No car hire desks at Heathrow Airport T5

Car hire companies are generally working on very tight margins and what they really don't need is the expense of staffing and paying for rental on space at airports.

It is interesting to see at London Heathrow Terminal 5, the home of British Airways that there is a very simple system located between the domestic arrivals and international arrivals.

There is a central console (pictured left) that has touch sreen information about the car companies using the facility - Hertz - Avis - Budget - National etc and telephones above. You can get basic information from the touch screen system and then speak to a representative from the car hire company on the phone.

No doubt if you have not already pre-booked, within minutes you can find out about availabilty and then make your way to the car hire depot at the airport and complete formalities.

If you are a freequent user of rental cars, you should consider buying an annual car hire excess insurance policy. This will work out a lot cheaper than buying daily policies from a car hire company. Find out more at www.insurance4carrental.com

Of course you can always pre-book your car hire in advance through a car hire broker like Holiday Autos. As we are coming into the busy summer months, it is wise to plan ahead particularly after the car hire shortages experience in 2009. Find out more about Holiday Autos at http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xjeffreymilnerltd