Who doesn’t want to save money on the cost of their holiday? The more you save, the more you get to spend on enjoying yourself – and that, after all, is what holidays are all about.
Some of the areas in which you might make savings are perhaps quite obvious – the flights you book and the accommodation you choose, for example. But there is one subject in particular that might merit special attention, since it is one that is probably costing a lot of holidaymakers rather more than they need to be paying.
That subject is the hire of the car you plan to use of your holidays. So it might pay dividends to look at ways you might save on your hire car costs:
Book early
- the earlier you book your hire car, the better your chances of finding the best deals and getting the vehicle you want before others have laid claim to it – your choice is already likely to be reduced if you leave things until the last minute, especially in peak season;
The car for the occasion
- it is also worth giving some thought to why you want to hire a car and what it is going to be used for – a small car is likely to be more than enough for nipping about town, but something more spacious and powerful might be appropriate if you are going to be touring;
Shop around
- it is always wise to shop around before buying any goods or services – and no more so than when hiring a car;
- be wary of the advertised headline price, which might not reflect some of the additional, associated costs you may need to bear – consider the level of insurance included, for example, and just as importantly the size of any excess (which might be upwards of £1,500 or so);
Excess insurance
- that brings us on to one of the thorniest issues about hiring a car – the amount of excess to which you have to agree on top of the collision damage waiver (CDW) and the cost of any CDW excess insurance you consider it more than prudent to arrange;
- The level of excess may be very high;
- This excess insurance, of course, is designed to indemnify you against the very substantial contribution you are liable to pay by way of the excess in the event of loss or damage to the hire car;
- Even though the size of the excess might not have been mentioned when you booked the car, your car rental company is unlikely to be slow in coming forward in offering excess cover when you eventually arrive before the check-out desk at your destination;
- It is widely accepted, that top-up excess protection provided by hire car companies is notoriously expensive for the cover it offers and may add considerably to the daily cost of hiring your car;
- Rather better, then, to arrange your CDW excess insurance with an entirely independent, UK-based provider where you may typically find a better product at a cheaper price.
There may be a number of areas in which you are able to save money on the cost of your holidays and what you spend on your hire car may be one of the most important of these. For best value for money you might not want to restrict yourself to those insurance products offered by the car rental company, but consider buying CDW excess insurance at least as a standalone form of protection before you go.
