SOARING car-hire prices have put the brakes on holiday plans for many families during the past few years.
Costs are finally coming down but they remain well above what drivers were used to paying before the pandemic.
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Price drops since January mean that many drivers who have already reserved their summer rentals could save by cancelling and rebooking. Plus, you can save a fortune by avoiding rip-off fees for extras.
Rosie Taylor explains how to drive down costs and swerve the car-hire desk altogether.
Early birds could rebook
IT is normally wise to book your car rentals early for the best savings. But this year things are different.
New figures show holidaymakers heading to Spain and Portugal could save up to £150 by cancelling and rebooking reservations made earlier in the year.
In 2019, the average cost was £358 to rent a car for the second week of the school holidays, a study of prices at holiday hotspots in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Croatia has discovered.
But last year, the cost soared to £660 for the same week of the summer holidays, based on a compact car such as a Ford Focus or Volkswagen Golf.
By January this year, prices had fallen further, so if you had booked early for the summer you would have paid an average of £578, according to the research by icarhireinsurance.com, an excess cover provider.
But its latest analysis shows motorists who booked within the past month would have paid an average of £518 — that is a saving of £60.
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In some destinations, such as Barcelona in Spain and Faro in Portugal, drivers could slash £150 from their bill by rebooking, if their policy allows free cancellations, which many do.
Check your paperwork carefully for the cancellation terms because the rules vary by country and by company.
Then, do another comparison search on a website such as Skyscanner, Kayak or Travelsupermarket to find out if you could save cash.
In future years, book early but choose a company that does not charge for cancellations, in case prices fall.
Avoid airport desk rip offs
YOU could save up to £200 in some holiday hotspots by booking with firms or branches based outside the airport. Sometimes they offer a free shuttle.
Avoid hiring extras such as satnavs or children’s car seats, which can cost more per week to rent than they do to buy new.
Many airlines will let you check a child’s car seat into the hold for free.
When using smartphone satnav apps to navigate abroad, make sure you have packed a proper phone holder and download maps before you set off, to beat roaming charges.
Always buy your excess cover in advance by comparing costs on a site such as moneymaxim.co.uk, where policies cost as little as £15 a week. This compares to an average of £259 if you buy it at the car hire desk, according to icarhireinsurance.com.
These policies cover you for the expensive insurance excess you will have to pay if you have an accident in your hire car.
When you buy your own cover, you will still need to provide a credit card in the name of the driver on the contract.
Firms demand this so they can charge you the excess if you have an accident — and you then claim this back from your insurer.
Without a credit card, firms normally insist on taking a large deposit from your debit card instead.
Choose a “full-to-full” fuel policy, where you return the car with a full tank, as you could pay an extra £30 in petrol costs on a “full-to-empty” policy.
When you pick up the car, take lots of photographs and mark any existing damage on the paperwork so you do not get stung.
Ditch the hire car
YOU might be able to avoid hiring a car altogether.
Airport transfer companies provide a door-to-door service, often for much less than the price of a hire car.
Compare costs on sites such as travelsupermarket.com and check reviews first. And if you want to see local sights, you can book day trips through websites such as Expedia and Viator, where you are taken around by minibus.
If you are planning to drive your own car abroad, do not forget to check this is covered by your insurance and breakdown cover policies. And check foreign road rules.
In France, for example, all cars must carry a reflective jacket for each passenger and also a warning triangle, or face an on-the-spot fine of around €90 (£79).
Should you rebook?
Some prices have fallen since January. These prices show the cost of 7 days’ hire from Jul 29 – Aug 5 if you book now, compared to if you booked in January this year. Source: icarhireinsurance.com
Nice, France
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Barcelona, Spain
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Jan price: £590
Now: £434
Faro, Portugal
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Dubrovnik, Croatia
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WE’RE DRIVING OUR OWN MOTOR TO SAVE £450
WHEN they visit the Belgian coast this June, Nikki Kopelman and her family will be driving their own car.
Renting a family-sized car from Brussels airport for their five-day trip would cost almost £200. Return flights would cost £420 for the couple and James’s parents.
So instead, Nikki, a translator, 35, her partner James, 39 – who is a security consultant – and his parents, who are in their sixties, will drive together from their home in Harrow, North London, to Belgium.
It means their only travel costs besides petrol will be the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, costing around £170 for all four people for the return trip, a saving of £450.
Nikki says: “It’s a no-brainer to drive ourselves when it’s so much cheaper.
“Not only do we save on car hire but our travel costs are lower as the ferry is also much cheaper than flying.”
5% interest on savings
A LITTLE-known bank is paying UK savers the highest interest rate for 14 years.
The fixed-term account from Turkish bank Isbank offers a five per cent return on deposits.
But it is only available via the savings platform Raisin and requires customers to lock their cash away for at least a year.
If you deposited the minimum £1,000 in the one-year fixed account you would earn £50 in interest at the end of the term. The five per cent rate is the highest for one year since 2009.
Those worried about saving with the bank, which has only increased in popularity in recent weeks, should not fret according to Andrew Hagger, founder of financial website Moneycomms.
He said: “Isbank has offices in the UK and is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.”
The scheme protects up to £85,000 of cash for each individual saver in the rare event that a bank should fail. But it’s important to recognise that fixed-rate savings accounts aren’t for everyone.
Andrew said: “Although five per cent is very tempting, don’t lock away your money unless you are 100 per cent sure you won’t need access to it.
“Once you commit you won’t be able to get your hands on it.”
By James Flanders
Social media scams rise
SCAMS originating on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram account for eight out of ten fraud cases reported to TSB.
The high street bank said that last year there was a 300 per cent surge in cases of crooks impersonating victims’ friends and family on WhatsApp, to con them out of cash through what is known as the “Hello Mum” scam.
It refunded 550 victims of this ruse and also reported a doubling of cases of fraud from criminals posting bogus adverts for items for sale on Facebook Marketplace, leading to 2,100 people being paid back.
TSB’s fraud experts highlighted the lack of a secure payment service on the site and said there was not enough vetting of adverts to remove scams.
On Instagram, investment scams were the most common type of fraud the bank saw. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are all owned by Meta, which did not respond to our request for comment.
Paul Davis, the bank’s director of fraud prevention, said: “Social media companies must urgently clean up their platforms to protect the countless innocent people who use their services every day.
“In the meantime, we are urging the public to remain cautious to potential scam content and to spread the word.”
This week the Government announced a new Fraud Strategy to try to clampdown on scams.
As part of this it wants big tech companies to allow users to report scams with a single click.
