Why does being in the UK increase car rental prices so much?

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by thatdavieguy

an simply pay your money into Revolut for example and complete the booking, job done.

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right,
the only issue might be if OP can only get that price in pay on arrival.
can you use the Revolut card to pay for the rental, and another card for the CC guarantee ?
I have very little experience with pay on arrival (always prepay) but I seem to recall that they put the amount of the rental on hold on the CC used for deposit, they will accept debit for payment only at the end of the rental, but revolut is prepaid, and cannot be used.

So I wonder if it's possible at all under those circumstances (pay on arrival) or if you're stuck with the use of a "real" CC

[Joshie1]

In all my years of hiring cars in the USA (no experience of Canada) I have never seen cheaper prices on any .ie website. In fact I phoned Hertz one year to complain about the price discrepancy between the .co.uk website and the .ie website.
The last few trips I have booked through autoeurope.co.uk as their GBP prices are way cheaper than the equivalent if using their .ie website.

[Joshie1]

Originally Posted by KevinCosmos

Another potential reasoning could be that we drive on the opposite side of the road, so there is maybe more chance of us being in an accident?

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I really hope that is joke

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by Joshie1

I really hope that is joke

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to be fair, the British Commonwealth is home to a very strange bunch of drivers ...

in the UK, you drive on the wrong side of the road

in Australia, they drive upside down ...

strange indeed ...

[Joshie1]

Originally Posted by chmurf

to be fair, the British Commonwealth is home to a very strange bunch of drivers ...

in the UK, you drive on the wrong side of the road

in Australia, they drive upside down ...

strange indeed ...

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I took it as a reference to the possibility that we in Ireland drive on the opposite side of the road to the UK. Would make for interesting times when crossing the border into Northern Ireland.

[pompeyboy]

How long are you looking to rent the car for? I can't get anywhere the prices you are quoting for 4 week rentals of a full size car and even a std SUV is coming in at under £1,000 with Alamo through Expedia.

Be aware that Canada seem to have a more European approach to car rentals, first $5-800 of damage isn't covered along with glass, tyres and underside damage but you can buy a stand alone package to cover this from the UK before you leave.

[Spud_work]

Here are the screenshots showing the difference between the UK and Ireland prices - imgur/a/s1YXVy7 exact same pickup times and locations, the excess on both are the same as are all the inclusions/exclusions. Don't be fooled by the Irish screenshot not having a mention of CDW in the same way as the UK one does, as it has this information on the next page -
"Covered for damage
If your hire car is damaged and repairs are required, an excess may apply. When you collect your vehicle ask at the counter about how you can significantly reduce the excess.This vehicle's excess is CAD 300.00" (which is about 30 bucks less than the UK site!)

There certainly isn't a buy now option for the Irish site, which is a shame as there is always the exchange rate fluctuation to worry about, but I suppose the Pound might strengthen if the political mess we are in gets resolved before next summer or we might be back to bartering as our pounds will become worthless

Overall, this really isn't on though as the same company shouldn't have radically different prices for the same product/service depending on where you live when there is no difference to them in the cost to deliver the product/service and surely this is against a whole bunch of EU laws?

[Spud_work]

Originally Posted by pompeyboy

How long are you looking to rent the car for? I can't get anywhere the prices you are quoting for 4 week rentals of a full size car and even a std SUV is coming in at under £1,000 with Alamo through Expedia.

Be aware that Canada seem to have a more European approach to car rentals, first $5-800 of damage isn't covered along with glass, tyres and underside damage but you can buy a stand alone package to cover this from the UK before you leave.

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I got my Alamo quote from Andy @DFCH as he is usually good for them and I like to support people who support the online community and it came back at £1300 for a full size car the same as the ones from the avis example, but looking today at Alamo's site it is a shade under £1,000. Expedia won't offer on my dates as they only offer up until early August 2019 at the moment and an equivalent 26 day rental of a full size SUV is £1300 if i drag my dates forward a few weeks to get it into the range of what they will quote on.

Thanks for the warning about differences with Canadian rentals, but this is somewhere in the region of my 10th rental in the great white north so I'm aware of the differences in approach and I always go armed with additional excess protection insurance, but I do appreciate you mentioning it as others might not be aware

[pompeyboy]

Ok sorry it seems I got a bit muddled with my reading of your prices and the mix of C$s, €s and £s. Kayak are quoting until the end of August but you're right Expedia aren't doing August pricing yet and I moved the dates to July for comparison. Maybe you need to wait until all of the sites are showing prices, not trying to teach you to suck eggs lol.

I can't offer any suggestions as to why there is such a varience between the various Countries differing pricing structures.

[thatdavieguy]

Originally Posted by chmurf

right,
the only issue might be if OP can only get that price in pay on arrival.
can you use the Revolut card to pay for the rental, and another card for the CC guarantee ?
I have very little experience with pay on arrival (always prepay) but I seem to recall that they put the amount of the rental on hold on the CC used for deposit, they will accept debit for payment only at the end of the rental, but revolut is prepaid, and cannot be used.

So I wonder if it's possible at all under those circumstances (pay on arrival) or if you're stuck with the use of a "real" CC

See more...

If you're paying on arrival it would need to be a standard debit or credit card, revolut is a non-starter for that as it's prepay as you say.

Getting the cheaper price that's available at the time you quote it, will only be workable with paying immediately - leaving it until you arrive leaves you at the gamble of a fluctuation of currency which can go either way.