Cheap car rental

I'm planning to visit my grandmother out in Maldon, Essex this weekend, but am unsure of how to get there (no train station in Maldon). Any tips on a particualarly decent place to rent a car for the day?

It's 45 miles - why not ride it?
http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/inc/planner_places_redirect.jsp

'cause I'm going with my two sisters and niece who are visiting from Canada.

Fair enough!

Yeah, I probably should have predicted the "ride your bike" comment, and preempted it with more info. Meh.

ava car mottingham was cheap when I needed a van, they do cars too. 020 8857 3080. Easy to get to Essex from there too.

http://www.cars4rent.co.uk/cars.html

Probably not the best way, but if you want I can give you a 5% discount code for Hertz. PM if you need it.

I use these guys:
http://www.aimrentacar.com/

They have weekend rates that work out quite well, and the small cars are pretty cheap I think.

Drawback: They're in West London and you're going East, and their site only works in IE on Windows.

3year dredge
looking for a car to drive to cornwall for a weekend getaway. tried aimrentacar but the site still doesn't work in chrome or safari in 2011.
Anyone ever use erentals at heathrow?

Try sixt as I got a few good three day deals.

Another 3 year dredge...

I'm driving from North London to Whitstable on the weekend after next. I'd like to pick up a car on Saturday and return it on Sunday. Can anyone recommend anything? We currently have something booked with "A1 Hollway Rental" but would prefer to book with a company based on personal recommendations and experience if possible.

Any suggestions for a car rental over Christmas? Looking to rent something for 5-7 days. Obviously will be a peak period so looking to book it up now.

Do people usually book cars in advance (for holiday abroad) or just do it when they get there?

I'm nervous that I'll book something only to find hundreds more €s will need to be paid at the rental office.

In my limited experience (US and NZ) the best prices are online and in advance. However, cheapest is not always best, and there may be advantage in turning up and waving cash, if you are not in a hurry.

Thanks. I think I'm leaning more towards cash-waving.

I have done the last couple of times, I've been away with my GF,
if you can get insurance before you pick up the rental car like from these guys, it cuts down on the extra charges for excess.
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

Which is what usually drives up your costs, once you sign for the car.

Many thanks for the link

Tend to book cars abroad a fair bit over the last couple of years (Canada, South Africa and lots in Ireland) tbh I always book online before hand and avoid really small outfits, having a small company try to stiff me in Malaga years ago I cba'ed nowadays. My aim is to get off the plane and out of the airport asap so not going to try and bargain over a few quid. I use holidayautos and have a seperate annual excess insurance cover as we hire a fair bit.

+1 for own annual excess cover, can get for around £40

Where do people tend to get their annual hire car insurance now? The place I previously used has stopped doing it.

Also, my usual method is to use something like carhire3000 and mark as airport pickup only. That tends to rule out of all the crappy little places with lengthy shuttles.

I've always used Questor. I've never had any issues, but then again I've never had to make a claim

Are Green Motion as bastardish as their reviews make out? (Being vague on damage at pick up and then highlighting everything at drop off.)

Looking to rent a car (big enough for 4 people and reasonable amounts of luggage) for the first two weeks of August and Avis/Budget/etc are quoting £900 and Greem Motion are £500.

I'll have excess insurance but I'd rather not have to waste time fighting them over scratches before involving the excess insurance company.

The only time I've used GreenMotion (from Stansted, about 5 years ago) they were fine, but their online reputation has got worse since then and they are (or were about 2 years ago) specifically excluded from cover by the excess insurance folk we then had a policy with.

It may be worth looking at different locations too - eg an Octavia from Europcar is being quoted at £743 from Dartford or £972 from Lewisham, picked up Sat am 31/07, returned Mon am 16/08. (Prices through http://www.carrentals.co.uk, who I've always found reliable.)

The only time I've used GreenMotion (from Stansted, about 5 years ago) they were fine, but their online reputation has got worse since then and they are (or were about 2 years ago) specifically excluded from cover by the excess insurance folk we then had a policy with.

Thanks, can't see any exclusion with insurance4carhire.com which I use for excess insurance. Guess I'll be picky at collection and then give it a thorough checking over before returning. I did have to use T-cut on last year's rental to get some cosmetic scuffs out of the paintwork (due to Cornish roadside hedges), didn't hear back from them (but it was Budget last time, and booked via Avios).

I'm already getting this one from Heathrow to help reduce the cost (I'm in SW15).

(Also a bit galling that a two week rental car is going to cost pretty much the same as our existing car costs to run for a whole year, including fuel.)