How to save yourself from being ripped off when hiring a car abroad

When hiring a car abroad, the process often appears to be impressively inexpensive. This, however, is not always the case as there are now add-ons to consider which hire car companies charge extra for despite their vital nature.

Top tips for hiring cars abroad

One thing that has come to light in recent times is that hire car companies abroad are charging extra for child safety accessories when families visiting the country hire a vehicle from them. On average, these firms are charging around £26 a day to hire these safety accessories out for young children whose families are hiring the cars; a figure which adds significantly to their otherwise relatively cheap rates.

Child seats, being one of the features these hire companies are charging so heavily for, cost around £30 in the UK. Hire companies are cleverly, but unfairly exploiting the fact that families are extremely unlikely to bring their bulky car seats on holiday with them, opting instead to hire them as extras within the hire cars. Given, however, the hire of one of these seats for a week can cost virtually the same amount as buying one outright in the UK, it really is highlighting how much the hire companies are swindling excess money out of families and those wishing to hire cars for themselves and their young children when on holiday, with prices of hire cars including these additions reaching up to £100 for the week.

It should be noted, however, that not all prices are the same and it is all heavily dependent on whereabouts you are going on holiday, with this determining the extra price you will be charged for the hire of a child’s car seat.

For short haul destinations such as Rotterdam, Salzburg and Berlin, the cost of hiring a car seat is around £25-£30 for just a day’s worth of hire. This, surprisingly, is the same as you would be charged to hire a car seat much further afield in New Zealand. By contrast, in Cyprus and Greece, the average price is around £2 – £3 to hire a car seat for the day.

Further to price, there are other factors to consider when hiring one of these seats. Quality and safety are likely, of course, to be high up on the list of priorities for parents and those responsible adults accompanying children on their holidays abroad. Many reports of sub-standard car seats have been noted, made up on instances in which holidaymakers have been presented with unsuitable seats, whether that be due to age, cleanliness or damage. This makes the high prices charged by car hire companies more unfair still, with serious money being spent on solutions that are not guaranteed to be reliable.

Here at Gatwick Car & Van Rental, we are committed to providing all our customers with high quality, reliable rental cars to suit their requirements, all at a great price. For more information on our services, or to hire a vehicle from us today, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team of experts. We’re happy to help, whatever the enquiry, so give us a call today.