Car hire - worrying price discrepancy

[Jader1973]

I'm planning on visiting the UK for 3 weeks next year.

I'll need a hire car so have been looking at costs. Has to be AT because the OH can't drive MT.

AVIS Aus site allows me to book (but not pay for) a Merc C Class for 20 days for an "estimated" total of 931 GBP (including child seat and all the insurance stuff).

AVIS UK site is giving me exactly the same hire for 2,409 GBP if I pay now (actually I suspect that doesn't include excess reduction)

What am I missing? Am I running the risk of booking it through the Aus site and then turning up to collect it only to find out I'm going to be bent over the hire desk and smashed for another 1,500 quid??!!

Weirdly a Ford Galaxy comes in at 1k GBP on the UK site and 1.2k GBP on the Aus site, so cheaper than a C Class in the UK and more than a C Class if booked from Aus.

[Jader1973]

Orchid1 said:

Does it have to be a C Class? Why not an Automatic Ford Focus or something?

The auto choices from AVIS appear to be A Class (too small), C4 Picasso, C class, E class, and Galaxy (too big).

On the Aus site the C class is 100 quid more than the Picasso hence I thought I'd go for that. On the UK site the Picasso is about 2 grand!

[Jader1973]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll have a look at skyscanner today.

Hadn't thought about taking a seat (we do that if we travel domestically here) although that might get complicated because Australia has only just introduced isofix and the rules on seats are different too. I'll have a look though.

[Jader1973]

It isn't just AVIS. Just checked Europcar for an auto Insignia:

Aus site = 1188.72 GBP
UK site = 2,489.75GBP

At least they have pay now option.

[Jader1973]

bigandclever said:

If it's any consolation (it's certainly no help!) I hired a car in Oz from the UK and they practically doubled the rental cost at the desk at Adelaide airport. Extra premium for picking up at airport (which I had to do because the Adelaide centre pickup place apparently doesn't provide GPS units); 'leaving the state' fee; unlimited miles actually meant 500 miles in total; not insured for driving between dusk and dawn; not insured on 'rural roads' which, when pressed, meant 'roads without streetlights'; and a GPS that tried to take me the wrong way up one-way streets in Melbourne. I complained bitterly at the time and got most of the extra fees waived, and complained some more when I got back and got some further cash off. By comparison, renting in the UK is wonderfully straight-forward - "this is how much it costs".

Funnily enough I find renting a car here dead easy (although I've never tried taking one interstate).

I've done a bit more looking and I think the difference is down to the "extras" you have to buy from the local hire company e.g. insurance.

For example Hertz will let me pay the base hire fee now but additional driver, child seat, insurance etc have to be paid on collection. Adding their insurance almost doubles the cost so I'm going to investigate getting my own or if my travel insurance covers it.

ETA: just found a Telegraph article which says AVIS are aware that customers who book a car from overseas aren't notified of the local insurance costs if they book online and are working on a fix. The article was 2 years old!!

Edited by Jader1973 on Saturday 22 October 00:15