Car hire companies

TTM and I need to hire a car to get us up to the Lake District for a dirty weekend in a few weeks.

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best companies to use? Never done it before and doing the research is very dull and time-consuming.

Just want one that offers a decent range of cars as at a reasonable value.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks folks!
Jim

With bikes in tow? Do you care about what the car looks like?
Because you could be better off with a van - in which case I've never had any issue with WVC.

Any BMW M will do. And while you are at it go to the Nürburgring. Buy new tires locally.

With bikes in tow? Do you care about what the car looks like?
Because you could be better off with a van - in which case I've never had any issue with WVC.

Yep, with two bikes and all related paraphernalia, so we were thinking a small estate maybe. Not sure if we'd need as much as a van?

Don't care what kinda car it is, but not a total shit kicker as it's a long old drive....

I think eyebrows is right, a small van is normally the cheapest option and you can get bikes in the back.

I used to use C&S out in Edmonton near the north circular, their vans were about £35 a day. But I just googled them and they don't seem to do small van hire any more, at least judging by their website.

However, when you google 'C&S van hire' icanhire.com comes up top, who do small vans for £37 a day, but seems to be different, more like Zipcar.

If you can pick them up from nearby though that's better than having to trudge out to Edmonton.

I've never heard of a car hire place that will routinely do any kind of 'normal car' for < £35 a day, but there might be.

Maybe easycar?

Yep, with two bikes and all related paraphernalia, so we were thinking a small estate maybe. Not sure if we'd need as much as a van?

Don't care what kinda car it is, but not a total shit kicker as it's a long old drive....

Go with a van, might be more fugly but the rental people tend to be less of a dick in the event you leave a tiny scratch on the back with the bikes.

Go with a van, might be more fugly but the rental people tend to be less of a dick in the event you leave a tiny scratch on the back with the bikes.

This. Dunno if you have Enterprise darn sarf but when I hired a van from them for moving lastyear they told me scratches etc smaller than 2 inches weren't bothered about, they didn't give a shit about the inside, I transported my motorbike in it and gouged up the wood and they didn't even look at it.

Thanks all! Maybe a van is the way forward.

Hope it comes full of old sun newspapers, mcdonald's wrappings and frijj bottles on the dashboard.

Where do you live? Chiswick van hire is very cheap and decent vans.

http://www.chiswickvanhire.co.uk/tariffs.html

I used Enterprise last time and got a small van. Cheaper than a small car, but be sure to get outside insurance as the hire company will charge you loads for it and many of them refuse to go below £500 excess on any commercial vehicle hire. I used Insurance4carhire.com to buy zero excess and was glad I did as some shitbag dinged me in a car park. Took ages to sort but got all the money eventually. Hurrah.

Thanks for all the tips.

Pickup will be near Lewisham, so Enterprise is looking the most likely. Good idea about the additional insurance too.

Have an account with sixt and can say they have been great.

Modern vans are brill IMO.

Since the chances of summer holidays to far flung places is probably not going to happen this year, I was thinking about spending some time doing days trips and over nights (one or two days) from London. Which is something I've not done for years! The last time I hit the south coast, was too Rye, in an Enterprise Rental car which was £40 a day with unlimited mileage. On doing a quick browse it appears times have changed and it's pretty expensive. For a similar trip Zipcar is £99 a day and they've only got a 60 mile range before being charged extra. This would really start to mount up over the summer as my partner and I have lots of annual leave to take.

The next thought was to buy a car for the summer, something cheap and cheerful. But, as somebody who hasn't really bought a car before, whilst it appears a feasible idea in my head, it doesn't mean it will be in reality?

And the third option was trains and Brompton's. But, we're in SW London, and as somebody who's not travelled that much around the UK for the best part of a decade, how feasible is it to get to some of the nice places to visit? Also, it would be great if the train or cycling part turning into an epic adventure and actually being transport?

So, does anybody do this, or have experience of it?

Anyone used Turo, the "airbnb of car rentals"?

Looking to rent a car over the bank holiday weekend, the normal places are all price gouging, so its cheaper just to rent a zip for 3 days.

Another option is Turo, but havent used them before and know no-one that has

Anyone know which car hire companies will allow / provide roof racks?

I have a France trip planned in Sept and we’re a car down - trying to work out what options we have to hire one and take bikes. Racks seem like they should be available as an extra but apparently enterprise / europ-car don’t allow it - need a company that does, plus allows cars to be driven onto the continent