 Poster: A snowHead
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The best bit of hiring a car is when you give it back, full of petrol and unmarked. Increasingly, I'd be inclined to drive my own car to the Alps even for a short trip. Like @denfinella, I enjoy planning out routes, am a good navigator, and a dab hand with snow chains. And generally prefer driving to being driven, and enjoy being able to chuck lots of stuff in the back. And knowing I have a proper, full-size, spare wheel in amongst all the stuff, somewhere.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Ah but it takes so bloody long driving from the UK!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| pam w wrote: |
Trouble is, you can't rely on getting the car you booked. We booked a specific model, in Geneva, one summer to accommodate my mother's wheelchair, but were given a supposedly "better" car, which just wouldn't fit it. Sorting it out badly delayed us.
It always worries me when I get a shiny brand new hire car. I don't want an unroadworthy banger with bald tyres, but a car a few years old, with 20K on the clock - no problem. I also hate the smell of new cars. As for paying a premium for a car in order to impress people.  I obviously know the wrong people; I'd be ashamed for anybody I know to think that I'd done this. And why would I want to impress people I don't know? |
It might surprise you to learn this, but the reason you didn't get the car you specifically booked wasn't because the rental company wanted to wee wee you off. Its because for one reason or another , the car wasn't available.
Usually because customer prior to your rental didnt/hasn't returned it on time , or in a timely manner to make it available to you.
I'm sure the specific needs you mentioned were not understood by the agents, hence the problem.
As regards hiring to impress someone, who said anything about that ?
If someone wants to hire a nice car for the period of their holiday, who are you to pass judgement on that ? No different to choosing a 4 star Hotel rather than a 3 star.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| maggi wrote: |
| Roguevfr wrote: |
| while it may be simply a "mode of transport" to you, there are many others who enjoy getting a hire car as part of their holiday. |
What?! Well, I've never met one. If the conversation is ever about hire cars it seems that everyone thinks the whole thing is usually on a scale of a bit of a hassle to a total pain in the butt. Do these strange people you mention get a kick out of being patted down in the security queue too?  . |
The entire industry does not exist solely to transport people TO and FROM their accommodation. That's what taxis and transfers are for.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Roguevfr wrote: |
It might surprise you to learn this, but the reason you didn't get the car you specifically booked wasn't because the rental company wanted to wee wee you off. Its because for one reason or another , the car wasn't available.
Usually because customer prior to your rental didnt/hasn't returned it on time , or in a timely manner to make it available to you.
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....or quite often because the vehicles represented on the company or consolidator website are notional and may not even be stocked at a particular branch...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Prices definitely mad at mo, I usualy can get a Focus Estate in Germany or Austria for under £200 a week, currently £627 at Innsbruck. Going to try and stowaway on the Crystal bus instead, failing which it will be the train to Mayrhofen.
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Just tried Rentalcar.com for 5 days from 30/3 out of GVA and no rates available!
£444 for a compact car on holidayautos!
£436 for a Fiat 500 on Hertz.
Think I'll be getting a bus!
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Was getting quotes of around £650 for an estate from GVA (19/3 - 26/3). There'll be 8 of us going to vt then and transfers we're coming out at around £1200 but it looks comparable to 2 x estate cars.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@halfhand, remember fuel, tolls and parking in VT and transfer will come out well ahead. Only downer is less flexibility to stock up at Super U in valley for cheap.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, Yes, we also had that conversation regarding petrol etc.. Also, whilst I like driving I don't particularly want to do it in winter in the Alps. Much better to let someone else do it 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It might be a coincidence, but after 13 or 14 years of regularly renting cars (several times per year), I've been "scammed" for the first time twice in a row, by two different Avis/Budget locations (GVA French side, and LYS - Lyon Airport)
LYS added snow chains to my booking after I specifically declined them, I had to sign the rental agreement on an electronic screen which did not show the whole thing at once - in my tired state I just signed it assuming all was as they said without checking they'd not sneakily added anything. Ended up having to pay €60 for non-existent snow chains. Tried to dispute it via credit card but they are not interested because the signed document is "proof" that I rented snow chains.
GVA French side added expensive daily insurance which I don't need, and also specifically declined, but kindly removed it when I returned the car. In this case, the contract was emailed to me electronically and I didn't physically sign anything. I only noticed the insurance was added when I checked my emails later in the evening after picking up the car.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Ha! We’ve had issues twice this winter, with Europcar and Sixt, over dodgy contracts. Also never happened before in many many years of hiring. They’re all at it!
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| musehead wrote: |
LYS added snow chains to my booking after I specifically declined them, I had to sign the rental agreement on an electronic screen which did not show the whole thing at once - in my tired state I just signed it assuming all was as they said without checking they'd not sneakily added anything. Ended up having to pay €60 for non-existent snow chains. Tried to dispute it via credit card but they are not interested because the signed document is "proof" that I rented snow chains.
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I had a similar thing with Europcar at Lyon in later Jan. Hired a Fiat 500-X which I was assured did not need snow chains as it had 'snow tires'. I dropped the car back and the following week received an invoice in which I was charged 202 Euro (!!!!) for snow chains. I disputed it directly with Europcar and they immediately backed down and removed it from my bill and refunded me the difference. I had photos of the car and the boot area at the time when I hired it, the photos showed there were no snow chains present.
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You know it makes sense.
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I generally find Ryanair best for car hire prices, when choosing I sort by price, lowest first, avoiding car hire cos like Firefly, Goldcar etc
Sometimes after booking will email you car hire at a discount 10%.
The initial booking can be cancelled FOC , if you want to rebook at a discount
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Quote: |
which I was assured did not need snow chains as it had 'snow tires'
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which is, of course, rubbish..... as is 202 euros to rent chains. Especially non-existent ones.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Don't think that's a rental charge.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have to admit I didn't think to check the snow chains on my recent rental and only saw they were there resting on their case when I was looking for something to scrape the ice off the car when we were leaving. Another thing to add to my list along with taking photos of the outside of the car before heading off. I presume, as Roguevfr suggests, the 202 euro charge was for losing the non-existent snow chains.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Olderscot When renting back in summer 2019, on pick up I noticed a scratch not on the collection diagram. The pickup rep was actually pretty annoyed that her colleague obviously hadn't properly checked the car previously. She said that it can get very hectic on certain days or sometimes quite randomly, and admitted that unfortunately, stuff simply gets missed sometimes.
She also mentioned that they're actually more interested in alloy damage, over minor bodywork scratches. Alloys can be expensive to repair and customers often just assume that kerb rash etc isn't as important, but it is. So alloys are another thing you need to check carefully against the pickup damage sheet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Rented in January from Europcar in Munich. First time the wasn't a line at the desk. The Sixt desk looked closed. Ordered a Touran got a Sharan. First time that I saw a lot of empty parking spaces. In fact, most of the spaces were empty. Second first: first time rented from Munich a car with over 30K km on the clock. The new car shortage is real!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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This thread reminds what a financial relief it was when we no longer needed to rent child car seats.
No matter the amount of shopping around, no way round it, with rental companies essentially covering the cost new (of their dog-eared) child seats every two weeks.
So costly that when friends of mine travelled, they sent their own child seats (for their twins) with oversized luggage, at a time when you could do such things depending on the airline for free (BA) or just £10 elsewhere.
Separately, when collecting rental cars I usually face a bit of pressure for their Super CDW cover, a big saving made by buying a UK policy in advance.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We started to bring our own car seat when we had landed at Heathrow coming from NZ having booked a car seat but had a close shave. Turned up to the car rental shack (Hertz I think) and the car rental staff dug a tatty old model out a back room. There was a family who had also booked one who were just behind us in the queue, but none were left. The staff then began muttering about going out to the nearest child car seat shop to buy one, this on a bank holiday. We thanked our lucky stars and rapidly left. After that we brought our own when we could. You could bring them free in long haul at least. Apart from the cost saving as the rental cos are extortionate, we would not be left stranded as that poor family.
It became a lot easier when only the booster part was needed. We bought an inflatable one, which also doubles as a booster for cinema and theatre visits so they can see.
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Just back from GVA where I rented as a package through Easyjet. Was sent to Sixt and they were excellent. Somewhat surprised to be given a Mercedes A class having booked a Fiesta!
Sixt were excellent, no queue at pick up, no hard sell for any extras, a very nice chap who I returned the car to and no issues at all.
The only problem was that I currently drive a rubbish car and all the bells and whistles on the Merc were somewhat confusing!
I paid €266 for 6 days which I thought was reasonable as there were three of us.
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@Hurdy, i agree that sounds very reasonable. I did ideally look at what EasyJet was offering for car hire on my upcoming and was pleased to see the circa €266 charge... until i spotted that was per day! You did very well
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I own a few parking spaces near Geneva airport which I rent out to persons who ended up buying a car to commute between airport and resort
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I own a few parking spaces near Geneva airport which I rent out to persons who ended up buying a car to commute between airport and resort
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Bergmeister wrote: |
... £135 for 7 days is not to be sniffed at!  |
About £550 for last week in Norway, but that was a decent car. No insurance or other extras, just the car.
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Last week 375 euros in Minorca, all included
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You know it makes sense.
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| ParkingGVA wrote: |
| I own a few parking spaces near Geneva airport which I rent out to persons who ended up buying a car to commute between airport and resort |
How much do you charge for a parking space. Are they covered or out in the open? Am looking for somewhere to park a car for our regular visits to our apartment as car hire is getting silly and driving isn’t always practical.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Both are covered with access through gate. One is closed (box), walking distance to airport, chf 240/month. Available now. The other is a longer walk (or 5minutes on bus), in a garage chf 180/month, available as of 20 July
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Poster: A snowHead
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Just priced up the same vehicle we had back in Feb '20, Canada. Same time for the same duration 3.5 times the price 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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May '09 Full size SUV out of LAX was £530 for 18 days, July '22 Full size SUV out of LAX is £1270 for 15 days. So nearly 3x but given it was 2$/£ in '09 from memory and now its not quite 1.25$/£ then I'm not surprised.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Actually 2$/£ was the Colorado trips when we were child free so 2004 or 05. 2009 was more like 1.65$/£.
So '09 hire was circa £30 a day, or about $50. '22 hire is circa £85 or $105. In $ terms then roughly a doubling, allowing for the fact that July may be a higher demand time than May.
How much of that is down to 13years regular inflation and how much industry specific I cannot be bothered to calc.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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On the V8 point I was recently idly looking at vehicles for US and noticed a GMC Yukon came out cheaper than any other car including tiny economy microcars (not a Fiat 500 that's because the twisters in the US rental business class that as a midsize or something).
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dave of the Marmottes, on the Fiat 500, dont they supply the bigger version - 500L, rather than the tiny one ?
midgetbiker, Your 50% increase seems way off Like I say from 2020 same vehicle over the same period is 3.5 times as much for next season - like £900 v £3,500.
If it was only a 50% increase I'd grab it with both hands.
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@Bones, nah genuinely had booked something as an intermediate which should mean Focus + size (Focuses used to be compacts but there is some blurring goes on there) and I walked out to a standard Fiat 500. They spouted some BS about it being a premium Euro car or somesuch but obviously they were trying to pull a fast one on a tourist. Got an Focus with a souped up Sony soundsystem instead after a bit of pushback.
Little trick for the US which probably pays off at 20 days + is Enterprise do long term rentals by the month.
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@Bones, Well those is the prices, and that is the maths. The 50% is based on US$ to US$ in real terms. If you were talking £ to £ it would be more like 100% increase in real terms (adjusted for inflation).
Your booking is presumably in CAD and I've no idea what the shift on FX is for that
The 2009 booking is the only one I can find from back then, but we did a few 2007-2010 and from memory they all came in around the same daily rate.
The 2009 booking was just an open market using a screen scraper though Quidco, the 2022 is via Costco with member discount, so that may pull the price down a little.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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midgetbiker,
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Your booking is presumably in CAD and I've no idea what the shift on FX is for that
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Nope those prices were £, prior to this years prices, there hasd been very little variation over the previous 10 years or so.
I know and understand the reason for the increases, however its still a maasive chunk of change to add to the trip costs.
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We're in Kefalonia at the moment. Couldn't source a car for hire, two of the main suppliers are saying they have nothing available till mid and end of September as they can't get vehicles to the island. One small place did say they might be able to source a car for 3 days for 285euro, I suspect excess insurance would be on top. But didn't have details since the car didn't seem to be on their system, so showed me an internet picture of a second hand one. Suspect it might have been his mates. Last time I was here pre COVID I think we paid about 130 for 7 days.
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FAQ
