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DVLA Chaos Is Causing Disruption In The Rental Industry

July 29, 2021 Car Hire News, UK Comments Off on DVLA Chaos Is Causing Disruption In The Rental Industry
DVLA Chaos Is Causing Disruption In The Rental Industry

DVLA Chaos Due To Covid-19

There was a recent report by the BBC on the ‘Catastrophic backlog at driving licence body, DVLA’. This explains how, due to covid-19. Staffing levels at the Swansea based government agency have been reduced. Mainly due to social distancing rules in Wales. Staff members have not been allowed to work from home for security reasons. This means the back log of licence applications and amendments hit upwards of 1.4 million.

In this article it mentions Laura-Louise Fairley. Who applied for a replacement driving licence in order to hire a car to visit family in Buckinghamshire and Berkshire with her daughter. She has attempted to reach the DVLA around 30 times, but has only been able to speak to an operator once. On other occasions, she says she was directed to an automated message that then ended the call. And on the website, her request is labelled as being “in process”.

The Difficulty for Laura-Louise and many other people is that most car rental suppliers have a strict rule. One which requires you to provide your driving licence in order to drive away in your rental car. This has improved somewhat in recent years with the introduction of the online ‘DVLA Check Code’.

Is There A Way Around It?

Yes, we now work with a number of UK suppliers who will provide a rental car without the need to have your physical driving licence present. So even if you have sent your licence off the the DVLA because it has expired, for a change of address or even to have penalty points added we can still, in most cases, arrange a hire car for you.

If you have sent off for your first licence after passing your driving test, this may not be as helpful to you. There is a chance your licence details have been updated online and you are just waiting for your licence in the post. However if your request for a new licence is sat in the backlog and nothing has been changed online. Unfortunately we will not be able to arrange a rental car for you. We would just have to check each of these cases on an individual basis.

What Should You Do?

First and foremost, contact us. We can determine the best way forward with just a few simple questions. Our team are on hand to help at any time and will deal with your request quickly. But more importantly will find you the best possible offering from one of the many suppliers we work with. If we cannot help for any reason, you will know that we have tried our very best.

Please get in touch if you have any comments or feedback to make on ‘DVLA Chaos Is Causing Disruption In The Rental Industry’. We are always looking for new and existing ways to assist people when they are struggling to hire a car. Our aim is to make car rental accessible to everyone. We have been successful in finding solutions for drivers over 75 or under 25. Those with penalty points and drivers without a credit card. Finding solutions for a driver without their driving licence was a challenge but one that we have now overcome.

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Are Car Rental Deposits Refundable?

January 14, 2020 Car Hire News Comments Off on Are Car Rental Deposits Refundable?
Are car rental deposits refundable

Are Car Rental Deposits Refundable?

The short answer is yes, car rental deposits are refundable. With that been said depending on the car hire supplier you book with, the length of time it takes for your deposit to be returned can differ. This is because some suppliers choose to pre authorise the payment, meaning that you are not able to spend this money, but the money is not taken from your card. The alternative is that the supplier takes the money off your card and then refunds the money to your card. The process of refunding your money usually takes 5 to 10 working days.

Can I Lower My Car Hire Deposit?

Yes, many suppliers offer different deposits for car hire. In some locations we are able to offer car hire with no deposit which is great if you don’t have a lot of money spare and can’t afford to have a large deposit held on your card. We also have several suppliers who offer car hire with a low deposit, this means you only have to pay a significantly smaller deposit than the usual large deposits.

If you would like to book a car and are not sure about the deposit, please contact us. If you are looking for no deposit or a low deposit, speak to our team and we will do our best to get the deposit as low as possible. You can contact us via call, email or by using the live chat function.

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Smoking In A Hire Car, What You Need To Know

December 12, 2019 Car Hire Industry News, Car Hire News, Car Hire Tips Comments Off on Smoking In A Hire Car, What You Need To Know
Smoking In A Hire Car

I have recently read a post on a very popular money savings website that claims Smoking In A Hire Car is illegal. Smoking in any car is only illegal when there are children in the car whether the car is a hire car, lease car, company car or your own personal car.

The law states that from 1st October 2015 it is illegal to smoke in a vehicle with an enclosed roof when someone under the age of 18 is present. Click here to read more on this.

When it comes to Smoking In A Hire Car specifically, the law is the same. However, you will find that in your terms and conditions it will state that smoking is against their company policy and rules. Just because you are within the law, does not mean they must allow you to smoke in their property.

Smoking In A Hire Car, What Could It Cost?

You will find that if signs of smoking in the vehicle are found, such as the smell or smoke residue then a fine will be issued, usually under the guise of a ‘cleaning charge’ This is typically between £50 and £150.

Another way you could potentially lose out is through your damage excess, if you were to damage the vehicle by burning a seat or carpet then they will class this as the same as accident damage and require you to pay. Even if you have a zero excess, smoking in the car will void your rights because you have broken the agreement outlined in the terms and conditions.

What About Vaping & E-Cigarettes

Vaping or using an e-cigarette in a rental car does not fall under the same law in the UK, the only law that could potentially be broken is driving without due care and attention. This could apply to someone filling up their vape, taking your hands of the wheel to light a cigarette or even eating while driving.

Our research shows that most rental suppliers do not cover ‘vaping’ in their terms but i’m sure this will happen soon. Your best bet is to ask the supplier when collecting the car. Whether it is allowed or not, if the car is returned smelling of smoke, flavoured vapour or anything else. You could be charged!

If you have any questions regarding hire cars then please contact our team of experts. They are ready and waiting to answer any queries you may have.

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Can I bring a hired car with a towbar abroad?

November 28, 2019 Car Hire News, Tow Bar No comments yet
Best towing vehicles available to hire

Cross Border Car Hire With A Tow Bar

car rental with tow bar is a very unique offer that can be very useful for many reasons. You might need a car to tow a trailer or caravan and this offer can help you with that. This gets even more unique when you throw in the ability to take a hired car with a tow bar abroad. Below is everything you need to know if you plan to hire a vehicle with a tow bar and take it abroad.

What are the requirements of taking a hired car with a tow bar abroad?

As with many of our special offers, there are restrictions put in place by the supplier, this offer is no different. The things you should keep in mind when booking are:

  • The driver must be at least 25 years old and for some larger vehicles must be 30.
  • The rental must be a minimum of 7 days long.
  • When taking the vehicle abroad there is a flat fee of £120.
  • You can pay via credit or debit card but the card must be in the main drivers name.
  • At all major airports you can take advantage of the meet & greet service.
  • The vehicle can be delivered to your work or home address for a small fee.

Where Can I Travel To?

With this offer you can take your vehicle to any country within the Schengen zone. The Schengen zone consists of 26 European countries that have scrapped passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. On the most part the zone functions as a single jurisdiction for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy.

The countries included in the Schengen zone are, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

In order to get this deal then YOU MUST contact our helpful and friendly team today on +44 (0)113 880 0748 to ensure that we have a vehicle available for you at your location and that we can have the tow bar fitted to your choice of vehicle. This offer is exclusive to one supplier and we work with over 550 suppliers so we need to get your booking right to make sure you get the deal you want.

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Do you research car hire suppliers prior to booking with them?

July 31, 2019 Car Hire News, News Comments Off on Do you research car hire suppliers prior to booking with them?
DO YOU RESEARCH CAR HIRE SUPPLIERS PRIOR TO BOOKING WITH THEM?

Another question we asked our customers in a recent survey was Do you research car hire suppliers prior to booking with them?

From those who completed the survey, a huge 79% of you said NO, you do not do any research on a supplier before making a booking. Now my first thought on this was that it shows how much trust our customers have with our team and feel comfortable that we will always do our best to select the right supplier and deal for you. I think there is a lot of truth to that and it is a fantastic feeling.

On the other hand, we estimate that around 15-20% of bookings made with us are done online via our booking engine, with little or no input from the team. While this is pretty normal in our industry, it is still a little concerning that potentially 80% of those 15-20% are booking without any prior knowledge on the supplier they are choosing.

We know that cost is the main driver for peoples decision, we covered this recently in our blog on ‘Why Cost Should Not be Your #1 Consideration When Hiring A Car‘ have a read.

What Is There To Worry About

The reason we find it a little concerning is that a large proportion of our customers require something a little different to the norm when booking a car; some do not have a credit card, some are under 25 and even over 75, others have points or convictions and some have only just passed their driving test.

Not all suppliers offer services for all circumstances, all of the above are covered in the suppliers terms and conditions when booking online to avoid problems but with so many people admitting not doing their homework it is a little worrying.

Thankfully our after-sales team are on the ball and no bookings go unnoticed, meaning we can help customers avoid potential problems before they happen. This isn’t always the case however, somethings can go wrong, very few and far between it has to be said but we do find the majority of those that do go wrong have been bookings made with no input from the team ahead of the reservation being made.

We also asked people how important it was to them that a supplier is based directly at the airport when collecting a car. 47% of you answered that the supplier must be based on site and that a shuttle service is not what you are looking for. Whilst this is a perfectly normal request, the only way to know the collection procedure before booking is to do your research or speak with our team.

You can call us at any time, email us, tweet us, send us a Facebook message or live chat with our team on the website. Any questions you may have can be answered quickly so you do not have to book a car without a little bit of prior knowledge.. We are here to help!

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Why cost should not be your #1 consideration when hiring a car

July 23, 2019 Car Hire News, Debit Card Car Hire News Comments Off on Why cost should not be your #1 consideration when hiring a car
Why cost should not be your #1 consideration when hiring a car

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.

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Van Hire With A Debit Card

June 3, 2019 Car Hire News, Van Hire No comments yet
van hire with unlimited mileage

As Many people know hiring a car with a debit card is hard, let alone hiring a van with one but you will be surprised to hear that you can actually arrange van hire with a debit card with us. This offer is available at most UK locations. We make it quick, simple and easy with no catches to hire when ordering without a credit card. We essentially do all the leg work for you, you just click the buttons.

When hiring your van through Indigo car hire we advise two forms of identification are provided upon collection of the vehicle in addition to your credit or debit card you need to produce your full drivers licence, it’s important to note that if you hold a UK two part licence both the photo card and counterpart have to be produced for it to be considered a full license. A second form of identification may also be required; things like a bill or passport are adequate.

Some of our vans in our range include

  • Small Van – Vauxhall Combo or similar
  • Short Wheel Base Van – Ford Transit 280 SWB or similar
  • Long Wheel Base Van – Ford Transit 350 LWB or similar
  • Luton Box Van – Iveco Box Van, Luton with Tail Lift

All these vans are great for all heavy duty activities such as moving house or anything else. Make sure you get the right size van for your given activity as it can be rather inconvenient if your van isn’t large enough to fit what you wanted to squeeze in. Make sure you check the measurements and sizes of the different vans, so you get the right van for you.

We have a large amount of suppliers that offer van hire throughout the UK however only some offer it without a credit card so in order to find these deals/offers from us you MUST speak to us directly as we only accept Visa Debit and credit cards. With that been said, in some cases Visa Electron and Maestro Cards may be available.

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Top 5 Most Popular Hire Cars

January 17, 2019 Car Hire News, Fun Stuff No comments yet

There are so many options when it comes to choosing hire cars but it’s often the case that a lot of people request the same cars. Here at Indigo we get many requests for different cars however these are our top five most common requests by a long shot.

#5 VW Passat

The Passat is a very tidy business like car. A comfortable interior and a smooth drive it comes as no surprise that the Passat is the 5th most requested car. The car comes with such a variety of options to choose from such as a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, or the optional 3.6-liter V-6, which includes 4-motion all-wheel drive there’s a Passat for everyone from business too family.

#4 Ford Focus

A casual front wheel drive car suitable for most occasions, it’s quite an average size car and its quite compact giving it the easy travel through cities and towns making it a popular option for customers. It’s a five door hatchback suitable for most journeys and it also has a good miles per gallon ratio making it cost effective and a popular choice.

#3 Vauxhall Corsa

The Vauxhall Corsa is an exceptionally easy drive and great for parking and driving in small spaces as it’s a fairly small car. This 3 door hatch back is a quick comfortable option if you’re going for a three door, it’s not very spacious as it’s a small car however when hiring it is a very affordable option which shows in its popularity.

#2 Ford Fiesta

Coming with tens of different options the ford fiesta is pretty much fully customisable from 3 door hatchbacks to 5 door, both manual and automatic options it’s a great choice so it’s not surprising it’s the second most popular rented vehicles there is a constant stream of requests for ford fiestas.

#1 VW Golf

I can’t begin to tell you how many requests there are for golfs; it is by far the most requested vehicle beating the ford fiesta by a long shot. A great small car with a comfortable ride and beautiful exterior it can be used for absolutely any kind of drive, smart enough to be a business car and fast enough to put a smile on anyone’s face the golf is the only truly all-rounder. It’s hard to fault the golf in anything making it the number one most popular hired car.

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Our Van Hire Range

March 16, 2018 Car Hire News, Van Hire No comments yet
van hire with unlimited mileage

We offer several different sizes and types of vans in our van hire range, both big and small suitable for any use you would need it for. We offer Van hire to most locations throughout the UK at an affordable price. Our vans are usually sorted into categories such as small, SWB, LWB, XLWB, Luton. People who regularly use a van may know what these mean but some may be unsure about it so in order to reassure you all we will break it down.

Small Vans

Our small vans typically have a height of 1.2m, a width of 1.45m, length of 1.7m and a weight limit of around 600-800kg dependent on the vehicle. These vans do around 44mpg and each have 2 seats. Here are a few of the example models that we do Vauxhall Combo, Peugeot Dipper, VW Caddy, Ford Connect anything similar to these models is what you could get when hiring a small van.

SWB

SWB stands for short wheel base the dimensions of this are typically a height of 1.4m, width of 1.7m and a length of 2.4m with a weight limit of 900-1150kg its slightly bigger than the small vans with 3 seats aswell. The typical models for SWB vans are Ford Transit SWB, VW Transporter SWB and Vauxhall Vivaro SWB.

LWB

As you may have guessed LWB means long wheel base, which is again slightly bigger than the SWB. A Height of 1.7m and width the same with a length of 3.35m and a load weight of around 1200-1500kg and 3 seats. The example models stated are Ford Transit LWB, Renault Master LWB and Maxus LWB or something similar to them.

XLWB

Extra-long wheel base XLWB this is pretty much the same as LWB with the addition of 0.1m height but with a length of around 4.0m but the same amount of load weight allowance, its pretty similar to LWB just longer and also have 3 seats. The example models are Ford Transit XLWB and Mercedes Sprinter XLWB. XLWB are the largest panel vans we have to distribute.

Luton

These are basically normal vans used for moving house and moving storage typically. It is much bigger than the panel vans and has 2.2m height, 2.0m Width and 4.0m length with the ability to carry the weight of 1200-1600kg. The example models have 3 seats and include Ford Transit LDV, Maxus LDV, Renault Master LDV.

If you want to hire a van from Indigo then you MUST call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at sales@thealternativeagency.co.uk in order to find out the full details of your specific van. We work with over 550 suppliers so we can arrange many different types of vans for your specific needs and requirements.

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Reaction To The Counterpart Abolition

June 10, 2015 Car Hire Industry News, Car Hire News Comments Off on Reaction To The Counterpart Abolition
Driving licence UPDATE

As the new system comes into force following the Counterpart Abolition, drivers attempting to rent vehicles vent their frustration with the teething problems.

The counterpart Abolition finally happened on Monday 8th June and although we in the industry have been aware of this for a while it seems many of the general public were not aware.

As you know from our previous posts, we have tried our best to make our customers aware of the changes, but it seems not all companies or the government have done enough to prepare for the Counterpart Abolition if you ask some car hire customers
.

Tech Problems

Other peoples frustrations are not with the Counterpart Abolition but more with the new systems in place. We see this time and time again with new systems or heavy traffic days like the ‘Black Friday Sales’, the servers used are not equipped to handle the amount of traffic. Perhaps the government didn’t realise how many people hire cars on a daily basis..

Some Are Happy About The Counterpart Abolition

For some though, it is a welcome change. I myself tend to forget my counterpart when I am travelling and although most hire companies abroad have never required it, there was always the risk of them asking and not being able to provide a car without it.

All in all we think its been a pretty standard change from the governments point of view, strange decision, not enough information and a kind of ‘just deal with it’ attitude. We think the car hire industry has dealt with it pretty well in the first few days and we will see how it goes moving forward.

If you have any questions about licence requirements then please don’t hesitate to contact one of our ‘car hire experts’.

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