Car Hire Extortionate

[hibsbollah]

I’ve been trying to hire a car for 4 days over the school holidays, pick-up and drop off in North Edinburgh but I’m being quoted £1600 for 4 days, seems absolutely insane. If I pick up in Newcastle and drop off in Edinburgh it’s £400, which makes no sense to me. Tried a few places and struggling to find anything affordable. Is this the new normal or does anyone know an alternative?

[patch1875]

What about the enterprise car club?

[hibsbollah]

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What about the enterprise car club?

I’m a member but they tend to do the minis and compacts, or vans. I’m looking for a family car.

Edit-you’re right though, it’s way cheaper with them. I usually just use them when I need a car for a few hours

[Scouse Hibee]

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I’ve been trying to hire a car for 4 days over the school holidays, pick-up and drop off in North Edinburgh but I’m being quoted £1600 for 4 days, seems absolutely insane. If I pick up in Newcastle and drop off in Edinburgh it’s £400, which makes no sense to me. Tried a few places and struggling to find anything affordable. Is this the new normal or does anyone know an alternative?

Ridiculous, I have hired cars from Arnold Clark for twenty odd years and generally paid about £180 - £220 for four days. Haven’t hired for over two years now but can’t believe the costs could have increased that much.

[easty]

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I’ve been trying to hire a car for 4 days over the school holidays, pick-up and drop off in North Edinburgh but I’m being quoted £1600 for 4 days, seems absolutely insane. If I pick up in Newcastle and drop off in Edinburgh it’s £400, which makes no sense to me. Tried a few places and struggling to find anything affordable. Is this the new normal or does anyone know an alternative?

Weirdly enough we were talking about this last night. My girlfriends dad is over from the US and wanted to rent a car to go from Edinburgh to Glasgow today. £400 was the price he was quoted at a few places.

So he’s just getting a taxi instead.

[Alfiembra]

For £1600 you could buy a half decent car use it for a while and sell it on later.

[hibsbollah]

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Ridiculous, I have hired cars from Arnold Clark for twenty odd years and generally paid about £180 - £220 for four days. Haven’t hired for over two years now but can’t believe the costs could have increased that much.

Look at Europcar and Hertz both £1600+ for 4 days, it’s unbelievable.

The car club is definitely my best bet.

[Scouse Hibee]

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Look at Europcar and Hertz both £1600+ for 4 days, it’s unbelievable.

The car club is definitely my best bet.

Just had a look at my usual Arnold Clark and prices are reasonable as I have previously said although everything is fully booked,I always booked well in advance. The others are obviously dynamic pricing due to demand, best of luck hope you get something reasonable.

[RyeSloan]

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Look at Europcar and Hertz both £1600+ for 4 days, it’s unbelievable.

The car club is definitely my best bet.

Supply and demand for the Easter weekend I’d say…Expedia showing about £700 Friday to the Tuesday pick up and drop off at the airport while the next weekend you can get a Passat or similar for £250 for the same time period.

I assume the global car supply crunch has wrought havoc on these companies business models as well.

[bringbackbenny]

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I assume the global car supply crunch has wrought havoc on these companies business models as well.

I think you're correct, had several email from my employers travel management service warning about lack of supply for hire cars and prices dramatically rising.

[Northernhibee]

I used to work in car hire and this is just down to demand. Centres are expected to run at around 95%-97% capacity at all times so it doesn't take the hugest rush for a centre to be scrabbling for cars. It becomes an element of "we'll happily send someone to the midlands/London etc. to pick up a car for you but the money needs to be worthwhile" and you end up with exorbitant fees.

The cars were often sold within a few months of arriving at the centres, they have a computer programme that says when the optimum time to send the car to BCA would be and you have a very short time frame to retrieve that car and get it off your fleet. I've heard that the current situation of lead times with cars and the used car market has caused havoc with fleets.

By the sounds of it though, what you've been quoted is past the "We'll send someone on a 400 mile round trip to get a car for you" and well into the "We'll need to magic a car out of our backsides here but if the money's right we'll find a way one way or another" territory.

[hibsbollah]

Ive just booked a Hyundai i10 through the Enterprise car club for the 4 days+ for £128!

I know its a different business model but the end product is the same, the use of 4 wheels for a few days.

Thanks for the advice all.