FlyingDutchman6666

My first time arranging a car rental in UK/Europe as a Canadian resident.

For the *exact same* car rental, I get:

While pretending to be a UK resident (through kayak.co.uk): £140, all inclusive (including CDW)
As a Canadian resident (through auto europe): CAD$250, excluding airport surcharge, local road tax, CDW. When using my credit card's CDW, it comes to £215.

I thought of pretending to be a UK resident, but the small print says that you need to prove your country of residence (presumably through your driving licence), and if you turn out to be resident somewhere else, the booking will still be honoured but the price will change !

Anyone booked through UK sites while resident in Canada?
Anyone found cheaper/better car rental sites than Auto Europe?

Former Lancastrian

Well unless you have a valid Dutch driving licence I tend to think producing your Canadian provincial driving licence might be a bit of a giveaway as to residency

Hobbess

I've always done the comparison as I still have a UK account and credit card so figure at the booking stage I can go through the UK site or use my Canadian stuff and book through Canada. When you go to pick up the car they don't seem to care where you booked it and how.

However, i've had the complete opposite experience, usually booking a mid-size or estate type car in the UK for 2 weeks. I've always found a better deal booking in CAD$ and using my credit card to mean no extra insurance costs.

Best deals I've found through Hertz.ca, though I've always booked a few months out and can usually find a discount code on-line or directly on their website. Current Europe offer of 20% off Quickly just did an intermediate week in the UK in Oct, £120 on Budget through Kayak.co.uk, £111 on Hertz.ca

Atlantic Xpat

The other useful thing to do with Hertz is to search on the web for a Gold club membership code & join Hertz gold. You tend to get better rates as a gold club member.

ninaDGBCA

We booked with Europcar/National when we went abroad this summer. No deposit required and unlimited milage.

Hobbess

Yes - I forgot to put this - but it's exactly what I did. I don't think it's made a huge difference on the rates though worth it all the same.

Ramsey

I've been looking for a French hire in October.... Europcar have had some good rates... You get the same EUR rate regardless of which site you use.\

Gonna try out that Hertz promo now though.....

dollface

Try Kemwel, I believe they have some sort of link to Auto Europe , but I found them less expensive last time I booked a UK rental through them.

JGK

I booked through a site declining the CDW as it was covered by my credit card only to find out that the hire company (enterprise) add a daily surcharge onto the hire charge if you don't have their insurance ended up costing me an extra $120 on a 3 week hire.

I'll check the small print on the agreement next time

pdarwin

Last time I was in the UK I flew Air Canada to Heathrow and picked up my Avis rental car there and had a hotel, all with big, big discounts because I booked everything through the Air Canada web site.