As holiday season approaches, as does the time for you to book your car hire. For some people, this is a regular occurrence which happens more than once a year. For others, this may be your first time. To help all our customers understand the options on offer and have an enjoyable time with your hire car, we’ve compiled a list of the top car hire queries and issues for our Complete Guide to Car Hire. For anything we’ve not covered here, please see our FAQs or get in touch.
Part 1 of our complete guide can be found on our blog here, and 3-4 will follow over the coming days. Download the full PDF guide here.
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Why do I need to leave a security deposit? Will taking out top-up insurance remove the need for one? When will I get my security deposit refunded?
All the suppliers that we work with require a security deposit to be left. The amounts required will vary between supplier and location. The type of CDW included (whether it is no insurance excess or ERI) will have an impact on the amount.
The security deposit is initially to ensure the return of the vehicle. It also covers damage to un-insured parts of the vehicle, fuel charges if applicable, and in the unlikely event that a claim is made when the insurance has been invalidated.
Taking out our top-up insurance will not remove the need for the deposit. The supplier may not require a security deposit if you take out their local product.
Security deposit refunds
In the majority of cases, security deposits are only pre-authorised on your credit card. This means that the amount doesn’t leave your account but is simply set aside for the supplier should it be needed. Once your vehicle is returned, the pre-authorisation is cancelled (as long as there is no damage to the vehicle). The length of time it takes for this amount to show as available in your account depends on your bank provider and can take up to 10 working days. If your deposit has been debited, this should be refunded back to you on return of the vehicle.
Should your security deposit have been debited, be aware that any differences in the amounts may be due to the currency exchange rate. You may also face bank charges for currency conversion. Unfortunately, we have no control over this. If you want to check whether a supplier may debit your security deposit, please contact our Customer Support Team before placing your booking and they’ll be able to advise you.
Should you have any queries over the return of your security deposit, please don’t hesitate to contact our Customer Support team upon your return on customersupport@zestcarrental.com.
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Why is the car hire priced in GBP and the extras in the local currency?
As we are a UK based car hire broker, all of our rental prices are quoted and processed in Great British Pounds. We display the ‘£’ symbol beside all of the rental prices shown on our website.
Charges which are to be paid locally, such as fuel, the security deposit, or charges for extra equipment, are to be paid to the supplier in the local currency on collection of the vehicle.
I want to add extra equipment to my booking but I don’t want it for the whole duration- is this possible?
Unfortunately not. Any extra equipment hired from the supplier must be rented for the whole duration of the rental, not one part of it. This includes child/booster seats and SatNavs.
If there’s a daily charge for a border exit then you will need to pay as if you were using it for the whole trip. This ensures that unplanned/extra travel is covered by the supplier’s insurance.
I’m collecting my hire car late at night- why do I have to pay an out of hours’ fee? My party has two vehicles, can I pay the out of hours’ fee only once?
Different suppliers will have different operating hours. It is common for suppliers to charge a fee to customers who request a vehicle collection or return outside normal operating hours. The fee covers the time necessary for the representative to be available to go over the paperwork with you and survey the vehicle.
If your party is collecting more than one car, the out of hours’ fee will be charged per vehicle. This is again to cover the additional time required for each vehicle.
What are the differences in fuel policy on offer?
We cover the various different approaches to fuel for your hire car in a blog post which you can visit here. When booking through Zest, you will always get a fair fuel policy.
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Get our complete guide to car hire
Parts 3-4 of our guide will be published on our blog over the coming days. Visit Part 1 here. Part 3 can be visited here. Download the full PDF guide here.
Other articles that may be of interest:
Hidden Fees: What are the Real Car Hire Costs?
The Ultimate Guide to Car Hire Sizes
The Ultimate Guide to Car Hire Insurance
If you can’t find the answer to your query, please see our FAQs or get in touch.
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