Tell me everything I need to know about hiring a car in the UK
October 14, 2024 3:38 PM Subscribe
I’m British, but I’ve never hired a car before. I might need to do it for the first time, at a time of fair personal stress when I don’t have much extra bandwidth for learning new processes. I’ve read the RAC guide to car hire but I don’t know what else I don’t know.
Is it a must to get separate car hire excess insurance? Where from? What are all these extras that I hear companies pile on to your car hire after the initial quote, and which of them do I need? (The initial quote is for like £13 a day, which seems unlikely…)
Does my regular car insurance have any relevance when hiring a car, or do I buy insurance specifically for this vehicle, from the hire company? If so, is it automatically Fully Comp? Is breakdown cover automatically included?
For someone used to driving a 13 year old Honda Jazz, what unexpected things am I going to find when I get in and want to actually make the car move? eg. How do you start new cars now - I gather it’s not a matter of sticking a key in and turning it? How do you lock and unlock them now? If you get one where the handbrake is a button, where’s the button? Do the lights do anything weird?
Is it definitely going to take unleaded rather than diesel?
What else have I not thought of?
I’m British, with a full manual licence and have credit and debit cards and passport. I have a car of my own and Fully Comp insurance cover and breakdown cover for that.
Please only reply with answers that you know to be relevant in the UK, not based on US experience, as I don’t have the bandwidth to filter and check right now.
Thanks.
Is it a must to get separate car hire excess insurance? Where from? What are all these extras that I hear companies pile on to your car hire after the initial quote, and which of them do I need? (The initial quote is for like £13 a day, which seems unlikely…)
Does my regular car insurance have any relevance when hiring a car, or do I buy insurance specifically for this vehicle, from the hire company? If so, is it automatically Fully Comp? Is breakdown cover automatically included?
For someone used to driving a 13 year old Honda Jazz, what unexpected things am I going to find when I get in and want to actually make the car move? eg. How do you start new cars now - I gather it’s not a matter of sticking a key in and turning it? How do you lock and unlock them now? If you get one where the handbrake is a button, where’s the button? Do the lights do anything weird?
Is it definitely going to take unleaded rather than diesel?
What else have I not thought of?
I’m British, with a full manual licence and have credit and debit cards and passport. I have a car of my own and Fully Comp insurance cover and breakdown cover for that.
Please only reply with answers that you know to be relevant in the UK, not based on US experience, as I don’t have the bandwidth to filter and check right now.
Thanks.
(the manual should be in the car, or complain...)
posted by Tandem Affinity at 3:51 PM on October 14
posted by Tandem Affinity at 3:51 PM on October 14
Go somewhere like Rentalcars .com. Search by your parameters and pick one. My preference is the large firms because greater likelihood of new inventory.
When you pick up the car, bring your license, credit card and maybe passport.
Your normal UK car insurance will not be suitable to cover the vehicle.
From a UK IP address, all the prices you are quoted should include insurance but not the reduce your excess/breakdown cover.
You can buy that as add on. There are also companies that sell that kind of thing separately. That may be cheaper but know that that is a separate claim you submit and the hire company will want their money.
Never hired a car in the UK that did not run on unleaded fuel. They do put stickers under the fuel cap to remind people what to put in.
When you get the vehicle take all the time you need still parked up adjusting mirrors, seats etc. figure out where the hazard light switch is. There is normally simply a start button not far from where you would put your key in the ignition. Modern cars tend to have headlights and windscreen wipers on sensors. ‚auto‘ should cover you for most eventualities. You will have a display, if you use that eg for navigation know it typically adjusts brightness based on your headlights.
Connect your phone to the car Bluetooth as well, if you think you‘ll need it. Find your radio station.
As you pull out of the lot there will be a barrier and they’ll compare the car you’re in to the contract. They may ask for your license again at that point. So keep those handy.
When you return the car, you will drive into the lot over a one way barrier thing that will shred your tires if you try to reverse over it. You‘ll be directed to pull up in a queue of parked cars. You get out, get all your stuff, take some pics to document condition of the car on return. A person will come up, check fuel level and may or may not offer you a receipt.
If your pickup is at 9am and you plan to return the vehicle some days later at 10am, that results in an extra day’s worth of hire charges compared to a drop off time of 9am. On the other hand, the extra day up front is most likely cheaper than returning the car late. So be realistic when you book the vehicle.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:08 PM on October 14
When you pick up the car, bring your license, credit card and maybe passport.
Your normal UK car insurance will not be suitable to cover the vehicle.
From a UK IP address, all the prices you are quoted should include insurance but not the reduce your excess/breakdown cover.
You can buy that as add on. There are also companies that sell that kind of thing separately. That may be cheaper but know that that is a separate claim you submit and the hire company will want their money.
Never hired a car in the UK that did not run on unleaded fuel. They do put stickers under the fuel cap to remind people what to put in.
When you get the vehicle take all the time you need still parked up adjusting mirrors, seats etc. figure out where the hazard light switch is. There is normally simply a start button not far from where you would put your key in the ignition. Modern cars tend to have headlights and windscreen wipers on sensors. ‚auto‘ should cover you for most eventualities. You will have a display, if you use that eg for navigation know it typically adjusts brightness based on your headlights.
Connect your phone to the car Bluetooth as well, if you think you‘ll need it. Find your radio station.
As you pull out of the lot there will be a barrier and they’ll compare the car you’re in to the contract. They may ask for your license again at that point. So keep those handy.
When you return the car, you will drive into the lot over a one way barrier thing that will shred your tires if you try to reverse over it. You‘ll be directed to pull up in a queue of parked cars. You get out, get all your stuff, take some pics to document condition of the car on return. A person will come up, check fuel level and may or may not offer you a receipt.
If your pickup is at 9am and you plan to return the vehicle some days later at 10am, that results in an extra day’s worth of hire charges compared to a drop off time of 9am. On the other hand, the extra day up front is most likely cheaper than returning the car late. So be realistic when you book the vehicle.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:08 PM on October 14
I have hired a car in the UK and am a similarly experienced driver to you in my home country, driving a similarly simple car to your Jazz. I hired a 2022 Vauxhall Astra from Budget, I think, at Edinburgh airport.
The experience was less than fine, sadly, because I didn’t take the time to get the car hire agency staff to show me how the car worked, assuming I would figure it out. There were three major issues I had:
- the navigation system language, as well as all the digital display dials, were in Spanish, presumably set by the previous renters, and I had to pull over to look up the menu options on my phone to reset the entire system to English because the manual was impossible to locate (bizarrely, it was in the boot)
- the mirrors and seat weren’t easily adjustable without really feeling around for switches and perhaps using the screen; this seemed fine when I left the lot but was actually kind of dangerous on the narrow roads I was on later that day
- worst of all, I could not move the gear selector into reverse no matter what I tried, leaving me stuck in a pull-in parking space for nearly an hour; it turns out that it’s impossible to do this without pulling up on the gear selector knob itself while simultaneously pushing the clutch pedal and shifting the gear selector into reverse; I was in rural area of Scotland before I had to reverse at all, and I could neither find this in the owner’s manual in the moment nor Google it because there was no mobile service; in the end I rang the car hire company from a landline phone at a shop I was parked near and had to ask them what to do; they were also confused and it was only when they went out to another Astra on the lot were they able to describe how to do the “lift and shift”
I’m sure you will be OK, but do take allllll the time you need to figure out the car before leaving the lot.
posted by mdonley at 4:10 PM on October 14 [3 favorites]
The experience was less than fine, sadly, because I didn’t take the time to get the car hire agency staff to show me how the car worked, assuming I would figure it out. There were three major issues I had:
- the navigation system language, as well as all the digital display dials, were in Spanish, presumably set by the previous renters, and I had to pull over to look up the menu options on my phone to reset the entire system to English because the manual was impossible to locate (bizarrely, it was in the boot)
- the mirrors and seat weren’t easily adjustable without really feeling around for switches and perhaps using the screen; this seemed fine when I left the lot but was actually kind of dangerous on the narrow roads I was on later that day
- worst of all, I could not move the gear selector into reverse no matter what I tried, leaving me stuck in a pull-in parking space for nearly an hour; it turns out that it’s impossible to do this without pulling up on the gear selector knob itself while simultaneously pushing the clutch pedal and shifting the gear selector into reverse; I was in rural area of Scotland before I had to reverse at all, and I could neither find this in the owner’s manual in the moment nor Google it because there was no mobile service; in the end I rang the car hire company from a landline phone at a shop I was parked near and had to ask them what to do; they were also confused and it was only when they went out to another Astra on the lot were they able to describe how to do the “lift and shift”
I’m sure you will be OK, but do take allllll the time you need to figure out the car before leaving the lot.
posted by mdonley at 4:10 PM on October 14 [3 favorites]
The reverse thing is definitely a Vauxhall thing -never had another make quite as unintuitive.
Came back to say, know you are reserving a category of vehicle not a specific model. They will list a specific model as example. But depending on what you need the vehicle for relative boot size or whatever may be relevant. You will be at the mercy of what they have in the lot and maybe what they offer to upgrade you to.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:16 PM on October 14
Came back to say, know you are reserving a category of vehicle not a specific model. They will list a specific model as example. But depending on what you need the vehicle for relative boot size or whatever may be relevant. You will be at the mercy of what they have in the lot and maybe what they offer to upgrade you to.
posted by koahiatamadl at 4:16 PM on October 14
Just adding to the already comprehensive answers above, if there's no need to hire specifically from an airport, I found the rates, check in experience, and support from Arnold Clark to be better than the usual airport firms (Inverness though; ymmv).
posted by Ardnamurchan at 4:51 PM on October 14
posted by Ardnamurchan at 4:51 PM on October 14
I hire cars quite a lot in the UK, and the experiences listed above aren't especially like what I've seen. I've never hired from an airport in the UK, which would be where you might have the parking lot experience listed above.
In terms of paperwork, you won't need your passport, you may need something printed with your address on, you will probably need a credit card, but a UK issued debit card might be fine, and you will need to share your driving license check code.
It's relatively likely that someone from the hire company will phone you between booking online and pickup in order to check you are actually going to turn up and to make sure you have everything with you when you get there. Hopefully that will make things easier, but also it means the already fairly small chance of them having a car for you gets much lower. I would certainly recommend booking direct on the website of a nationally known hire car company to make sure they do have a care for you. Enterprise and Hertz are the ones I've used most, but Avis and Europcar (and indeed Arnold Clark) are also fine.
In terms of what might be tricky about driving the car that you hire:
When someone did crash into me when I was driving a rental car, I had no CDW or excess insurance, but the whole situation was pretty much fine actually, and they did set me up with a replacement car for the rest of the hire, but my credit card was out £1000 for 6 months until they refunded it. But everyone was polite and friendly and I didn't have to deal with anything after returning the car. So that's almost the worst case. The worst case is that even if you don't buy the CDW, you're out £1000.
I've never got charged for returning a car with damage: there have been a couple of times I've been worried about it, with scratches to mirror covers and small paint nicks, and one time I did apparently take a small bite out of the tyre of the van I'd hired (extremely narrow and steep cul-de-sac I stupidly drove down), and they were going to charge me for a new tyre, but it was late in the day and they decided it was fine.
Anyway, I think maybe I wrote too much, but mostly it's to reassure you that the worst that can happen in the rental part really isn't that bad, and it's fairly straightforward.
posted by ambrosen at 6:09 PM on October 14
In terms of paperwork, you won't need your passport, you may need something printed with your address on, you will probably need a credit card, but a UK issued debit card might be fine, and you will need to share your driving license check code.
It's relatively likely that someone from the hire company will phone you between booking online and pickup in order to check you are actually going to turn up and to make sure you have everything with you when you get there. Hopefully that will make things easier, but also it means the already fairly small chance of them having a car for you gets much lower. I would certainly recommend booking direct on the website of a nationally known hire car company to make sure they do have a care for you. Enterprise and Hertz are the ones I've used most, but Avis and Europcar (and indeed Arnold Clark) are also fine.
In terms of what might be tricky about driving the car that you hire:
- I'd say that the biggest deal would be electric handbrakes (e-brakes). The important thing to remember (and which I didn't a couple of times) is that you don't need to release them to drive off, you just lift the clutch and press the throttle down and as that takes the load, the e-brake releases.
- Push button and keyless starts can be a bit confusing to work out at first, too. You'll need the clutch fully depressed and to be pressing on the brake in order to make it start, and if (see the e-brake above) you do stall — no worries, all clutch bite points are different, and e-brakes can make it more complicated — remembering to press down the clutch and brake before trying to get it to restart can be what you forget when flustered
- In terms of fuelling, you definitely might get a diesel car, but they're pretty rare nowadays. There will be a black sticker inside the fuel lid saying so, vs a green one for unleaded.
- You may well get lumped with an SUV. Sorry, that's just the way things are nowadays.
When someone did crash into me when I was driving a rental car, I had no CDW or excess insurance, but the whole situation was pretty much fine actually, and they did set me up with a replacement car for the rest of the hire, but my credit card was out £1000 for 6 months until they refunded it. But everyone was polite and friendly and I didn't have to deal with anything after returning the car. So that's almost the worst case. The worst case is that even if you don't buy the CDW, you're out £1000.
I've never got charged for returning a car with damage: there have been a couple of times I've been worried about it, with scratches to mirror covers and small paint nicks, and one time I did apparently take a small bite out of the tyre of the van I'd hired (extremely narrow and steep cul-de-sac I stupidly drove down), and they were going to charge me for a new tyre, but it was late in the day and they decided it was fine.
Anyway, I think maybe I wrote too much, but mostly it's to reassure you that the worst that can happen in the rental part really isn't that bad, and it's fairly straightforward.
posted by ambrosen at 6:09 PM on October 14
Having recently rented a car at Heathrow, I can say that they (and the car gas cap) were very clear about the type of petrol needed. They tried to upsell me on insurance, but my husband researched, and yes, our credit card covered normal car rental (Sadly something you'll have to check yourself - whether your insurance or credit card might cover it. If it's not long and/or cost isn't a huge deal, give yourself a break and just buy their expensive insurance). The Fiat I rented took a normal key, but when I've gotten cars that didn't at other car rentals they've been pretty clear about how to turn the car on and off. Feel free to try things before you leave the lot and go ask questions if you need, but I've always been able to figure it out with the manual.
posted by ldthomps at 6:29 PM on October 14
posted by ldthomps at 6:29 PM on October 14
I recently had a hire experience in Scotland. I now see I was lucky not to get the Astra I scheduled - I got uograded to an SUV because it was the only automatic they had at the time. I was hiring in town and the pickup was at a random mall car park, not manned all the time as I learned when I returned the car at the designated time only to bounce off. Definitely clear up when you should return it to actually be able to, as well as prepare for both rental and return to take a while. You'd think they'd be prepared for the hours you booked online, but no.
I had excess insurance through my credit card and didn't have to claim it, but I still got dinged for not enough fuel and extra fees that were supposed to be in the quote, so I had to file a protest that still hasn't been resolved. Plan when and where to fill up, I saw zero petrol stations in the last half hour of driving.
New car things: I was already familiar with keyless start - you only touch the keys to disable the alarm, they stay in your pocket or a bag that can be in the boot as well. The car didn't come with navigation (paid subscription not paid up) and it required a USB-C cable to charge a phone so I was lucky I brought a powerbank because navigation on low cell signal eats phone battery. And the freaking out drove me crazy - the overactive parking sensors were bad enough, that blade of glass a metre away isn't going to eat you, but also not only did it read speed limit signs and display them, it frequently read them wrong (lorry limits, side roads etc) and continuously dinged at me for exceeding them. I think that's manufacturer dependent - that was a Volkswagen, I recently rented a Toyota outside the UK that had the same speed limit system but only tutted at me for five seconds before shrugging and deciding I'm an unreformable road pirate.
On the other hand, that Toyota had the weirdest shifter - automatic too, and you moved it to the side and back to go forward (it then returned to the initial resting position) or forward to go back. So yes on getting familiar with the car before you drive.
Other things that may surprise you - traction correction (beeping when you drive over lane markers and/or gently moving the wheel to keep you in lane) and collision prevention that may automatically slow you down or beep or both when the car in front brakes suddenly. That was fun on a completely empty road, apparently Volkswagens see ghosts sometime.
Also if you end up with something materially bigger than your daily driver, really pay attention to how mirrors are set because it takes a while to get a hang of where your corners are now. I actually knocked a mirror shut on the side of a bus, thankfully without a scratch. The parking sensors will probably let you know at low speeds.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 7:40 PM on October 14
I had excess insurance through my credit card and didn't have to claim it, but I still got dinged for not enough fuel and extra fees that were supposed to be in the quote, so I had to file a protest that still hasn't been resolved. Plan when and where to fill up, I saw zero petrol stations in the last half hour of driving.
New car things: I was already familiar with keyless start - you only touch the keys to disable the alarm, they stay in your pocket or a bag that can be in the boot as well. The car didn't come with navigation (paid subscription not paid up) and it required a USB-C cable to charge a phone so I was lucky I brought a powerbank because navigation on low cell signal eats phone battery. And the freaking out drove me crazy - the overactive parking sensors were bad enough, that blade of glass a metre away isn't going to eat you, but also not only did it read speed limit signs and display them, it frequently read them wrong (lorry limits, side roads etc) and continuously dinged at me for exceeding them. I think that's manufacturer dependent - that was a Volkswagen, I recently rented a Toyota outside the UK that had the same speed limit system but only tutted at me for five seconds before shrugging and deciding I'm an unreformable road pirate.
On the other hand, that Toyota had the weirdest shifter - automatic too, and you moved it to the side and back to go forward (it then returned to the initial resting position) or forward to go back. So yes on getting familiar with the car before you drive.
Other things that may surprise you - traction correction (beeping when you drive over lane markers and/or gently moving the wheel to keep you in lane) and collision prevention that may automatically slow you down or beep or both when the car in front brakes suddenly. That was fun on a completely empty road, apparently Volkswagens see ghosts sometime.
Also if you end up with something materially bigger than your daily driver, really pay attention to how mirrors are set because it takes a while to get a hang of where your corners are now. I actually knocked a mirror shut on the side of a bus, thankfully without a scratch. The parking sensors will probably let you know at low speeds.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 7:40 PM on October 14
Cars are terrible for wayward design of knobs and levers. Carhire people are terrible for curse-of-knowledge: the assumption that because they deal with a) modern cars b) a variety of cars on a daily basis, that interacting with cars is obvious to all thinking people. Don't let them brush you off until you find out:
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:12 AM on October 15 [2 favorites]
- whether the wipers / lights levers are left or right and up or down: they may be materially different from your car.
- (un)locking will certainly be by remote with padlock icons on the keyfob
- how to access petrol tank: there may be a lever in the car as far from the petrol caps as possible (on the floor near driver-door?)
- reverse gear may involve peculiar push pull combinations as mentioned upthread
- press-and-holding a button on the console is different from pressing that button
- ask where the nearest petrol station is and locate it (check hours) before leaving the locality so you can return the car tank-full
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:12 AM on October 15 [2 favorites]
I sat in a hire car in a petrol station for ten minutes looking for the fuel cap opening switch, before I figured that there was no switch - I needed the key in the ignition turned one click, and then to go out and push on the fuel cap.
posted by quacks like a duck at 12:38 AM on October 15
posted by quacks like a duck at 12:38 AM on October 15
Response by poster: In terms of extra coverage, that's called Collision Damage Waiver, CDW. I tend not to buy this, and do often have excess insurance to cover that gap at £40 a year. But I would think that if you're stressed out anyway, go for that, and if you can go for that when booking, which will avoid the unpleasantness of an attempted upsell.
Sorry - is CDW the same as excess insurance? If not, which are you saying I should go for?
posted by penguin pie at 2:16 AM on October 15
Sorry - is CDW the same as excess insurance? If not, which are you saying I should go for?
posted by penguin pie at 2:16 AM on October 15
Excess for hire cars tends to be on the high side, like £2k or something like that. For a few years I was hiring cars at assorted London airports a few times a year. I never bought the additional insurance because it would have added up fast and was an actual expense to avoid a potential, not very likely but large expense. In the event paying the excess would not have been devastating financially so I was ok to bear that risk.
So this is very much a question of what you’re comfortable with. If the vehicle you’re hiring has very different proportions compared to your own car, chances of scrapes or dents go up because after a while you forget you’re not in your own car.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:07 AM on October 15
So this is very much a question of what you’re comfortable with. If the vehicle you’re hiring has very different proportions compared to your own car, chances of scrapes or dents go up because after a while you forget you’re not in your own car.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:07 AM on October 15
One more thing for new cars - there will be an automatic setting for both lights (turns on automatically, switches from day to night, but brights still need your intervention; turns off automatically a few minutes after you shut the engine) and windshield wipers (water detection). It's rather helpful in that you rarely have to think about your lights and never about your wipers, once you actually find the auto setting.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 6:53 AM on October 15
posted by I claim sanctuary at 6:53 AM on October 15
People above have covered pretty well all the things you need to make sure you know before you drive off: how reverse works, adjusting seat and mirrors, which levers control wipers and lights, and whether they're automatic, how the keyless starter works, where the fuel tank is and how to open it. You can ask the car rental assistant to explain or demo these things.
A few more things:
If you're used to older cars, the tendency for new cars to shut off the engine while idling (even in traffic) can be alarming. It comes on automatically when you accelerate.
The in-car navigation system may give you a choice between the car's built-in system and your connected phone's system (eg. Apple CarPlay). If you use the car's one, it's good to also have your route planned in your phone as backup.
The speed limit for the road you're on may be shown automatically on the dashboard. (But in my last car rental this was often wrong.)
posted by snarfois at 7:37 AM on October 15
A few more things:
If you're used to older cars, the tendency for new cars to shut off the engine while idling (even in traffic) can be alarming. It comes on automatically when you accelerate.
The in-car navigation system may give you a choice between the car's built-in system and your connected phone's system (eg. Apple CarPlay). If you use the car's one, it's good to also have your route planned in your phone as backup.
The speed limit for the road you're on may be shown automatically on the dashboard. (But in my last car rental this was often wrong.)
posted by snarfois at 7:37 AM on October 15
Oh, one other thing: Photograph every side of the car before you drive off, and after you drop it off. If you later receive a damage notification, you have proof whether it happened during your rental (e.g. if it was pre-existing). This has enabled me to successfully dispute damage charges on more than one occasion.
posted by snarfois at 7:42 AM on October 15 [1 favorite]
posted by snarfois at 7:42 AM on October 15 [1 favorite]
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posted by Tandem Affinity at 3:49 PM on October 14