Robert Gillespie, Author at Indigo Car Hire

The Ford Mustang Convertible

May 7, 2014 Robert Gillespie USA Comments Off

We can always tell when its approaching summer time and universities breaking up because we get an influx of one particular type of enquiry. The title of this blog may have given the game away..

So far this week we have had a handful of enquiries about hiring a Ford Mustang Convertible in the good old US of A..

Whats the attraction of a big, heavy, fuel guzzling tank with the top cut off? There are many better, faster or more economical vehicles to choose from when hiring in America but the Mustang seems to be the vehicle of choice for most.

Firstly forget the fuel guzzling part, the average price of a litre of petrol in America is around $0.97 compared with $2.17 over here in the UK, so unless you are a member of greenpeace you are not going to be too worried about using a lot of fuel.

Most people wouldnt think of hiring a convertible in the UK or most of Europe simply because of the weather, we can’t rely on having 1 or 2 continuous weeks of sunshine in a row, so why would we pay a premuim for a soft top that we will probably not have down most of the time. I do however see the attraction of flying along route 66 with the wind in your hair or cruising along South Beach, Florida with the sun on your face. If you are just looking for a convertible then there are other options, The Chrysler Sebring, Audi A5 or the VW Golf Cabrio will all do the job.

So why a Mustang? I think the Ford Mustand Convertible is an icon, for the older driver its the car they have always wanted to drive and now they have the chance, why would you want a Chrysler Sebring when you can drive the car from Bullitt and be Steve McQueen while driving through the streets of San Francisco at least for one day…

What about those drivers that have never heard of Bullitt or Steve McQueen? Well although they are missing out a gream film they are still able to hire this American Icon, we have struck a deal with a number of suppliers in America that will allow drivers under the age of 25 to hire a Ford Mustang and experience what the rest of us want to..

There are particular restrictions in place but we have various options available to ensure that you have the best chance possible to feel the wind in your hair and sun on your face while behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang Convertible.

If you are interested in hiring a Mustang or something similar in the USA the contact us direct, chat with us online, call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk. Booking online will not guaratee the right vehicle or a supplier that accepts drivers under the age of 25.

Thessaloniki Airport Car Hire No Credit Card

May 7, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Offers, Greece Comments Off

We have some great news for people looking to hire a car in Greece, we now have 2 suppliers willing to accept a debit card as payment for the hire car from our customers.

They are 2 of the big names in worldwide car rental and have quite different terms when it comes to hiring a car with no credit card from Thessaloniki Airport. To find out if your card will be accepted, please get in touch with our team.

Then things get slightly different depending on which provider we go with.

Option 1
When hiring a car without a credit card, this supplier will hold a deposit on your debit card for the full amount of your excess, this is not taken from your account but frozen until the vehicle is returned.

Another great offer from this supplier is the fact that they will allow drivers under 25 to hire with no additional costs, drivers ages 21-24 can hire a car from the Mini or Economy groups providing they have help a full clean licence for 12 months.

Option 2
This supplier accepts debit cards for all rentals and only takes a deposit for a tank of fuel, so depending on the size of the vehicle the deposit will generally be between €60-€100 Euros. This is obviously a better option than above if you need access to the funds in your account while on holiday.

The downside of this is that although this supplier will also allow drivers under the age of 25 to hire a car, there is an additional daily surcharge which at the current exchange rate is about £10 GBP per day.

As always if you are looking to hire a car and do not have a credit card for payment please contact us before making a booking. You can chat with us online, call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk. Booking online will not guarantee you will get the supplier you need..

Bank Account Number Not Shown On Debit Card

May 6, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire News, UK Comments Off

Recently we got an extremely interesting question in regards to a Nat West debit card. As you may know in several of our locations we can allow debit cards as we have managed to arrange deals all over the world, typically with this however there are some restrictions. For example, the card must be in the name of the main driver. To check that your card meets all the requirements, please call or email us.

The enquiry we had however stated that their card met all of these requirements but there was no account number printed on the card, the worry for them was whether it would prevent them from being able to hire a vehicle.

After some research we found out that over the last few months many of the banks have been removing the account numbers from their new cards which includes both credit and debit cards, and it turns out that this was for security purposes.

Two of the main banks that we found out had been doing these was the Royal Bank of Scotland and like the person who had enquired Natwest. We checked with some of our suppliers to see if this was a card that they would still accept.

Many of them got back to us with the reply that as long as the drivers name is on the card and the 16 digits are across the front then this would be fine. There are however a few suppliers that will not be able to take these cards so you need to make sure that you call us in advance and notify us of your situation of not having your bank account number showing on your card.

If you are interested in hiring a car but see that there is no bank account number showing on any part of your card then please make sure you let us know and do not book online. If you want to contact one of our advisors for a quote where this can be accepted then call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will get right back to you.

Fuel Policies In Spain Are Changing

May 1, 2014 Robert Gillespie Spain Comments Off

There has been a lot of media attention on car hire in recent years, most notably on fuel policies in Spain and how people feel ripped off when having to pay for a full tank of fuel when they collect their car and are asked to return it empty.

This poses a few problems, the main one being that they will not refund you for any fuel left in the vehicle. So if like me, you hire a car on holiday solely to get you to and from the airport, you are not going to use a tank of fuel, this means you have paid between €60 and €100 Euros for something that you are never going to use, this is quite an obvious way of the suppliers bumping up their income, they also benefit from any fuel left in the vehicle because they do not have the whole tank to fill for the next victim…. erm, paying customer.

You may do quite a bit of driving on holiday meaning a tank of fuel on arrival is helpful, the problem for this type of customer is simply the cost of the fuel, the charge for the tank of fuel is inflated over and above the average pump prices, if you were to pick up the car virtually empty and drive a few miles to the nearest filling station you would find filling the car up would be €10 to €20 cheaper.

The final issue that affects most drivers is the returning empty part, even the most frugal of customers will not want to run out of fuel on the way back to the airport so when the light comes on you will force yourself to put a few litres in just to get you back to the airport. Again the hire company is the only beneficiary…

Recent stories like these from the Guardian and the Daily Mail have put the spotlight on suppliers and it seems to be making a difference.

At the turn of the year one of the biggest budget suppliers in Spain, Goldcar released a new fuel policy. ‘Pre-Purchase Fuel With Refund’ meaning you still pay upfront for a tank of fuel but are entitled to a refund for the fuel that remains in the vehicle when you return, minus an administration fee. The rate per litre for the refund has not been published nor has the amount of the administration fee. To me this smells of them just finding another way to make it look like they are doing good, but actually still a bit of a con.

Other budget suppliers are following suit, all with similar terms to Goldcar.. I think its a good thing that they are listening to their customers and doing something about the Full-Empty policies but i still dont see that they are doing enough to look out for their customers… But why should they?

Budget car hire suppliers are the same as budget airlines in many ways, they offer a basic service for a low cost and then start to add the extra’s.. you want a baby seat? Of course sir, that will be €50. Sat Nav? No Problem, €50.

Fuel is slightly different as it is not your choice whether they fill the tank or not, so for me the cost of a mandatory tank of fuel should be included in advertised the cost of the rental car.

Budget suppliers need to make a profit just like any other business, so next time you are looking for quotes make sure you are taking all of the costs involved into consideration.

You Do Have A Choice

Quite understandably the majority of us are always looking for the best deal when spending money, be it the weekly shop, mobile phone contacts or travelling, but is budget really the way to go?

There are suppliers in Spain that are based at the airport and not a few miles away, they offer newer vehicles not older untidy cars, they offer full to full fuel policies not the rip off full to empty and they don’t have 2 hour long queues…

They are not budget suppliers they are the big boys, the Avis’ and Europcars of this world and you might be surprised how little the difference is when taking everything into account. Below are 2 quotes that i have done today factoring in all costs and other things to bear in mind. You tell me which one you would prefer…

Location: Alicante Airport
Pick Up: 9th May 2014 – 10.00am
Drop Off: 16th May 2014 – 10.00am
Vehicle: Economy – VW Polo Or Similar

Budget Supplier – Gold Car
Cost Of Vehicle: £51.17
Mandatory Tank Of Fuel: €60-€100
Excess Liability: €0
Mileage: Unlimited
Deposit: €600 Held On Card
Average Time At The Desk: 90 Mins
Additional Driver: €3.5 Per Day – Maximum €70
Child Seat: €6 Per Day – Maximum €72
Excess Reduction: N/A
Young Driver 21-24: €5 Per Day – Maximum €60

Premium Supplier – Europcar
Cost Of Vehicle: £111.39
Fuel Deposit: €60-€100 Returned When The Vehicle Is Returned Full Of Fuel
Excess Liability: €800
Mileage: Unlimited
Deposit: €150 Held On Card
Average Time At The Desk: 20 Mins
Additional Driver: €9 Per Day – Maximum €64
Child Seat: €9 Per Day – Maximum €64
Excess Reduction: €18 Per Day
Young Driver 21-24: €18 Per Day – Maximum €175

This tells us a number of things:

If you are looking for the lowest rental price, the budget supplier is for you.
If you do not have a large amount of money and want more spending money for your holiday then the premium supplier is for you, yes the rental cost is higher but the deposit is a lot lower.
If you want peace of mind without paying additional fees to reduce your excess, the budget supplier is the one.
If you are in a hurry to get to the beach and make the most of your holiday then the premium supplier would be better for you.
If you are under 25 then the budget supplier would be your cheaper option.

Obviously this is just week from one location comparing 2 suppliers. There are many many variables to consider before booking your car and all of them can change depedning on the car you require, how long you are hiring for, your age and the most common one being, your payment type.

Take Our Advice

As a company we look at all of your options, we will match you with a supplier that meets your requirements and offers the best value for your needs. This may not always appear to be the cheapest option but in our experience, cheapest is not always whats best for you.

If you have any questions about this or anything to do with car hire then please speak to one of our experts, you can call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748, chat with us online or email us on sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk.

DVLA Opening Times

May 1, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Tips, Travel Advice, UK Comments Off

When you come to hiring a car you will be required to present the paper counter part of your licence, this second part is vital to being allowed to hire a vehicle in the UK. We realise that many people misplace or lose this counter part piece as it is only bit of paper; there is however something we can do so that you will still be able to get a vehicle.

The DVLA or Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency being its full name is the UK’s driving body who keep all the registers of vehicles and drivers on the roads in Britain. We can contact the DVLA on your behalf when you arrive at your location and check the details on your counterpart and still be able to give you a rental vehicle.

This call usually costs you an extra £10 as it is a premium rate phone line so please make sure that you know whether you have points or convictions on your licence as if you do you still won’t be able to hire a car. Typically you can only have up to 6 points on your licence and have no major convictions such as a DR10 or IN10 in the last five years.

The only issue when doing this is that you need to make sure the at the time you are arriving to pick up the vehicle the DVLA are open to answer the phone call and give your details to the rental company. The DVLA Opening Times for driver check service are…

DVLA Opening Times

Monday – Friday: 8:00am to 5:30pm
Saturday: 8am – 1pm
Sunday: Closed
Bank Holidays: Closed

If you are arriving when the DVLA is closed and do not have the counterpart section of your licence then we may still be able to help, but you will need to contact us before making a booking to ask about a Pre-DVLA Check.

If you are interested in hiring a car but don’t have your counter part of your licence then call us to find out all the options that you have available to you. You can reach our experienced and knowledgeable advisors on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk.

Guaranteed Car Hire Models

April 30, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Tips, UK Comments Off

When you come to hire a car a phrase you will often hear is “or similar” in reference to the type of cars you can hire. Most car hire companies can’t and won’t allow you to get a guaranteed vehicle as its very hard for them to be able to make sure you get that specific vehicle so for example they will say you can get a VW Golf or similar which means that you can get a model of a similar size.

This always presented a problem for us as we had several potential customers put off of hiring because we can’t guarantee a specific model, until now. We have managed to arrange deals with two separate suppliers within the United Kingdom in order to be able to widen the availability of being able to guarantee a certain vehicle, there locations include…

We are extremely happy with this arrangement as it is in some of the most popular locations within the UK. If you do want a guaranteed model however then you need to make sure that you book direct with one of our experts as we can put you in touch with a supplier that has the type of vehicle you want, we would usually advise you to book well in advance when reserving a car but in this case it could hinder the process as most suppliers refresh their fleet every 6 months to a year.

The very best thing you can do if you are looking to hire in any of these location and want to get a guaranteed model is to come straight to Indigo Car Hire and we can give you upto date information on what vehicles are available and will arrange everything for you. Our experienced advisors will guide you through the booking process step by step, if you have any questions or want to get a car booked then simply call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or alternatively you can email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will get right back to you on with all the information that you require.

Young Driver Car Hire Copenhagen

April 30, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Offers Comments Off

If you have been searching for car hire in Denmark and specifically within the Copenhagen area then you would have begin to realise that there aren’t too many car hire companies located there and those that are tend to be located within the airport. There are around 6 car hire companies in the airport and of those a couple of them are the same company just a slightly different brand so have the same conditions restrictions, one thing we were focused on trying to arrange was the ability for younger drivers under the age of 25 to be able to hire a car in Copenhagen or Copenhagen Airport.

Being Indigo Car Hire we wanted to try and find the best deal possible for our customers which eventually we feel we managed.

We can happily announce that we can now accept people who are 18 years old and above given that they have held their licence for six months prior to hiring with us which is an extremely short period, the majority of suppliers across the world require that you have to have held your licence for at least 12 months. Between the ages of 18-23 you will be charged an addition daily young drivers fee of around £8.33 depending on the exchange rate at the time, this fee is extremely low compared to the fee within the UK which on average is around £25 per day.

Furthermore the second part of the deal we managed to arrange is that 23 and 24 year olds can hire without having to pay any young drivers fee at all!

And just to top it all off and save you even more money, the majority of the vehicles supplied are diesel which is a popular request from a lot of our customers.

If you are interested in hiring a vehicle as a young driver in Copenhagen then don’t hesitate to give our experienced and knowledgeable reservation agents a call on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or emailing us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will be happy to find you the best priced hire available.

Visa Electron Cards Accepted At Alicante Airport

April 29, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Offers, Spain Comments Off

Limited but not impossible, Visa Electron cards being accepted for renting a car has been a tricky thing to organise in the past but for some time now we have been able to accept electron cards however many people are unaware of this. In the past Electron cards have always been a big no from all rental companies across the globe so people tend to naturally assume that we are unable to supply you a car with one, however there is one airport that this is not the case, Alicante Airport.

Alicante Airport is one of the busiest airports for car hire in the world, there are nearly 10 million passengers that travel to the Spanish airport each and every year. It’s a well-known location for having low cost suppliers who supply car hire without a credit card, in which several suppliers we work with offer this.

We can however now happily announce that we accept electron cards, however you need to let us know well in advance as this is only through one supplier and they can have limited availability due to their low prices. This is a very rare offer and is not available in most locations across the world, but now thanks to Indigo Car Hire if you have a visa electron card then you can now hire.

If you are interested in renting a car with an electron card please give us as much notice as possible, we will guide you through every step of the process and get you the best priced car hire. All you have to do is simply contact our friendly, experienced and knowledgeable reservation agents on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will answer any questions you may have about hiring a car in Alicante Airport with an electron card.

Do not book online, this specialist offer is only available over the phone through our reservations team.

Low Deposit Minibus Hire Cowdenbeath

April 24, 2014 Robert Gillespie Car Hire Offers, UK Comments Off

Deposits on MPV and minibus hire tend to be quite high no matter which supplier you go to, as you may know we have arranged several deals across the world in order to try and reduce this cost, one of the locations we have recently focused on thanks to an enquiry is Cowdenbeath in Scotland.

The minibuses that we can allow for our customers to hire consist of 15 and 17 seaters with models from manufacturers like Ford, Mercedes and Renault. The deposits for minibuses tend to be a major issue with people wanting to rent larger vehicles as the amount held on your card was extreme, the deal we have managed to arrange here means that the deposit for a minibus in Cowdenbeath is around £500 which is far cheaper than the standard minibus deposit with other suppliers of between £2,000-£3,000

Please also note that with minibus hire you must have a D1 category on your licence in order to be able to drive the vehicle legally on UK roads. You can find out if you have this by viewing the back of the picture part of your licence. If you passed your test prior to March 1997 then you will have this on your licence already, however if you passed after that date you would have needed to take an extra test in order to acquire this category, without it you will not be able to drive larger minibuses on the UK roads whether you are an overseas customer or a local customer.

If you are interested in getting a minibus in the Cowdenbeath area then just simply contact our reservation agents. They will guide you through every step of the rental and make the process easy whilst also finding you the best price, if you want more information then please call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or alternatively you can email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will get right back to you.

Young Driver Car Hire North West England

April 23, 2014 Robert Gillespie UK Comments Off

Are you a young driver and struggling to hire a vehicle due to the age restrictions that most companies have? Well, we have arranged a fantastic deal for you in north west England, specifically Carlisle, Dumfries and Windermere. If you are under 25 then the likelihood of you being allowed to hire a car is pretty low but if you do manage to find a location then often they charge you an extremely high additional fee which can be as much as £39/per day on top of the cost of your rental.

This doesn’t always have to be the case as the deal we have managed to arrange in these locations will save you a large amount of money and make car hire a more affordable option for your transport needs. This deal ranges to two age groups as it’s a different offer for each, both of the age groups however must have held their full UK driving licence for a year prior to hiring and have no major convictions or more than 6 points on their licence.

We can allow for drivers who are 21 – 22 to hire a car from us but they will still have to pay a surcharge per day, however we have managed to lower the age right down to 21.

The second deal we have managed to arrange is even better, for 23 and 24 year olds in Carlisle, Dumfries and Windermere we can allow you to hire without having to pay any surcharge!

If you are interested in getting a rental vehicle but are still considered a young driver then come straight to Indigo Car Hire and we will guide you through the process getting you the best possible price. You can reach our experienced and friendly reservation agents on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or emailing us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will get right back to you.

The Ford Mustang Convertible

Thessaloniki Airport Car Hire No Credit Card

Bank Account Number Not Shown On Debit Card

Fuel Policies In Spain Are Changing

You Do Have A Choice

Take Our Advice

DVLA Opening Times

DVLA Opening Times

Guaranteed Car Hire Models

Young Driver Car Hire Copenhagen

Visa Electron Cards Accepted At Alicante Airport

Low Deposit Minibus Hire Cowdenbeath

Young Driver Car Hire North West England

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