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Monday 17 August 2015

Portugal is most expensive for car hire according to Post Office survey


The UK's Post Office annual Car rental Report has found that the average cost of a weeks car hire rental for a mid-sized saloon at Faro airport during the peak season was £553 / €786.

The cost includes the fee for the vehicle, excess waiver insurance (EWI), SatNav, an extra driver and 40 litres of unleaded fuel. With weekly costs of £547, Croatia worked out as the second most expensive destination for British holidaymakers to rent a car. France came third with total fees of £447.

In comparison, the Danish capital of Copenhagen is the least expensive for the same seven-day package and at £248 is less than half the Portuguese price. The second cheapest in the table was Germany with £264 and the Netherlands was the third cheapest at £277.

The Post Office says the strengthening pound is encouraging Britons abroad to splash out on car hire.

The Post Office was quoted as saying that at least 20 per cent of UK holidaymakers stated they would be hiring vehicles for their European holidays this summer. It noted that not only was the fee for the vehicle itself cheaper, but fuel to fill it up with was too. 

Ireland's car rental costs are in the middle bracket at €551.The Excess Waiver insurance was €128 and payable excess €1,346. 

Sources: Post Office, The Irish Times, Carrentals

Hiring a car over the age of 70? It could cost you more

The Daily Mail's "This is Money" feature published a report on Saturday about a couple from Uxbridge in Middlesex who were told they would have to pay more than double hiring a car in Majorca because of the age of one of the drivers who is 79.
 
We are being told we must work longer and wait forever to retire and when we finally get there discover if we want to hire cars it is going to be very expensive.
 
In the end Economy Car Hire came to rescue and have agreed a sensible price. (Find out a little more about Economy Car Hire Here).
 
The full report can be seen here   
 
Car hire excess waiver insurance companies also offer cover to older drivers.
 
Questor insurance says anyone can buy their product between 21 and 84 (They can be found here).

Insurance4carhire say Drivers aged 21 to 85 years old (inclusive) (Find them here
 
Worldwideinsure says "If you are aged between 21 and 84 and are named as a on the vehicle rental agreement, you can purchase cover provided you have an internationally recognised valid driving licence" (They can be found here)
 
iCarhireinsurance says "Policy holders must be aged between 21 and 85" (They can be found here)
 
Carhireexcess.com says "You and all other insured drivers must be aged between 21 and 84 years of age on the date of purchase of this insurance and must have a full valid driving licence, or hold a full internationally recognised licence to drive the rental vehicle" (They can be found here)

So the car hire excess waiver insurance companies will look after the "senior" renters and therefore the car hire companies themselves should treat those customers the same without trying to take more of their hard earned money to add to the company's profits.

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Problem Press Report for Budget Car Hire Ireland

The Guardian ran a report about a reader's bad experience of hiring a car in Ireland from Budget Ireland.

Entitled "Getting far more than we Budgeted for when hiring a car in Ireland", it reported how a reader  only discovered when he got home Budget had charged us five times more than we paid for our own insurance.

The car was collected from Budget Ireland at Kerry Airport and was tired and it was late when the car was collected.  When he got back home he checked his credit card statement and found that he had been charged £232 for excess and personal accident insurance.

"The Budget employee had used my credit card to charge me for this insurance without saying one word about excess insurance. He just smiled politely through the whole procedure."

See full report at The Guardian here

I have hired cars twice this year from Budget Ireland via Economy Car Hire. Each time I have shown them the Questor Insurance confirmation of excess insurance I have taken out and declined their insurance. No problems. Going again next week so will be extra cautious.

If you are buying Questor excess / travel insurance via the insurance4carrental site remember if you use the special code, you can save 10% Find out more here