tyres, wheelspin in 3rd gear at 50mph!
Several Leon's, saloons and estates

Cheapest I had was £3.42 for three days and had a few pence of Top Cash Back in it as well!

[SpamDisco]

This doesn't look far off leasing cost, especially with 2100 miles/week inc.

[Mad Maximus]

Rental prices do seem all over the place. I used to rent Luton’s from enterprise and it was £30 a day that was more than acceptable and I always took all the excess covers as they were pretty cheap. Now the last time I checked it was something crackers like £120 a day. About a year ago I think. Maybe due to the shortage of vans after covid when the prices of them went mental used or new.

[rodericb]

SpamDisco said:

This doesn't look far off leasing cost, especially with 2100 miles/week inc.

Hertz, in the USA at least, are also getting out of Polestars like they're getting out of Tesla. Hertz are backpedalling on an agreement to purchase 65,000. It's interesting to see the shift in business model towards longer term hire (i.e. Uber drivers) and the internet screeching about them selling old Tesla Model 3's.

[Gibbler290]

ds666 said:

I booked a " cheap car " via Easyjet last week - collect at Belfast , drive to Dublin , 2 days .
When I arrived I had to pay £20 for extra mileage and £30 to " cross the border " WTF . When I got back I had an extra bill for £135 for a chip in the windscreen . Chap after me had £600 for damage . I have excess cover , so ok.

I should have know when I arrived at the desk - there was an a4 page of damage charges . Fair enough , but the MG I drove already had damage on every single panel and wheel . Would have taken hours to note down all the damage. Never seen such damage ( other than holiday rentals )


Drivalia - business model - quote cheap and fleece the customer for damage that they probably won't notice was there already as the cars are so damaged before you hire it - keep the " repair" money and flog the cars at auction with the damage

Was that your first time renting a car? If it had so much damage that it would have taken you too long to document it, why did you accept the car? It really doesn’t take long to do a sweep of the car with your phone camera….
Cross border charges are common in most agencies near borders so not sure what you are complaining about there. I’m calling BS on the extra mileage as well as even the lowest I’ve seen (250km/day) day would cover Belfast to Dublin so…how did you manage that?

[ds666]

Gibbler290 said:

ds666 said:

I booked a " cheap car " via Easyjet last week - collect at Belfast , drive to Dublin , 2 days .
When I arrived I had to pay £20 for extra mileage and £30 to " cross the border " WTF . When I got back I had an extra bill for £135 for a chip in the windscreen . Chap after me had £600 for damage . I have excess cover , so ok.

I should have know when I arrived at the desk - there was an a4 page of damage charges . Fair enough , but the MG I drove already had damage on every single panel and wheel . Would have taken hours to note down all the damage. Never seen such damage ( other than holiday rentals )


Drivalia - business model - quote cheap and fleece the customer for damage that they probably won't notice was there already as the cars are so damaged before you hire it - keep the " repair" money and flog the cars at auction with the damage

Was that your first time renting a car? If it had so much damage that it would have taken you too long to document it, why did you accept the car? It really doesn’t take long to do a sweep of the car with your phone camera….
Cross border charges are common in most agencies near borders so not sure what you are complaining about there. I’m calling BS on the extra mileage as well as even the lowest I’ve seen (250km/day) day would cover Belfast to Dublin so…how did you manage that?

No I've hired many many cars - the most recent was an SL63 AMG for a week in the States
Fair point about accepting the car , just not used to the level of focus wrt damage - certainly not with the more reputable firms .
Regarding BS on the mileage - I didn't think to check as I'd agree with your comment about the norm - it is actually 100mile with this company . Crossing the border charge - there is no border .... on what basis would that command an extra charge ??

The stone chip was below the wipers in the black portion of the glass - I have excess insurance for hire cars , so no big deal .
But thanks for your feed back . I simply won't use these cowboys again.