Holidays 2018: Car hire extras push up rental costs
GETTY A car insurance provider looked at leading car rentals to see how much 'extras' added to the price
Stand-alone excess insurance provider iCarhireinsurance.com looked at five key companies - Avis, Budget, Sixt, Europcar and Hertz - in five of the most popular destinations - Tenerife, Nice, Barcelona, Milan and Larnaca. It found hiring a compact car with Europcar in Tenerife this Easter (from 31 March to 7 April) costs a reasonable £108 for the week’s rent, however once extra items at the rental desk are added the price increases to £505. These ‘extras’ are £66 for an extra driver, £62 for sat nav hire, £58 for a child’s car seat and £211 for a Combined Super Waiver policy – all adding up to £397 and leaving the driver with a final bill of £505, four times the original quote. Although it is useful to have an extra driver on a car hire rental policy it can add up. The study found that the average price, across the five destinations, is £54, with Barcelona the most expensive place, with Hertz charging £86, while in Larnaca, Enterprise only charges £19, a difference of £67. A young driver, generally under 25 years, costs £237 in Nice with Europcar, but Enterprise in Larnaca charges just £26. The average price across the study is around £119.
It’s often cheaper to take your own sat nav and child car seats, and buy standalone excess insurance iCarhireinsurance.com’s chief executive Ernesto Suarez
The most expensive place to rent a child's seat is in Milan with Europcar charging £94 for the week's hire, while in Larnaca, Enterprise only charge £23, a difference of £71. The average price across the study is £54. To hire a sat nav costs £115 with Europcar in Nice, but Avis in Tenerife charges only £33, a difference of £82. The average price across the study is £77. Excess Liability is the amount drivers have to pay if the hire car is damaged or stolen, even if it is not the hirer’s fault. Most rental companies have different liability for damage and theft and the liability can vary by over a thousand pounds depending on the location and rental company. The study found that the average liability for damage across the study was around £1000 but rose to £1,861 with Budget in Tenerife, and £440 with Sixt in Larnaca, a difference of £1,421. The average liability for theft across the study was £1,106, but in Tenerife with Budget it was £1,861, but again only £440 with Sixt in Larnaca.
GETTY Europcar rentals rocketed from quite reasonable prices to much more when 'extras' were added