6 February 2023

7 ways you can save on your 2023 car hire

We explain how you can make a saving on your car hire in 2023

We are all feeling the effects of the increase in the cost of living and many of us are looking at ways in which we can save a bit of money here and there whilst still doing the things we enjoy, like going on holiday! Holidays are something we, as a nation, really look forward to and give us chance to rest, catch up with family or friends and have a bit of a detox from everyday life.

Here at MoneyMaxim we’re all for finding small changes that make a big difference and keep your money in your pocket. Car hire has been notoriously more expensive following on from the COVID-19 pandemic and we have summarised our top seven ways in which to keep costs down and save a little.

1. Purchase independent car hire excess insurance

It’s now pretty well-known that car hire companies can charge a small fortune for their own excess insurance at the rental desk. We regularly see firms charging in the region of €20-30 per day for excess cover. Avoid paying this extortionate amount by getting an independent car hire excess insurance policy, you can run quotes here.

Prices start at £1.50 per day and for that your excess is covered as well as areas such as the tyres, wheels, underbody, roof and glass of the vehicle. Features differ slightly per policy but our handy quote engine makes it really quick and easy to see exactly what is included!

2. Check the price of your rental regularly

Car hire prices are not static, instead they are dynamic and regularly move up and down depending on demand for cars. Due to this, we would always recommend booking as soon as you find a price you’re happy with with a company which offers free cancellation such as Clarify Car Hire. This means you’ll know the highest price you will have to pay for the rental, but if the cost does go down then you can cancel and rebook at the lower price.

We’ve known customers cut the cost of their rental in half from around £800 to just over £400 by consistently checking prices. So it really is worth keeping an eye out!

3. Book in 24 hour periods

Car hire firms charge in 24 hour periods instead of calendar days. This means that it can be a real money saver to book your hire in 24 hour periods. For example, if you’re going to pick up your vehicle at 2pm try to also return it by 2pm.

This may mean that, using the above example, if you ideally wanted to drop back your car at 3pm you opt to return the vehicle at 2pm and relax in a coffee shop at the airport for an hour before checking in. In peak times you can find that the price for an extra day is in excess of £50 so that extra hour or two can be very expensive.

4. Avoid picking up your vehicle out of hours

If you have to pick up your vehicle out of office hours it can often come with a hefty fee as someone has to be at the desk to sort out the rental contract and give you the keys. We regularly see out of hours fees being in the region of £35-£50. If you can get a flight which gets you into the airport during the rental desks opening hours it can be worth, especially if that flight is only £5 or so more than a flight that gets you in out of hours.

5. Consider alternative airports

Often customers go to major airports that are near their end destination, however car hire can be cheaper from smaller, regional airports that are only a little bit further away. This is purely because there tends to be less demand at smaller airports.

A prime example of this would be considering Almeria instead of Murcia or Malaga in South East Spain.

6. Avoid paying extra for satellite navigation devices

Satellite navigation devices are great tools for guiding you to your end destination but they are an additional charge on top of your rental. Even if there is a screen with a sat nav in the car many rental firms will turn off the ability to use this unless you have paid.

An alternative to forking out the daily fee to hire a satellite navigation device is to use an offline maps app such as Waze or Google maps. These both have the function to download maps so you don’t need internet to use them. This is an easy and cost free way to get navigation from the airport to your accommodation.

7. Take child seats with you

Child seats can be a costly extra, much like satellite navigation devices car hire firms require a daily fee for their use. If you can take your child seats with you, we would strongly advise doing so. It also means you have a seat that your child is comfortable in and you don’t have to worry about there being no availability at the rental office.

We hope the above gives you some inspiration and ways in which you can reduce the amount you spend on your next car hire. Do run a quote with us here and get in touch if you have any queries. If you’ve got any tips that you’ve learnt over the year that save you money do let us know as we’d love to share it with our readers!