Another naïve question about the UK for someone who has been away too long - can I get cheap car hire from UK supermarkets like I can here in France?
I don’t really want to hire from one of the big car hire companies at Gatwick and I was wondering how easy it is to find a local hire company like I can here in France. Here, we are 10 minutes from town and a large Leclerc that has an auto store, so hiring a cheap car is a doddle. I’m not finding anything similar in the UK (except perhaps vans?).
I’ve not come across it here Sue and I’ve no experience or knowledge of Uk car hire companies.
Not from Supermarkets.
I use Expedia to compare hire costs I can then select a reputable company. I also buy excess insurance from a 3rd party as it is always 25% of the cost of the car hire companies.
I had a car in UK last week - it cost approx £100 for 4 days.
I’m not really aware of a similar setup though there are cheaper companies like Greenmotion that I used a couple of times years ago. The problem is that they tend to offer quite poor service and it’s a bit like the Ryanair model where they pursue every possible penny from you.
Generally I just check the different aggregator websites plus the sites of the bigger companies. If you’re not too worried about the specific car you get then there are sometimes bargains to be found.
What about joining a car club?
That looks interesting but not sure I have the energy to sort this out right now. I’ll bear it in mind for the future. Thanks Jane.
Does Easycar still exist? Supermarkets don’t do car hire as far as I know.
I think it was Easirent. I hired a car from then once for £4/day. Had my own separate insurance cover.
In the UK, it’s not very common for supermarkets to offer car hire like in France. Most cheap options are through major rental companies or local independent garages, but they’re usually not tied to grocery stores. You might check out smaller local rental firms in the town or near train stations—they often have competitive rates. Another option is peer-to-peer car hire services like Turo, which can sometimes be cheaper and more flexible than traditional rental companies.
Which aggregator sites are you finding trustworthy please ? Have you used kayak by any chance for this ?
Very different market in the UK. I can hire a car in Chichester, but nearly twice the price (and manual) than if I pick up a car at Gatwick (automatic) . So I guess that’s the answer.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I’ve used them and travel supermarket and they’ve both been smooth enough. The last time I used Trip but had to cancel due to my father’s illness and that also went very smoothly with the refund arriving as promised.
Thanks John.
Looking up old notes I came across carigami.fr for France and, highly recommendwd by a trusted source I’ve known for years, zestcarrental.com for the UK and other places - I think they include the excess.and the recommender said fair dealing.
Autoslash keeps being recommended and their feature where it watches for price reductions and lets you know did appear to work for me a while back but that was in the US.
Also found an old note someone using ebookers but might be same as Mark’s Expedia now ?
Zest is recommended by Which.