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10 Year Old Boy Claims Hes An Adult Dwarf

February 21, 2014 Fun Stuff Comments Off on 10 Year Old Boy Claims Hes An Adult Dwarf

After thieving his parent’s car and driving it into a ditch a 10 year old Norwegian boy told the police he was a dwarf who had misplaced his driving licence. Some young children are story tellers, but this has to top them all. The boy managed to drive 10km in the car before burying it in a ditch, impressive, although still 50km away from his destinations, grandma’s house. The car was spotted by a snow plough who alerted the police of the stranded vehicle.

Although it with his story is sounds like a light hearted subject, it’s not at all, there is a serious point to this in which he could have got hurt and not to mention in the car with him was his 18 month old sister. There was a happy ending, no police charges, no harm to the children and no damage to the car, and I’m pretty sure in the future their parents will be keeping a more observant eye on the boy.

On an even more serious notes, did he have a booster seat and pedal extensions? Although there is no minimum height to drive a vehicle its advised that you have a cushion or pedal extensions to increase safety/vision if you are below 5ft in height. I don’t know why but I’m envisioning a toy story moment with a struggling child trying to drive a vehicle.

Putting A Car Hire Spin On Things
This isn’t our usual story so we’ve got to put a bit of a car hire message in, the 10 year old child would of likely needed a child seat. As the legal requirements for car seats state that if he is under the age of 12 or 135 cm in height he needs to be wearing one at all times. You can find details about car seats when hiring a car are available but often cost an extra daily fee, therefore we often suggest the alternative of buying one if possible, please click here for more information.

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Keep Motoring Costs Low

February 19, 2014 Travel Advice Comments Off on Keep Motoring Costs Low

We realise that people often use car hire as an in between, a temporary solution for when your car breaks down until you make the transition of buying a new one. Therefore we feel it’s important to convey a bit of advice for our customers who are in the market for a new vehicle, new cars are one of a few very big purchases we make in our lives and it’s integral that you make the right choice when picking your vehicle. So what car do you go for when buying a new vehicle?

In recent years people have had to watch their budgets a lot more so than in previous times, so it’s important that you account for a few factors in order to keep motoring costs low. So what is it you should consider?

Insurance Group
Be aware of the insurance group of the car or you may be in for a nasty fee, if you are wanting to save money you should be aiming towards a 1-5 insurance group which you will usually be able to achieve with buying a smaller vehicle 1.0-1.4. There are also other things that bring your insurance down such as having adequate safety features like alarms.

One of the cheapest cars to insure for example is the new model Ford Ka. It’s worth doing a fair bit of research to find out the best model suitable for you.

Pass Plus Course
An optional course you can take after passing your driving test, it teaches you to drive on your own and it can reduce premiums on some occasions upon successfully completing the course. However this can be expensive to take in its self and you still have a chance of failing the course, so it may not be the best option.

Tax
The cost of taxing your vehicle can fluctuate depending on its emissions, which also directly relates to the engine size.

As long as your vehicle is registered after 1st March 2001 it will be given a tax band, A to M which is based on emissions, the further the letter in the alphabet the higher the cost. Tax band A does not have to pay for Tax as it has emissions below 100 g/km.

For cars that are registered before the 1st March 2001 those under 1549cc have the 12month rate of £140.00 and those over £225.00.

Other Methods
It may be extreme but moving somewhere with lower crime levels also will decrease the cost of your insurance. You could also commit to driving a lower annual mileage as this will also give you some extra saving.

Oh and don’t worry about the car hire in between as we will always fix you up the best price possible no matter what!

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Late Night Car Hire

February 18, 2014 Car Hire Offers Comments Off on Late Night Car Hire

Where ever you are flying into Heathrow, Schiphol, Barcelona then the chances are you are going to need some form of transportation when you land, many people opt for the option of car hire as it gives more freedom. One of the issues people worry about when hiring a car at an airport is time, late night flights tend to be a bit cheaper as they are less desirable due to their inconvenience of course. The problem caused with late night flights is the working hours of everything else, shops, food, taxis and of course car hire.

Which brings me to my point, some car rental companies close their office with standard working hours (5pm-7pm close) usually. No matter what time you are arriving you may need to hire a car, and let’s face it no matter how nice they make some airports you don’t want to spend the night sleeping rough in the terminal waiting for your car hire, its simply not worth it.

What many people don’t realise or even check is that there are a large amount of the time at least one car hire company that is open no matter the time. That’s where we can step in and help you, we work with several car hire companies worldwide with a large amount of them operating 24 hour services in a large amount of locations, without a doubt we will find something that will best suite you.

If you are stuck unable to find a company that is open whilst you are flying in then gives us a call and we will do the best that we can to find an option for you, along with the best price of course. You can contact us by calling +44 (0)113 880 0748 or you can email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk, our experienced reservation agents will be on the other side of the line to answer any questions that you may have.

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Behold The Dutch Mini

February 18, 2014 Netherlands, Travel News Comments Off on Behold The Dutch Mini

The small and very British economy car known as the MINI is set to expand its production as the iconic car is well sought after. The once Austin Seven and Morris Mini looked to have made its last mark on the world, first starting production in 1959 it eventually looked like its time was running out in 2000 which confusingly it was, the last Mini as we know it left the factor, a red Cooper Sport. Thankfully this wasn’t the end however, BMW took over and brought the Mini to new heights.

The new BMW Mini or Mini Hatch as it’s known kept the same design, a three door hatchback with the same look and features as the original mini, although technically unrelated to the old car some people still regards it as your standard old Mini.

BMW have taken the mini to new heights as its hit the commercial mainstream and to combat that they have needed to increase production. BMW have announced that the new Mini will be built in Holland, the famous British car will now be built in Holland. As we let that sink in BMW have reinsured us that the plant in Oxford will still remain at the heart of Mini production, they claim that the reason for the move was to acquire extra space to meet strong demand.

Behold the Dutch Mini! VDL Nedcar is an automotive manufacturing company previously owned by Mitsubishi and Volvo. They have been at the heart of automobile production in the Netherlands since 1967 but have only ever dealt with Volvos, DAFs, Mitisubishi, Smarts and Citroens.

Not only will it move to Holland the production of the Mini will also be split between BMW and their Dutch partner VDL Nedcar. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope that they don’t change the Mini too much, the British touch is what so many people love about the car, hope BMW realise that!

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The Car Smoking Ban Will Happen

February 17, 2014 New Laws, News Comments Off on The Car Smoking Ban Will Happen

There has been a lot of talk about it in recent years but the government have now stated that it will be a criminal offence to smoke in cars when children are present as passengers. It’s a step in the right direction, you may have seen the countless adverts on TV about smoking next to children with majority of second hand smoke not being visible to the eye, and this is just another statement from the MPs as they have voted in favour of an amendment to the Children and Families Bill in which it gives ministers the power to completely ban smoking when carrying children, it’s also expected that Wales will follow suite in the ban.

There are people that are obviously going to be annoyed at this but they don’t really have a leg to stand on, the health risks associated with smoking inside cars is high with it being somewhat of an enclosed area, researches have said that smoke can stay in the air for up to two and a half hours even if you open the windows further increasing the chance of cancer, infections, asthma and ear problems. This change has pleased many including the Shadow Public Health Minister Luciana Berger who referred to it as a “great victory”.

Just like predicted, the amendment has upset some people such as Simon Clark who is the director of smokers lobby group Forest, his belief is that the government should not be able to rule how people behave in Private. However when it comes to child safety how can you argue against the change?

There still could be a U Turn but it looks very unlikely, and sooner rather than later smoking will become illegal whilst being in cars with children. Another step in the right direction for anti-smoking campaigners.

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Car Hire Preauthorisation

February 14, 2014 Car Hire Tips Comments Off on Car Hire Preauthorisation

When you book a car you are likely to hear the words preauthorisation, but we get many that question what this means, therefore we would like to clear this topic up a bit and make it crystal clear for our customers. When we navigate our way through the booking process explaining everything to you, that’s well you will hear us say that your card will have a preauthorisation of around £250-1250 depending on what company that we have chosen for you to hire with, don’t worry if we can we will always aim for the lowest!

A pre-auth is somewhat of an “insurance policy” for the car hire companies, they don’t take any of your money off of your account they are basically just given permission too. For an example say you are hiring a car off of a company that have a preauthorisation of £500, which is pretty standard in the rental industry, that £500 will not be taken off your card when you pick the car up but if you return the car damaged then then up to £500 will be taken depending on the cost of the repairs, however this is just an example! The issue with this is that you need to have the funds available including the cost of the car hire which in all can be quite the amount.

We can actually do car hire with no preauthorisation at all, which is much more convenient however this is only available in certain locations across the world.

Want more information on preauthorisation? Then our experienced reservation agents will be happy to help you with this, call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and we will answer any questions that you have about the car hire process.

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Car Has Flood Damage – Need To Hire!

February 13, 2014 Car Hire Offers Comments Off on Car Has Flood Damage – Need To Hire!

We’ve all been hearing the news recently about the River Thames flooding and although the news seems to be forgetting, there’s also flooding problems to the south west. Essentially the whole south is underwater, well that may be exaggerating a bit but it’s still a worrying situation with many people having to evacuate their homes and head north for their safety. More to the point, many people have been stuck as their cars have seen severe water damage, in fact we have had a few calls today about cars being written off because of it! In need of a getaway vehicle people often turn to car hire, which may be a good alternative solution.

We always aim to do the best we can for our customers and help them out, especially in situations like this. We promise to find you the best price possible for your given dates and times, we can also work on a two hour period as we realise that it may be of urgent need to get a car because of the circumstances so give us a call and you can collect the vehicle just two hours later as that is all the notice we need.

You may want to hire larger vehicles such as SUV and 4x4s as it means that low lying water won’t be a challenge, we also have these available at several locations around London and the rest of the south.

To get immediate help and hire a car as quickly as possible we advise that you contact us directly on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk and our expert reservation agents will be on hand to answer any questions that you may have an book a car in for you straight away, getting you the best overall deal possible no matter what.

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Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014

February 12, 2014 Events Comments Off on Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014

The Glasgow Commonwealth Games are fast approaching set to take place on the 23rd July – 3 August, with limited tickets remaining for the event the same can be said for car hire. People have learnt their lesson from the summer Olympics and quickly snapped up a ticket for the Commonwealth as soon as they can, this reflects the car hire industry also. Hired car availability is running low, so make sure that you get your car booked fast.

There are 14 venues so getting between them it is essential to have a vehicle, the amount of venues however also works in our favour. We work with car hire companies in all of the different locations so our availability is potentially a lot higher (although you may have to travel!) It’ll be worth it. Some of the locations these venues are include…
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Carnoustie
Cathkin Braes
Glasgow
Edinburgh
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Kelvingrove
Strathclyde
Scotstoun
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Some other venues that people may search for car hire include the large stadiums, as it can often get confusing as to what rental companies are located closest to them including…
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Celtic Park
Hampden Park
Ibrox Stadium
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Emirates Arena
Athletes Village
SECC Precinct
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Rest assured however we can provide car hire at all of these locations.

There are also several more, likely chances are that if you are coming from abroad you are arriving into either Edinburgh Airport or Glasgow Airport in which we can also supply you with a hired vehicle.

Although it is a bit too early to suggest what the weather may be on the dates, well, its Scotland so it may be worth going for a larger vehicle such as an SUV or 4×4 to tackle some of the mountainous terrain. You also don’t want to miss any of your events so getting satellite navigation in car may be worthwhile however we would suggest if possible to buy your own as it would work cheaper.

Please keep in mind it is a battle against time, availability even for us is running low for the commonwealth games so make sure that you book as soon as you can or else you may be left without adequate transportation.

The quickest way to book is to contact our experienced and knowledgeable reservation agents who will help you every way possible to get a vehicle. You can contact them by calling +44 (0)113 880 0748 or emailing sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk, they will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

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Car Hire With Barclaycard

February 11, 2014 Car Hire Tips Comments Off on Car Hire With Barclaycard

People often worry that when it comes to hiring a car what cards they can and can’t use, typically this is in regards to not having a credit card as many companies won’t accept anything that isn’t a credit card, however you can find out more on that by clicking this link. Another card that people often worry about is Barclaycards, which are credit cards provided by the company Barclays.
Surprisingly there are a few companies out there that don’t accept these cards despite them being credit cards. (more…)

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Car Hire Alicante No Fuel Charge

February 7, 2014 Car Hire Offers, Spain Comments Off on Car Hire Alicante No Fuel Charge

Alicante Elche Airport gets in excess of 9 million passengers passing through its gates each year, many of them heading out of the terminal and straight to the car hire desks. Car hire is notorious in Spain but especially so in Alicante, on the face of it the prices are really cheap, like really cheap! But that doesn’t quite tell the full story as many suspect with several hidden extras and costs that you will have to pay. (more…)

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