Car Hire

The whoosh of skis on crisp white snow, bright blue skies and the promise of après ski lured almost 1.25 million Britons to the slopes last year. With many planning to do the same this winter, the USA and Canada will be among the most popular destinations for the avid skier. For more time on the piste and less spent sorting out and queuing for car rental, skiers should go to Alamo.co.uk for the best rates at the widest range of top ski resorts.

At the 2008 World Travel Awards ceremony on December 2 in the Turks & Caicos, Europcar was named the World's Leading Green Transport Solution Company, an environmental award launched this year. The company was also elected World's Leading Leisure Car Rental Company for the second year in a row.

Car hire comparison site Carrentals.co.uk has launched its new Road Sense road safety campaign for the winter months, with a range of offers, advice and information for drivers.

In its latest bid to help consumers ease the credit crunch, international car rental broker easyCar.com is launching a generous no cancellation fee policy. Consumers can now cancel their car hire completely free of charge within seven days of placing a booking. And even if cancellation falls beyond the seven day limit, for a minimal £7.50 fee, consumers will be offered a cancellation option up to 24 hours before the pickup time and date.

Leading online car hire broker Holiday Autos is offering up to 10% off its brand new van hire offering to celebrate the extension of its range of vehicles. The offer is valid for all van hire bookings made until 30 November 2008 for pick-ups until 31 March 2009 and applies to all rental periods and across all UK pick-up locations. The lead rate for van hire with the discount applied is a staggeringly low £20 per day based on a seven day rental in November 2008.

Fleets don’t need to discard car rental to reduce their cost base in a recession, instead they need to use it in a more considered fashion, says Avis Rent a Car. The car rental company’s new Sales Director, Anthony Ainsworth, has come up with some sound advice for businesses on how to utilise car rental to reduce costs and keep drivers safe and mobile.

As the credit crisis deepens and costs soar, leading online car hire broker Holiday Autos launches a new van hire offering, providing a budget friendly answer to the ever so expensive removal companies.

This year’s high fuel prices and continuing credit crunch have changed demand in the car hire market according to price comparison site Carrentals.co.uk, which has seen a 10% increase in bookings for fuel efficient economy cars.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the hugely successful easyGroup and chairman of easyCar, was in top gear last Thursday to celebrate 10,000 car rental bookings in Cyprus over the past three years. This milestone for easyCar is another triumph for the easyGroup portfolio.

As Bond comes to our screens again this week, Avis Rent A Car is offering great deals on US car hire and the Avis team have come up with their definitive guide to the greatest American Bond destinations.

Leading online car hire broker Holiday Autos is reporting a great start to 2009 with US bookings already up 3% compared to 2008. The USA is one of the best selling destinations for the car hire broker and this year the strongest growth was seen in places such as Seattle (up 43% year on year), Phoenix (23.6%), Denver (15%) and Atlanta (14%).

Parents hiring a car when they travel are being advised to compare the additional costs of renting baby and child seats before booking. Car hire comparator Carrentals.co.uk says that costs from providers can vary significantly; meaning cheaper car rental may be offset by higher child seat prices.

Escape the doom and gloom of the UK's economic misery with Kamper Hire’s low season rental rates of just £60 per day*. There’s still time to head to the Med for warmer weather, with France’s Côte d’Azur and Mediterranean Spain providing the best of the late autumn sunshine. And to make things easier, Kamper Hire have halved their European surcharge (which includes European insurance cover and unlimited mileage) to just £10 per day*.

Do you find Christmas shopping in your town uninspiring and repetitive year in and year out? How about driving somewhere new to shop, in a car big enough to accommodate all your purchases? The Avis hassle-free Home Delivery service can offer you just that, dropping the car directly to your door for the ultimate in convenience.

Avis Rent A Car has just published the results of its latest survey, which makes for worrying reading. The car rental company surveyed UK motorists to see whether they could correctly identify both UK and foreign road signs and 53% answered incorrectly.

Getting out to enjoy the last of the summer sunshine is even more affordable with Alamo Rent A Car’s free upgrade offer on UK rentals. For instance, customers booking an intermediate vehicle, typically a Vectra or Mondeo on alamo.co.uk/ukupgrade will only pay for a compact, which is the class below.

Europcar UK Group is continuing to focus on the issue concerning most motorists – fuel economy – with the addition of the Peugeot 308 to its national fleet, including the hatchback, HDi 90 and 110 bhp diesel models. The current World Record holder for the highest average fuel consumption of 90.75mpg on a journey, the Peugeot 308 HDi 110 hatchback, gives Europcar customers access to highly economic driving – and that’s good for the environment.

SEO and online brand specialist LBi Netrank today announces it has been appointed by easyCar.com, the low cost, online car hire specialist, as part of its pan-European online strategy to improve the site’s search engine ranking in the UK and across Europe.

Record-high oil prices mean the cost of travel is being unceremoniously passed on to the consumer. Increasingly, higher prices are hidden in additional fees and travellers very often only discover these higher costs after it’s too late to change providers. One primary example of this is the cost of car hire. A growing number of holidaymakers are arriving at their final destination only to discover the cost of car hire is much more expensive than expected due to the total cost of petrol.

Following the success of last year’s “Snapped” competition, easyCar.com is once again asking the British public to get creative with their holiday snaps. Moving away from tired landmark pictures, easyCar is driving holidaymakers to use their imagination and become amateur travel photographers.

Avis Rent A Car has reduced the price of its popular new Home Delivery service in London, in response to feedback from customers. Home Delivery now costs just £10 each way from Earls Court, Euston, Park Royal and Tower Bridge, and £15 each way from other central London locations*.

Workers and residents in and around London can now escape the city whilst saving fuel, congestion charge costs and their conscience with the availability of the Toyota Prius from Europcar. The UK’s leading vehicle rental organisation is now offering the Prius, the world’s first and most successful hybrid power vehicle, from all of its London locations.

Forget April in Paris, experience the romance and artistry of North America in the Autumn with Alamo Rent A Car. With the pound continuing to take a battering against the Euro, Alamo is urging travellers to head stateside for their Autumn break this year to experience New England in the Fall.

Europcar UK Group, the UK’s leading vehicle rental company has strengthened its marketing structure in preparation for its multi-million pound re-launch in the UK in 2009.

Name-dropping exotic countries they’ve never visited and citing sites they’ve never seen - the little white travel lies told by British holidaymakers are being exposed. New research from easyCar.com reveals close to one in six (15 per cent) Brits have told fibs about their travel experiences to impress someone.

Europcar rents thousands of vehicles out a day so expects the occasional late return or damaged vehicle. But a recent survey of its branches revealed some of the strangest reasons for damage to cars or late returns. Ranging from an afternoon snooze to a runaway cow!

The need for cost-effective, environmentally friendly, travel solutions is being addressed by leading vehicle rental provider, National Car Rental, at this year’s World Travel Market. Utilising its extensive global network, National is offering the travel industry a range of solutions that meet the needs of leisure and business travellers.

Hiring a car is a great, inexpensive way to make the most of a holiday. This summer, make renting a car even better value for money by following these tops tips from Holiday Autos.

Does driving on the opposite side of the road send your head into a spin? Does the continual beeping of horns put you into a blind panic? And do you shout at your petrified passenger that the fact you have just bumped the car is not your fault, but the bad habits of the other people on the road? Well – you may just be right.