Eric Hartley was looking forward to starting a 10-day holiday and ready to hand over €309 (£260) for his rental car at Milan Bergamo airport last month, only to be told his booking could not be processed.
The reason? The name on his booking – Eric Hartley – did not match the name on his passport and driving licence: Eric James Hartley. Even though he had not been asked for his middle name when booking through aggregator website stressfreecarrental.com, and his credit card had the same name as his booking, staff from rental firm OK Mobility said they could not proceed.
His experience highlights the headaches that holidaymakers can experience even before their annual break gets under way.
For Hartley, the only solution at the time was to cancel and rebook – but at a cost of €514 (£433) instead of €309. “If the UK system, where I placed the booking, didn’t require a middle name, then it’s likely that most people, like me, won’t have added it, and therefore will be faced with the same problem,” he says.
OK Mobility says it regrets the inconvenience caused and adds that the booking was rejected – an “unusual” occurrence – due to “security standards”. These require details to match across the booking and on passports, driving licences and credit cards. It went on to claim that the replacement booking fee of €514 included a damage waiver and roadside assistance, though Hartley claims he was never offered an option without them.
Stressfreecarrental.com apologised, has refunded a separate £25 booking fee, and refunded the difference in cost between the two bookings. It says: “Some of our car rental providers do not accept middle names in their booking forms due to their technology set-up, while others do. Not all car rental providers are specific in their terms and conditions on the need for middle names to be included in bookings, either.”
When the problem arises, bookings are typically amended. “Unfortunately, in this case, it wasn’t possible to amend the booking,” says the site.
The experience was a frustrating start to Hartley’s holiday. So what can consumers do to make sure their holiday car hire goes as smoothly as possible?
When you book
Going through the various aggregator websites should mean you get a clear picture of the many local and international rental companies, and what they have to offer.
Skyscanner, Carrentals.co.uk, Kayak and many others will break down the deals, usually with details on fuel policy and whether you have to travel from the airport to collect the vehicle.
One of the most important things to check is whether there is free cancellation – usually up to 48 or 72 hours before the booking starts. This means you can keep monitoring sites to get a better deal by cancelling and rebooking as many times as you want before the holiday. For example, an SUV at Los Angeles for 20 days in August cost £725 when booked in April. Just over three weeks later, that was down to £544.
Often, car rental vehicles can be reduced at the last minute because the hire companies do not want to be left with unused stock. So consumers can keep looking until just before the free cancellation period ends to get the best deal.
Prices have been very erratic in recent years. Last year, holidaymakers faced paying 60% more than they did before the pandemic. A study from iCarhireinsurance, which provides excess insurance, showed that while costs are coming down, they are still more higher than five years ago. Hiring a compact family car such as a VW Golf now costs an average £380 a week, based on a study of 12 countries, while in 2019 it was £310.
Who to book with
There are any number of car rental companies – both well-known international names, such as Hertz, Sixt and Thrifty, as well as smaller, local operators, which frequently come in with lower prices.
There can be huge differences in price between the bigger operators, says Ben Wooltorton of iCarhireinsurance. “Prices can vary by over £200,” he says. “The biggest price difference in a survey was in Nice, where Hertz quoted £593 for a medium compact car – for example, a VW Golf or Ford Focus – for a week, while Sixt quoted just £381.” He says people in general feel more protected if they stick to well-known brands.
UK and EU residents who hire a car in Europe can turn to the European Car Rental Conciliation Service (ECRCS) to lodge a complaint if they have a problem, and have gone through the company’s complaints procedure. It deals with cross-border rentals and applies to the companies signed up to the scheme: Thrifty, Dollar, Alamo, National, Firefly, Sixt, Europcar, Enterprise, Avis, Budget, Hertz and Maggiore.
Insurance excess costs
You will typically be provided with some level of insurance when you hire a car but will have to pay an “excess”, or initial amount, which can mount up to thousands of pounds if there is an accident or damage to the car.
Car hire companies will often try to sell you insurance to cover for these excesses, but it can be extremely expensive. Instead, it is worth buying a standalone policy, which usually comes in at a fraction of the cost. These can be bought for one or more trips. Cost depends on where you are travelling to and for how many days a year.
Annual European excess policies start at about £30, according to the Moneymaxim aggregator site. There can be limits on how much can be claimed in a single incident, such as £10,000 on a £32 policy from Leisure Guard.
If the rental policy states that you have to return the car full of fuel, be sure to fill it up a few miles from the airport, says Mo Lindsay of Holiday Extras, which provides parking and holiday insurance services, as “petrol stations at the airport are often marked up significantly”.
If you are considering renting a satnav, remember your phone is a free alternative – through apps such as Google Maps and Waze, among others.
And remember rental companies will usually require a credit card to take a deposit for any potential damage, so make sure that it is in the driver’s name.