Advice on car hire please?

[JanMary]

We have book our villa, flights etc for January 2006 - now we need to book car hire - who do your recommend? How much should we expect to pay?

I would prefer to pay for everything up front - no extra insurance etc being pressured on us when we arrive at the airport - have flown twice to States a few years ago and this always seems to happen

Also some advice on how big a car we need - 2 adults and a 8,6 and 15month old - probably with quite a lot of luggage! We plan to take our own car seat for the baby.

Thanks for your help

 

[fizz13]

I recommend these guys: uscarhire They offered me the best price for an all inclusive package in January.

Claire xx

 

[UKPhil]

Also some advice on how big a car we need - 2 adults and a 8,6 and 15month old - probably with quite a lot of luggage! We plan to take our own car seat for the baby.

If cost is an issue you could get away with an intermediate sized car (about the size of a Mondeo) but boot (aka trunk) size is often limited to about 2 suitcases plus a holdall. A full-size car (the next size up from itermediate) will give you more interior and boot space. You could also consider what the americans call a mini-van (an MPV to us) on which you can often get good deals.

 

[jdybnsn]

I would try Airline Network;

http://www.airline-network.co.uk/index.asp?partner=Google&Googlekeyword=airline+network&adgroup=Brands_Our_Brands&engine=adwords!3747&keyword=%28airline+network%29&Match_type=

They are a well known/ well used company and good prices.

 

[Claire4dpins]

We used www.yescarhire.com (the car was from Alamo - who are on airport at Orlando International and Sanford ) for the our September/October trip - we found looking around that they seemed the cheapest for the car we wanted - which was a mid-size. We left it to the last minute to book and had very helpful service from them - they send you a voucher and they made sure we had it with only a couple of days to go before we flew out.

I was unsure of getting a voucher, as we had not done this before - but it worked out very well. It certainly deals with any pressure on you to buy more insurance as it clearly says on the voucher that you have everything you need - so they know not to bother trying to get you to buy more.

Yescarhire had be recommended by others on this board and we found them cheap and reliable. A mid-size or full-size might be big enough for you - we have coped with four adults and 6 suitcases plus 4 hand luggage bags in a full-size - if you have more than that a mini-van will be best.

Good luck with your plans,
Claire

 

[JanMary]

Thanks for the advice - I will check them out

 

[Double k]

You can try www.affordablecarhire.com i have never used them but the people we are renting us a villa have recomended them and thay seem cheep.

Cheers
Kev

 

[martina857]

M

 

[Boss Hogg]

Another vote for Airline Network. Having just been doing some planning for one of our trips next year and they are still the cheapest company I can find.

The other thing is, that from Orlando International they use Dollar who use a lot of Chrysler cars, and IMHO they are nicest cars from the rental markets. Admittedly, we normally have a luxury car, and the Chrysler 300M is definitely the nicest option of the Luxury cars available from the various rental companies.

 

[kristieuk]

Another vote for Airline Network - Dollar are a really good company, plus for a small amount (sometimes on offer for free) you can upgrade to Platinum Plus, which means you get a free tank of petrol, plus any number of drivers for no other cost.

It is also fully inclusive insurance - we have never had to pay any extra on arrival.

I have spent years trying to see if their prices can be beaten on a similar package, and haven't succeeded yet.

We normally get a Chrysler Voyager - 7 seater MPV. There is plenty of room for 4 adults and one child plus luggage, pushchair (although those days are gone for now) and 2 sets of golf clubs, although we have to use the back seats as well as the boot.

We paid something like £370 for 2 weeks this year.

 

[crystalprincess]

After a terrible morning (everything going wrong) I spoke with Dollar to hire our car for our impending trip on Friday (yes I know its very late but payday rushes for no mouse!)
There customer service was disgraceful (it was the UK night service manned in the states) still none the less you would expect for them to know how their proceedures work, and they insisted on quoting me $876 for 2weeks minivan hire = £515 approx
which is £107 more expensive than I was quoted on the Dollar UK web site £408.

So I came to the place where help is always at hand and saw this thread on car hire.
20 minutes later and a very plesant conversation with Anna from Airline Network, and
I have the car hire booked with the vouchers being emailed to me on Monday.

Not only efficient service but the cost £353.00 over £50 cheaper!!

So I vote with a big tick for Airline-Network.

5 days and counting ...................

 

[tartangirl]

Another vote for www.uscarhire.co.uk - they offered the best price for a Full size for 3 weeks in July - although airline network weren't too far behind.

We even got upgraded to a luxury SUV although I suspect that's due to Dollar keeping the full size cars for those poor Virgin passengers who pay over the odds to get ripped off for the virgin/dollar exclusive service. The nice thing was they didn't even try and sell us an upgrade - they just gave us one

 

[martina857]

M

 

[tartangirl]

Hi TartanGirl,

HOW are uscarhire bonded ? Is it ATOL or ABTA or some other ? Surely you would not recommend a company that has no protection ? Simply because they are 50p cheaper than their fully bonded rivals.... Would you ?

M

No I might not for 50p - but I might for £70 which is nearer the mark.

I have no idea what insurances any of these companies have and what difference it would make to my car hire agreement if they went bust but I feel safe given I paid my £25 deposit using a credit card and once I pick up the car my deal is with Dollar.

I, along with many others who have recommended them on these forums, have received excellent service from www.uscarhire.co.uk so I have no problems passing on the fact that I was happy with them.

Sadly my recommendations are only based on personal experience and no guarantee of anything - but isn't that what this forum is about?

 

[juliebro]

Just a word of warning about Airline Network. They are fine as long as everything goes according to plan. If there are any changes - either due to airlines changing flight times or you need to change your plans - they are completely inept. No-one deals with your problems and you end up being passed from one person to another - wasting time and money - and having to repeat the same story to every single person along the way.

Sorry - but I wouldn't go near them again.

Julie

 

[martina857]

M