Anyone got ant recommendations or tips for reasonable and reliable car hire, other than the usual get fleeced by the big boys collecting and dropping at the airport?

At this stage it's likely to be a London airport arrival.

Big boys & you're paying for convenience.

Smaller operators tend to be cheaper, but usually off airport & running shuttle busses periodically.

Best advice I can give is to use a comparison site, something like Skyscanner, to get the best price from 100+ companies. They're all rated etc, so you can stick in the dates, filter by the sort of car you need, then go on the best combo of price and customer rating.

Just did a quick check and you can get something like a Golf for 2 weeks from less than £100, which seems dirt cheap to me.

Thanks

Don't pay to hire a GPS. They charge too much. I walked down the road and bought one from Halfords for less than the hire fee. I bought an Australian maps SD cards when I came home. (I had to change the GPS to show km, while I'm happy with miles having grown up before decimalisation, I'm now more comfortable with km and km/h).

Yes, I know one can use one's phone but a real GPS is much more convenient.

I can lend mine to you if you want it (without the SD card it will open with the UK maps). Ron B. VK2OTC
2003 L322 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA

Depending on your data allowance, there's an app called Waze, which is possibly better than most GPS here systems now as all users are contributing back, so it has real time delays & re-routing.

Hertz in Gatwick are excellent. Just my own experience. I fly in to gatwick regularly and have used allthe car hire companies based in and around the airport. 75% of the time i get an upgrade and they are very professional and quick to deal with. Like most things in life you get what you pay for. 2015 4.4 AB
GSXR 1000 K5
R1 1998

@gj88

Wow those are some seriously good prices! A very golf for £98 for 2 weeks? Cheaper than buying or leasing!

p38arover wrote:

I can lend mine to you if you want it (without the SD card it will open with the UK maps).

Thanks for all the other pointers and tips everyone. Its been 5 years since my last trip back.

Tey Zest Car Hire broker. I use them for holiday car hire. Bit more expensive but all excess insurance included. Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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Also use a separate company for the extra excess reduction insurance like reduce my excess in the UK to avoid the rip off sell at the pick up point. Current 2007 TDV8 Vogue Buckingham Blue

Dolphinboy wrote:

@gj88

Wow those are some seriously good prices! A very golf for £98 for 2 weeks? Cheaper than buying or leasing!