Time to pick a few brains... (UK Car Hire)

[bazzanoid]

Morning all!

I'm away this weekend in portsmouth, however i'm not entirely certain my car will survive the trip - it's heading towards that stage of being unreliable (it is 15 years old after all).

Sooooo, i'm going to hire a car. Sounds stupid, but i've never hired a car in this country before!!!! I'm so used to hiring thru Dollar in the US!

Difficulty: i don't own a credit or debit card. No problem, Enterprise will take cash deposit. Conveniently, they are also my closest rental location.

Naturally i'm trying to find out what the cash deposit will be so i know how much i'm supposed to get out the bank. But i can't get hold of the local branch and national customer services tell me to talk to the local branch as it's "down to them what they charge and what their policies are". Not much point having a national customer service centre in that case

Anyone had any experience of 'cash' rentals in this country and what the typical deposit is?

Ta in advance!

 

[AliceGardner]

Naturally i'm trying to find out what the cash deposit will be so i know how much i'm supposed to get out the bank. But i can't get hold of the local branch and national customer services tell me to talk to the local branch as it's "down to them what they charge and what their policies are". Not much point having a national customer service centre in that case

Your local branch don't have a telephone number? You can't phone them? How are you supposed to make a reservation (I assume that you wont be able to make a reservation online without a credit card)? Any "cash desopit" should be made clear to you when you book.

Alice

 

[bazzanoid]

They do have a phone number but i can't seem to reach them on it

 

[jns]

why not drop in and ask them if its only local

 

[AliceGardner]

They do have a phone number but i can't seem to reach them on it

How are you planning to book then?

Agree with jns - pop in.

Alice

 

[Sid74]

If you do book with Enterprise make sure you place the actual booking over the internet, as the difference in price can be massive.

We book a car with them just about every month for a weekend so we can do the shopping and so the kids can visit my mum, and the online price works out to be about £12 a day for a minimum of 3 days and then vat for the a group cars, and every month they have different staff who try to charge the branch rate which is about 3 times the price So make sure you get anything you book or are told in writing, we take a print out and it still takes a while for them to sort out the price difference

I would try again to ring them as they will try to get you to book in person as the rate is so much better for them, unless you are someone that can tell them no thanks and walk away with the deposit info in writing.

 

[Claire L]

If you have a bank account surely your bank can give you a debit card? Just for future it may make things alot easier. As has been said before internet prices are often cheaper than phone quotes or personal visit quotes.

Claire