When hiring a car there are a lot of factors to consider before making a booking, I am going to explain why the headline cost is not always the most important thing.
Yes, it seems a little silly but there are other things you should consider before even looking at the price.
In a recent survey, we asked our customers what their first consideration was when looking for a hire car. A Huge 47% of respondents said that cost was most important to them. Supplier reputation came in second with 19%, method of payment followed with 17%, insurance excess amount was just 6% while only 3% of those who responded said that quality of service was most important to them.
Supplier Reputation
One of the biggest issues facing that 47% portion of the public is that like some airlines, some rental companies are not always upfront and honest about pricing. This means that the price you see is not always the price you are going to pay.
This is why the reputation of the supplier should be more of a priority when booking, a quick look on a popular search engine will give you various bytes of information on any supplier you wish to research. How happy are the customers that have used them before? Have they found them good value? Would they use them again? If the information you find isn’t very positive would you still use them because they appear to be cheap?
Payment Method
A huge surprise to me was that only 17% of people considered how they would be paying for the car first. A large part of our day is spent arranging car hire for people who do not hold a credit card, those who want to hire a car with a debit card, a Monzo card or even paypal.
You may find at the end of your reservation process that it states a credit card will be needed upon collection of this vehicle, that is common in the vast majority of suppliers around the world. If you do not have a credit card, then regardless of how cheap the initial price was, it is useless for you.
Excess Deposit
Another surprise was that only 6% of people considered the insurance excess amount. Although in the vast majority of cases, this amount of money is returned to you at the end of the hire so those with the funds available may not need to consider this as much. However, when 47% of people look at the rental cost as the most important factor it makes me think that they are hiring a car on a budget, there is nothing at all wrong with that. However, when you arrive to collect your budget hire car and are asked for your credit or debit card to leave a deposit of up to £1,500.00 (sometimes more depending on the vehicle) would this leave enough money available to fund your trip?
Deposits can be as low as paying for a tank of fuel, so next time you are looking to hire a vehicle, take a look at different priced options to see if you can find one that suits better. You may just find that the slightly more expensive option suits you better.
This is where the team here at Indigo excel, of course we want to get you the best price available but our priority is to find you a rental package that suits your needs. If you are a 22 year old that has only held a licence for 12 months, do not hold a credit card nor do you have £1,500 available in the bank to cover the excess then chances are the cheapest headline price on the comparison website is going to be no good for you. All you need to do is contact us, we will take all of the relevant information and present you with a choice of vehicles that suit you.
Quality of Service
Perhaps the biggest surprise from this question was the amount of people who held ‘Quality of Service’ as their number #1 priority, just 3% of respondents. With the bad press that our industry gets on a regular basis I would have assumed that a higher priority was placed on the service received from the suppliers. The feedback we get from our customers is fantastic and we always try and work with reputable suppliers, maybe this is why people feel that they do not need to worry about this part of the rental.
if this is something that concerns you, simply get in touch and we can talk you through the suppliers who operate at your selected location and help you hire from one who will offer the service levels that our customers expect and enjoy.
