Matteeboy

We haven't hired a car for a while as we've taken our camper.
We're off to Italy in three weeks; any recommendations on car hire firms? Our last experience was dreadful with the crooked Goldcar scam merchants.

Might need light off roading ability as the house is up a mountain and kills hire cars (we've been twice before). Does anyone let you actually choose your car or is it still pot luck?

Devildog

Europcar

Have Jeep Renegades and Audi Q5's available. You can chose what you want before you go. make sure you have a confirmed selection however.

http://www.europcar.co.uk/deals/sem-...yg6hoCUG7w_wcB

Matteeboy

Either would be ideal; I'll have a look; cheers!

Devildog

No worries Matt

PaulC72

see if Carjet.com cover that area, they are a broker and I use them all the time for Spain (4 - 5 times a year) you get to see the classifications of the car and the company who you will hire it from - sometimes the rates this way are better than direct too they also show any charges, credit card reserves etc.

Matteeboy

Cheers Paul; I'll look at that too.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

I have just hired a car for Germany using Epedia. They will quote you on all companies so you can take your pick. I only needed a car for 4 days and ended up paying £48 for an economy car.

Matteeboy

Wow, I'm sure this has got worse over the years.
If I want half decent insurance cover (advisable in Italy) it nearly doubles the price quoted. A booster seat is £22 for 6 days (you can buy them for under £20) and so on.
Then there's the fuel policy lottery which seriously stung us on Goldcar.

What a royal PITA.

PaulC72

Matte try Questor for CDW insurance which is I assume what you need, you can be an annual policy but would have to claim back for the things outside of the normal cover offered by the hire company.

legb4rsk

Foreign car hire is a real PITA especially European holiday destinations.The web sites are blatantly misleading.They claim a complete final price & you always end up paying more on arrival.It's been a pet hate of mine for years & really spoils the start of the holiday yet nothing has been done about these crooks

Why doesn't a company have a reasonable rate including insurance ,fuel policy etc. & be totally transparent about the full & final cost? Surely they would make a killing.

Matteeboy

Wow, did some checking around and I now have full excess cover (up to £7k) for £16! The car hire company wanted £160 on TOP of the £180 car hire charge.

Used Direct Car Excess - a full year is only £33.

I WILL beat the system...~!

hodgy0_2

that sounds interesting, we are about to book holiday car insurance


does the company need to know what type of car etc you are booking - or is it pretty much a flat fee based on the country, how many drivers / passengers etc

Matteeboy

Appears to be a flat fee.

nik52wrx

A word of warning from a hire car regular.
Some companies will accept a third party insurer but will want you to leave a credit card deposit with them also, usually a min of 600euros.

It might be worth checking your hire company to see what their policy is.


Nik.