Looking Beyond The Headline Price

A low headline price is often a way for unscrupulous car hire companies to lure people in before adding on extra charges when the customer gets to the desk. We affectionately call this The budget airline effect. Many of the low-cost carriers (we won’t name names!) lure you in with a £5.99 flight then when it comes to check-in, reality soon sets-in.

This practice is also an issue in the car hire industry, one that many people each year run into. We wanted to expand our thoughts on this subject and talk about what you should be looking for when booking your hire car. What exactly are you getting for that headline price, and is that the best deal you can get? Here’s everything to look out for when you see a nice, low headline price.

Be wary of low headline prices

If you come across what looks like a deal that is too good to be true, then unfortunately, it probably is. Car rental brokers and providers cannot sustain a business on these crazy low prices alone, so don’t expect to pay only what you see when the price is that low.

The price can (and does) rise quickly when bad providers resort to adding on local charges and start hard selling before they let you drive away, ultimately, they’re making up for the super low price you originally paid.

Look at what’s included in that headline price

Some headline prices that brokers and providers offer are low because they’re only offering very minimal protection and no inclusions. Companies will be tricky with their wording to make it sound like a much better deal than it is. Do make sure to really dig into what you’re paying for to make sure you’re not being undersold.

CDW

A common way companies do this is with CDW. Some brokers or providers promote that they include CDW. You might see this advertised as “collision waiver” or even “full insurance” by some unscrupulous companies but don’t be fooled. CDW is standard across the industry and shouldn’t be lauded as a huge benefit. A low headline price with only CDW included could leave you very vulnerable in the case of an incident because a large insurance excess will still be payable.

Look at what’s not included in that headline price

Fuel Deposits

This can also happen with something that some brokers or providers call a “fuelling charge”. This is a charge for the cost of the fuel in the car and is normally 50 euros or more (normally well above prices at the pump!). This big issue here is that this charge is not made clear so customers expecting to turn up and drive away are instantly hit with a bill that increases their expected cost of hire. This charge is normally refunded after the rental but is still an unexpected fee.

Some providers we work with also ask for a fuel deposit, but we make sure that you’re aware of it while you’re booking so it’s never unexpected.

Security deposit information

Security deposits are often hidden by low-cost providers because they ruin the illusion that car hire can be as cheap as just 6 Euros a week.  Plus, hiding this information often makes that provider look a far better deal when compared to companies who are clear about it, regardless of the fact that the deposit is still there and needs to be paid.

The advice here is that if you’re looking at really low-cost car hire and there’s no mention of a security deposit, have a dig around on the site. It’s normally hidden in the terms and conditions somewhere behind several clicks.

Peace of mind and backup

For a car hire company to sustain a business on seriously low-cost car hire then some corners have to be cut. These corners are nearly always cut on customer service. The lowest cost providers and brokers out there won’t have telephone support so if anything was to ever go wrong with the hire, the customer is left stranded.

If a low-cost company does have customer support, it’s almost always just office hours of 9 – 5. We offer 24 /7 emergency support to all our customers just in case you ever need it!

Breakdown cover or assistance

This is nearly never included at the cheapest end of the car hire scale. We include this on every booking as standard in the headline price, but a lot of companies don’t. There is the chance you might never breakdown while on hire but when you do, we think it’s best to have help at hand and this is something you don’t get with the lowest cost providers.

How can I tell if who I’m booking with is trustworthy?

There is no shortage of car hire providers out there and knowing which one to pick isn’t always easy. If you’re unsure about who to book with or want to make sure who you have booked with is trustworthy, we recommend simply doing a search for their name and looking up some reviews.

Customer reviews are a good way to gauge the general reputation of a company and from the reviews you can see exactly what to expect.

With a low headline price, what you see isn’t always what you pay.

You will be upsold at the desk

No business can be run and sustained on simply selling car hire for £6 per week. If this was all each customer paid, then that company would quickly go out of business. That isn’t even enough to pay an hour’s wages for the staff at the desk.

This means that these companies must try extra hard to make up that money when you arrive at the desk. This means extra charges, hidden fees that you weren’t told about and worst of all, possible charges for damage you never caused. All of this leads to an atrocious experience and paying well over what you originally expected to pay.

Paying on arrival leaves you extra vulnerable to this.

Some brokers allow customers to pay a very small deposit when booking online, and then pay the remainder of the cost when you (the customer), arrives at the desk. This sounds lovely, pay a tiny bit now and pay the rest when you get there.

In practice however, this can mean you end up paying quite a bit more than you expect, and this can happen in a few different ways.

If you’re paying on arrival you will more than likely be paying in a different currency. If the currency exchange rate moves in a less than favorable way, then your original pay on arrival price may be different from what you expect. Possibly leaving you out of pocket by more than a few pennies! Even if the booking site displays a fixed local currency price, fluctuations in exchange rates will still affect you, unless you’ve got your own account in that currency.

For example, you could book an August rental in May; your pay on arrival price for your 7-seater family vehicle is €650 and the exchange rate in May was £1=€1.17, your €650 was £555. Now in August with the exchange being £1=€1.08 your €650 is now over £600!

The other way paying on arrival could end up costing more, is that it leaves you entirely at the mercy of the person at the car hire desk when you arrive. If they’re an unscrupulous rental company, they could choose to raise the price or demand local extras be paid for. You’ve only paid a small deposit, so you don’t really have any backup if this happens.

Conclusion: be suspicious when the price seems too low and really dive into what you’re getting.

When shopping around for car hire, just take the time to click around and make sure you fully understand what you’re paying for now and what will be expected later. Companies don’t always make this information clear in the standard booking process so really make sure to dig into the terms and conditions and every bit of extra information shown when clicking about on a site.

About the author: Luke

Luke’s passion for giving customers what they want is evident in his specialised consumer advice blogs. He’s always looking for the next piece of advice to give travellers.