"Beware, save a penny waste a pound! "
One major consternation for UK travelers is whether to rent from major established car rental companies or to save a buck and go with one of the mired of small
independent companies operating in the UK. One can make what appears to be significant savings by going independent but there are pitfalls. The major car companies have significant support services for your convenience. The small boys... well folks, you are pretty much on your own!
A case study in point, over the holidays we rented a car from Practical car rental which is located a couple of miles off the airport in Manchester, United Kingdom. Practical comes up as one of the cheaper options when
using some of the large US travel search engines such as Travelocity. The rental period was from Dec 19th thru Jan 2nd 2004 for a total cost including taxes at $867.71, not cheap but not at the level of the major renters for a full sized car.
First surprise was the vehicle, we had asked for a "full" sized car upon pickup we received a Vauxhall Astra diesel which the practical representative indicated was a upgrade for us. The only point here is "full size" in the UK is not "full size" in the US so do your homework. Well the car was clean, the representative was pleasant so we kept quite and went on our merry way, it was Christmas!
Things worked out fine until the last day of the rental which unfortunately landed on New Years day 2004.
That night we had planned to take friends and relatives for a meal, I had a 10:30 am flight out of Manchester to Chicago the following morning. At the time it made sense to stop and fill up with gas to save time the following morning. Here is where the nightmare started.
Do not assume the green handled pump in a dark filling station is Diesel as in the US! It's 6:30pm new years day and I am now sitting with a tank 1 quarter full of diesel and 3 quarters full of unleaded gasoline. The dark side started to take over, diesel heavier than gas, 1 quarter diesel, no repair station near, flying first thing tomorrow, who will know!!!
Then as usual the voice in the back of my head, "son always do the right thing" dam that man always appears!!
I attempted to siphoned the fuel out, after three gulps I realized these new cars in the UK has some type of anti siphon system.
So I attempted to call the Rental company and ask for course of action, I was relatively lucky as the representative did pick up but he indicated that the office was closed and my only recourse was to call the independent breakdown service number which was on the wind shield.
Well I called and things started to look up, they would be there in 45 minutes and would tow me to a 24X7 repair service where they would drain the tank and I should be back on the road that night. Ninety minutes later they did appear, the service man started hitching the car up he turned an pronounced "Ok where do you want to take the car? " Ok now I am sweating, " I have no idea, the dispatcher indicated that you all would take care of that? ". Service Guy "nothing open tonight, where do you want me to drop it off? " The nearest cliff was resonating in my head.
Now I took things into my own hands, I have resources (relatives) in the UK that the normal US traveler would not have access too. On the mobile (rent one its worth it) to my nieces husband Andrew who is a mechanic for a Mercedes dealership in a town about 15 miles away. He indicated as long as you have not driven significantly then it's not a big deal his dealership would charge $160, issue being it could not happen until next day.
So I had a backup plan, I then got hold of the Practical Representative again and asked what his preferred plan was. I asked did he just want me to set up a tow in the early morning before my flight and drop it at the rental office, "Nope." was the response, no resources to service car. He requested that I get it towed to the main Vauxhall dealer in Stockport which is next town over from Manchester. So I set up a tow with their third party company for early am left the keys with a friend.
It was not until I arrived in Chicago that I found out that the fiasco continued. Apparently the tow company never showed up, the records got lost in their computer, my friend eventually got them out at 2pm in the afternoon and got the car off to the dealer in Stockport. Ok now I was happy everything was right with the world, the experience got a few laughs with friends in the US but the surprise was yet to come. Practical charged my credit card an additional $783.91!! a few emails later the breakdown.
1. 2 days loss of use (should have been four they where being kind) due to bank holidays. Bottom line this garage dragged its feet or only work government hours!
2. $514 (before tax at 17%!) for draining tank replacing filter!!! a little over the $160 my nephew indicated.
3. $105 for fuel
4. Value added tax at over 17% to all above!!
5 Totals $783.91!!!
The status now is that I have requested documents for all the costs, and I will keep you all posted. The intent of this is not to bash Practical, it is to warn my US friends about the potential pitfalls of renting cars in the UK from smaller independent companies.
My experiences indicate the independents may be cheaper up front but beware! It better go smoothly any issues and you are on your own as they will not have the support services of the larger companies.
If I had not had the contacts in the UK it would have been highly likely that I would have missed my flight in the UK the next day. In hindsight it would probably ended up being cheaper if I had missed the flight and dealt with the resolution myself.
Hertz National sorry I strayed please forgive me!!!
Garry
keller, Texas
U.S.A.
0 comments