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I know this is akin to asking how to screw in a lightbulb, but I have managed to get to my mid-thirties, and have never had to hire a car. Need to do so next week for a day, and looking for something Golf size.
Is there anything obvious I need to know....mainly in regards to mitigating that £1000 accidental damage excess.
A 'friend of mine' would advise don't show up in a foreign airport without your driving licence expecting to hire a car.
More seriously, done it a few times since and never had any other issues all straight forwards. Last time booked online and was a breeze.
RM.
Insurance from a 3rd party is way cheaper than using their own excess waiver policy. Get some online before you go in. Other than that check for bumps scrapes and cracks and make sure they are all recorded and check what fuel it uses and that it is already full. There's some new complication with needing a [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32916968 ]code[/url] rather than your paper licence but I've never been asked for it.
Hiring a car...what do I need to know?
Dunno....erm....Drive it like ya stole it?
No, wait a minute..... How about...
When you pick it up, get out your smart phone and take pictures of any preexisting damage, no matter how small. I usually take an HD Video walkround on my phone and make sure that the hire people see me doing it. Same again when you give it back.
Heads off any spurious damage claims at the other end.
check for bumps scrapes and cracks and make sure they are all recorded
I'd do a walk-around with a camera before I drove it away, then again when I brought it back.
Just check for damage with the hirer before you drive it away. Make sure you fill the tank before returning it and re-check for damage again with the hirer.
There are various price comparison websites for car rental. As above - sort out your waiver insurance the day before you go to hire, you're not allowed to sort it out after the hire period has started for obvious reasons.
Check what the fuel arrangements are - some will include a full tankful of fuel at an eye-watering price with the instruction to bring it back empty, which you obviously won't want to do for a day hire.
I use a small child to check for damage now my eyesight is going. They're surprisingly good at it.
I echo the third party excess insurance. I pay about £30 for annual cover, it usually pays for itself after one or two hires.
Hire cars are the fasted cars in the world, fact.
Make sure you get your code for them to validate your license from here
https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
and remember that that code expires so you'll probably need another one next time you hire
If you're hiring for more than two days then its better value to get your own hire car excess insurance as an annual policy than pay by the day through the hire co. A years cover will cost you about the same as two days from the hire co.
I had a hilarious exchange with the girl at Enterprise. Hiring a Pug 107 at £20 a day for the weekend.
[b][i]Are you going anywhere nice?[/i][/b]
A funeral actually.
[b][i]Oh sorry. Okay, so I assume you'll be taking out our insurance excess blah blah?[/i] [/b]
How much is that?
[b][i]£80 per day.[/i][/b]
Er....no.
[b][i]If you have any accidents it's a £2000 excess.[/i][/b]
I think I'm covered by my own insurance.
[b]
[i]You're probably not.[/i] [/b]
I'll take my chances.
[b][i]If you get the window chipped it's £2000.[/i][/b]
I'll take my chances.
[b]
[i]If you get a door ding in a car park it's £2000.[/i][/b]
I'm not going shopping.
[b]
[i]If you get a puncture it'll be £2000.[/i][/b]
I won't tell you about it, I'll fit the spare, drive to quickfit and buy a new tyre.
[b]
[i]You can't do that.[/i] [/b]
Don't worry, you'll never know.
[b][i]Did you say that funeral was in the Republic of Ireland.[/i][/b]
No, why?
[b][i]That's £100 per day extra.[/i] [/b]
Anyway I was. We went outside and I pointed out all th dents and scuffs on the car, and she says, oh don't worry about that, anything smaller than your thumb, we don't worry about it. What about the wheels, no we don't worry about kerbing or damage to the wheels.... 🙄
have a credit card. they'll want to swipe it and auth in case they need to bill you for anything (fines, excess, damage,etc.). debit card is no use.
unless it was booked via your employer who has an account and you've got the rental voucher, in which case they'll be invoiced.
photo ID and driving licence, and all the UK companies I've rented from recently all say to take a bill with evidence of address if you're a UK resident. which I thought odd.
Thanks for the advice.
Sounds like I need to give my current insurer a ring to see about insurance.
Meant to say it's UK hire, so no foreign complications. Also, just me hiring it for personal use.
Was only needed for a day, but seems I might only be slightly worse off relatively speaking, if I hired for several-5 days.
Just as a follow up. Just been to pick up my car, a tank like Skoda Octavia, and the guy asked me to sign the damage report before looking at the car 😯
....they then looked at me like I had gone out to lunch when I ran the camera round it quickly.
Oh sorry. Okay, so I assume you'll be taking out our insurance excess blah blah?How much is that?
£80 per day.
Er....no.
If you have any accidents it's a £2000 excess.
I think I'm covered by my own insurance.
You're probably not.
I'll take my chances.
If you get the window chipped it's £2000.
I'll take my chances.
If you get a door ding in a car park it's £2000.
I'm not going shopping.
If you get a puncture it'll be £2000.
It thats true then I'd be raising it with Enterprise - she either doesn't know what 'Excess' means or is misrepresenting what it means and either way and mis-selling the insurance. They'll probably not care as £2k is a stupefying excess level to set.