Car Hire

[DavidProut]

What is the best (cheapest?) way to hire a car when going abroad? Internet booking, Travel Agent or hire on arrival from airport?

[spk]

I have always found that airports are more expensive because they have a captive audience but some companies are cheaper than others depending on age etc. Hertz are cheaper I believe if you are over 25. And it also saves you trying to get into the city or out of town to a cheaper place. Internet bookings for airport rentals might give you a discount?

[buildersmate]

I've used HolidayAutos quite a bit to pre-book a car in both USA and Spain and found it good value. Its a UK operated website, now bought up by LastMinute dot com (I think). Its a broker and it claims to trawl to find the cheapest deal but the cars that it has found me have always been from Alamo. Your contract is with HA and you print off a voucher which you use at your destination. Its an inclusive price and always includes the Collision Damage Waiver insurance that so often gets added on later by other operators. Its here http://www.holidayautos.co.uk

[dzug]

A consolidator like Holiday Autos mentioned above is always good value - Auto Europe is another. You generally get a car with one of the big names but cheaper than booking direct with them - and with insurance included.

In some resorts you will find cheap local operators (though not at the airport) which you can book on the spot. Their vehicles are often a bit dubious though. If you only want it to potter around locally it's fine but not if you are touring.

[dannydingbat]

Try the car hire section of www.airline-network.co.uk (I think). They can usually get deal with include things others charge extra for

[andy-hughes]

We've booked on the net before travel, and on arrival using local operators in our resort (in Spain) and the local operators are always cheaper. If ask to see the vehicle first, you should have no problems. We've never had any trouble at all with local operators, almost new cars, no trouble mechanically.