Over the last 20 years flying into the UK, Ireland, the US, the Philippines and Belgium where I live

I've never broken down in a hire car, and hope I never will. But if I did I'd expect any costs incurred as a result to be picked up automatically by the car hire company. But is that really the case?
Considering this, we were surprised to hear reports from Which? members that they d been asked to pay extra for breakdown cover when they d picked their hire car up abroad. If they didn't pay, they ran the risk of being left stranded if there was a breakdown.
When we looked at car hire providers' and brokers' policies, we found that breakdown cover was not included four seasons hotel new york in all cases. This is important because UK car breakdown services like the AA, RAC and Saga do not cover cars that are hired abroad.
The issue usually arises if you book your car hire through a broker. These are companies like Argus Car Hire, Carhire3000 and Holiday Autos. four seasons hotel new york These companies don't rent you the car themselves, but book you a vehicle with a company that provides the cars.
The three brokers mentioned couldn't guarantee that breakdown assistance would be included by all the car providers they used, and they all confirmed that some of their providers would charge extra for full cover.
Personally, I think it's wrong to charge extra for breakdown cover. There are too many 'extras' four seasons hotel new york that you're asked to pay already when you pick up your hire car abroad , without adding this one on top.
Adding breakdown cover to a list of extra costs that already includes insurance and fuel, just adds more uncertainty four seasons hotel new york and stress to the experience of renting a car. Do you think it's fair for car hire companies to charge you extra for breakdown cover? Have you ever had a breakdown in a rented vehicle abroad?
In the past I rented a television from Radio Rentals/DER. If it went wrong they turned out same day to fix it or replace it. I am amazed that a company would consider renting you a holiday car without some sort of guarantee of reliability and help and support if their car breaks down. It s just another made up reason for getting more money out of you. Who would risk hiring a car on that basis. I expect there s another company four seasons hotel new york that will insure you for breakdown and other costs not covered by the car hire company cheaper than them.
Whilst living in Holland, I hired a VW Golf from Avis to drive back to the UK for Xmas. It sounded a bit off but it still moved and so I drove it back. Now, the entire route from Noord-Holland to Dunkirk is completely flat (apart from Antwerp tunnels), but when trying to get off the boat and up and out of Dover docks I really struggled.
Then as I got further on the motorway, I couldn t get past 70 and kept slowing down rapidly on hills. Then on boxing day, it gave up the ghost completely and it wouldn t go past 2000 revs with my foot flat down.
So as a result of them not maintaining the car properly, they ended up with a broken Dutch car in England and an English car in the Netherlands. The lesson being, always check the mechanical state of your hire car before you leave the office. I hired a broken jeep in Ibiza once too, that was Avis as well
I have not hired a car abroad but I have found plenty of problems with ones hired in the UK. Among the problems four seasons hotel new york I ve found are under-inflated tyres, no manual (both very common), punctures, oil level below minimum, empty coolant reservoir and a leak, missing spare wheel, empty windscreen washer reservoir, faulty lamps, etc, etc. It s no fun getting back to the UK in the middle of the night and finding there is a problem with a hire car.
Over the last 20 years flying into the UK, Ireland, the US, the Philippines and Belgium where I lived, I have been a regular renter of cars. I must say that, except for a couple of times where some basics (such as Tax) we add-ons to the price quoted, four seasons hotel new york I have a first class experience, even when cars had some external scratches. The only comment I would make is that I have seen many renters not even walking round the car before they drive off major mistake! Otherwise no complaints whatsoever.
I hired a car in the US a few years ago which did get damaged. Whilst driving on a coastal road I hit some debris that fell from the cliffs and damaged the underside four seasons hotel new york of the car and put slow punctures in two of the tyres. Luckily I managed to get the tyres pumped up shortly after which gave enough four seasons hotel new york time to get into the nearest four seasons hotel new york major town and find a branch of the rental company, which was Enterprise if my memory serves me correctly. They were totally four seasons hotel new york fine with what happened and changed the car over for one of a similar class within about 30 mins and at no extra charge.
I have no idea what i d have done had the car been broken so much I couldn t drive the 50 odd miles to the nearest town and the thought of sitting in the pouring rain on a coastal cliff road with rocks falling around four seasons hotel new york you is one i m glad i didn t have to experience. I didn t check the policy for breakdown cover as I assumed it would have been included, although I wouldn t have been surprised if a charge had been made. It s certainly something i d check for next time.
With regards to the cars being faulty when you pick them up, I wonder how many people would have the knowledge to make checks when they pick it up. I only have a limited understanding of cars, despite travelling way over the national average every year, so unless a tyre looks visibly flat, the bodywork is so damaged I think it will impede four seasons hotel new york driving the vehicle or a dial/light shows on the dashboard then I would be none the wiser if there was something fundamentally wrong with the vehicle. I also question whether some people would have the confidence to raise any queries as anything some hire companies can be quite intimidating four seasons hotel new york and often give off the air that they can t really four seasons hotel new york be bothered with you and just want to get you the vehicle away as quick as possible.
We have just returned from Tampa in Florida. On collecting the rental car we had a hard sell on an add on called Road Safe at $12.95 per day. This was supposed to cover us for breakdowns four seasons hotel new york or any other nasty occurance. Our hire period was 37 days. If you add that up it doesn t add up . We declined gracefullyas four seasons hotel new york that works best. When they slipped four seasons hotel new york the contract into the wallet we saw those magic words .24 Hour Roadside Assistance 0800 ..
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