Heathrow car hire
 

Anyone recommend a good company with reasonable rates. Need full insurance and extra driver. Thax

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Try Enterprise. I rented a Mini-Van from them, at the end of November.


Jim.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

I just got back last thursday, although I did not get my rental at Heathrow, we used Alamo. It cost £177 for a nine day rental and included an extra driver. We did not take any insurance as rental companies are required to provide 3rd party insurance and the rest was covered by Visa (US Visa credit cards have coverage for car rentals).

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Enterprise were by far the cheapest for me but be careful, their insurance is VERY expensive as there is a £700 excess to pay if you dont take the excess cover. (They didnt tell me that until I picked the car up!)

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Thanks, I will check my BA Chase card to see if I'm covered. I just didn't want any hidden extras when we got there.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Kayak.com http://www.kayak.com is a good comparison site. I tend to use Hertz (probably not the cheapest) as they always seem to be very well organized and they once gave us an Audi A3 as an "economy" car.

If your credit card doesn't cover the CDW insurance, Travelguard sell insurance for $7 / $9 a day, which is less than the 20ish quid per day from the rental companies...

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Just checked with Chase and my card covers the CDW and theft on car hire.
Thanks for all your help.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

You can buy insurance for the excess (from a third party company not the the rental company) the trip before last I think I paid £27 one off payment.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

I also heard that American Express offer some really good car rental insurance too.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Yes I had the Amex anyway with my card, but it's bad that they dont point it out, especially as I rang and asked them:thumbdown:

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

Try Auto Europe. They are an agency and try to get you the cheapest deals from various rental agencies. The car we were given came from EuropCar. We haven't used them for Heathrow, but did use them when we travelled to another part of Europe.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

I always use Hertz. They are well organised, tend to give pretty good car models and if you have are in the Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer programme you get bonus airmiles.

Doubt they are the cheapest but I bet all the "on airport" hire car companies are more or less the same.

Porvera

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

If the person is coming from the US, a car can be reserved from the US via www.kemwel.com or www.autoeurope.com. [Note -- they use the same software and therefore look similar]. I have had good experience with them and the prices can't be beat. The downside is that you have to pay in advance. Once you do that, you get a voucher -- last time in Heathrow, we ended up with a Renault Laguna from Alamo. From the Berlin Hauptbanhoff, we ended with a Skoda Octavia wagon [akin to a VW Jetta wagon to US folks] and they upgraded us for free to a TDI engine. [Note, driving into the former eastern bloc complicates the rentals a bit].

On the extra driver, both Alamo and National included spouses. Last month, Alamo at EWR included us two and we paid extra for our 29-year old. On full insurance, check out the credit card you use -- my AmEx did NOT include full insurance, but the US Bank Visa did.

Re: Heathrow car hire
 

The last few times I have rented a car from Alamo/Enterprises at Manchester Airport...I've found them to be the cheapest. If you have an AMEX card for about $24 each time you rent a car all insurance will be covered by them.

Rental car companies always seem to scare you into buying their insurance. Last week Enterprise tried to tell me that my AMEX card would not cover me for theft or tyre damage.:rolleyes: