How To Hire A Car Without Spending A Fortune
A lot of motorists hire cars at some point in their lives. One of the most-common reasons for people to hire cars is because they want a self-drive holiday. Others may need the use of a hire car whilst their own is under repair following accident damage. Whatever the reason, you will have doubtless seen the price varies according to company, region and the “group” of car. Do you need to hire a car soon? If so, make sure you follow these top tips so that you don’t pay over the odds for it!
Check out the best deals online
The price you pay for hiring a car at the airport, or regional office is much higher than you would pay if you booked your car hire online.
There are sometimes premiums added to the deal if you just walk up to the desk and pay. But if you arrange and prepay your car hire online, you will keep your costs down.
Scrutinise the terms and conditions
Car hire firms often have a plethora of terms and conditions attached to all cars hired. They are often in their favour, and relate to when things go wrong. For example, you have to pay for any tyre or windscreen repairs or replacements, accidental damage and so forth.
Make sure that you understand what their terms and conditions are, and also what your liabilities are too. The last thing you want to do is book cheap car hire only to find that there are extra charges to pay!
Find out what they class as damage
Some car hire firms will supply a handy guide that describes what is minor damage and what isn’t. I recently hired a car from Enterprise, and the guide they gave me included a paper cutout that was roughly the size of a large diameter coin.
They classed anything within that cutout as minor damage. But if any damage occurred outside of it, I would have been liable to pay the huge insurance excess!
Decline add-on products at the desk
They will try to sell you every add-on under the sun when you go to collect your hire car! Decline those add-on products. Here are the reasons why:
- Excess protection – you can buy separate insurance products to reduce your excess. These policies are much cheaper than the ones sold by the car hire firms. Savings of up to 80% are not unheard of;
- Fuel – most car hire firms won’t fill the tank up for you. Instead, they will mark how full the tank is, and expect the car returned with the same or higher level of fuel. Buy your own fuel instead of paying for them to fill up the tank for you.
Is it cheaper to lease a car?
If you are thinking of hiring a car on a long-term basis, it might be cheaper to lease a car rather than hire it! Car dealers, such as Sandles Car Supermarket, offer great lease deals on cars. And you will often pay less for a lease than you would for car hire.
