Reliable UK Car Rental Companies

YCT_49

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Bringing my family on a driving trip in England and Wales coming early July. I found terrible feedbacks on all the major car rental companies in UK, either during pickup or returning. If I had read those feedback before I booked my air tickets and lodging, I would have decided against the driving trip.

Anyone here had a reasonably positive experience with a UK car rental company? Green Motion is giving a very reasonable quote. Anyone dealt with this company before?
 

Gameomi

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Rented from Europcar quite a number of times previously, did not purchase their in house insurance and got charged an unreasonable amount for some minor scratches(most likely caused by other cars in parking lots as I did not get into any sort of accident) and stuffs for two of the trip. Luckily managed to claim from the third party insurance that I bought from icarhireinsurance.com. Other trips that were without incidents were fine. Rented once from Budget, and it was fine too. Just have to be real careful not to damage the car, and I guess it depends on your luck too.
 

YCT_49

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Thanks for your reply. I had decided to rent from Hertz since it is one of the long established international car rental companies. Moreover, Hertz Sg gave me a reasonable quote. As for excess charges, I had thought of buying excess protection from icarhireinsurance.com too. But I found that the travel insurance I bought from NtucIncome already provides S$1500 coverage for car rental. So, I think I will rely on it for excess protection. I rented car in NZ a few years back and never had any problem. But feedbacks on UK car rental companies are really scary stuff.
 

jiajing10

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I think its better to buy the insurance from icarehire as it will provide other reimbursements like flat tyre replacement, loss key etc, which excess insurance in income wont cover.
 

Gameomi

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I think its better to buy the insurance from icarehire as it will provide other reimbursements like flat tyre replacement, loss key etc, which excess insurance in income wont cover.
it took me over a month to liaise and get back my claim tho, have to be prepared for that lol
 

camelsback

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just back from UK last night. Rented a jaguar XE from http://www.rentalcars.com/ under sixt. All smooth. Just purchase the insurance from rentalcars.com and u will be safe. Any claims just go thru rentalcars.com

There are cheaper alternatives also from rentalcars.com under greenmotion, but i see some negative reviews, so i paid more for sixt.

Note: greenmotion has limited milage. Sixt is unlimited.
 

YCT_49

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Thanks for all the advices, though they came a bit too late for me. I found bad comments for all UK car rental firms. In the end I settled for Hertz as it is one of the more long established car rental companies and Hertz Singapore quoted me a very reasonable price for a compact, manual car.
Before end of first day, I found difficulties in handling manual car after driving automatic version for the last 20 years. The change to auto version went quite smoothly and the return at Marble Arch branch also went smoothly. I am really satisfy with my experience with Hertz.

I tried to capture existing scratches on the rental car with my hand phone camera. But the scratches did not show up clearly. Lucky that the return staff did not give me any problem.
 

Bad kids

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The thing is if you don't meet with any issues, then no problem. But when there is problem like, error in the arrangements of cars, accidents, damages, etc. That where the headache arises.

I was with this company for a few times. Once I picked the car up from York, I was given a XC60, it was a absolutely nice ride. Return the car in London.
Subsequently, rented from them in Finland, which was quite smooth.
The last trip was in Sweden, meet with an accident, the whole saga came in and took awhile to resolve when it came to the claims.

As I said, when there are no hiccup, then no issues. Sometimes also depends on luck. You should be safe going with the reputable companies.
 

guitar123

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Audi A6 - SIXT - Adblue problems

A couple of years ago, I rented from Sixt, and prices were ok. We got an Audi A6 Station Wagon. Huge boot.



However, I was hit with a most unexpected problem. Adblue!

Heard of Adblue? My car ran out of Adblue, and I had to fill it up myself in the cold winter. It was quite an experience.

In this video, you see me filling up the Adblue tank of the Audi A6. Gosh, it was a tiring experience and this was in winter, Scotland, in the open carpark of the Premier Inn, Stirling, Scotland. How did I end up having to fill up the Adblue tank? Well, the warning indicator on the dashboard said that I only had 900 miles to go. I read on the Internet that if the Adblue wasn't refilled, the car would not start!

I was only about halfway through my driving holiday and there was plenty more driving to do. I didn't want to risk it having no Adblue and getting stuck somewhere in the winter cold with my family in tow. Not a good idea.

 
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