A quick, useful guide to choosing the perfect rental car
Choosing the right vehicle isn’t always easy – even if you’ve chosen to hire a car rather than buy it. Here at Intack Self Drive, we have a diverse fleet to choose from, so whatever you’re looking for, you can be sure we’ll have something to suit you. But if you still need a bit of help on deciding exactly which vehicle it is you need – well, that’s where we can help! Here are some of the top considerations you’ll need to bear in mind.
What do you need the vehicle for?
This is obviously the big question. The purpose you have in mind for the vehicle will naturally influence the answer to a whole host of follow-up decisions, like whether it’ll be a car or van, and how long you might need it for. Sometimes it can be a fairly simple question to answer, especially if it’s a single specific job. On the other hand, sometimes it might need to fulfil a number of purposes, perhaps over the course of days or weeks. If you’re not sure exactly which vehicle might be best for the job you have in mind, one of our team will always be happy to advise.
How long will you need the car for?
As we’ve touched on, your answer to this question will probably be directly influenced by your answer to the previous one. If you don’t know exactly how long, it can be useful to begin by establishing with the broad strokes – whether you’ll need it for days, or weeks, or months.
Sometimes you might just need it for small, one-off jobs with easily predictable timescales – such as moving a child to university, or visiting a client in another city. Other times, the timescale can be a bit more difficult to put your finger on. Again, our team can provide you with help if you need it – and if you think you might need to hire a van or car for longer than a month, it’s always worth taking a look at our Flexi Hire service.
What’s your budget?
Once you’re settled on the core information about the job you’ve got in mind, you can then look at how much you’ve got available to spend. As well as the actual hire period itself, at this stage it’s worth taking into account whether there are any extras that you want included, such a Collision Damage Waiver. If so, this is the time to put some money aside for them!
Fuel efficiency / engine type
This will likely factor into your decision if you’re planning on travelling a notably long distance, or if you’re doing several trips in a single hire period. Some vehicles are better suited to certain types of journeys than others. For particularly long range or cross-country journeys for example, the general consensus is that diesel engines perform reliably well – but for shorter or last-mile trips, you might be surprised at how useful electric cars can be. In fact, we’ve recently announced a brand new range of electric vehicles for hire right here at Intack Self Drive, so it’s certainly an option worth exploring!
Rental policies and terms and conditions
Whether you’re planning on hiring a van or car from us or someone else, one universal rule is that it’s always a good idea to take a quick read over the terms and conditions of the rental agreements. You’ll probably find that lots of companies have similar clauses regarding time limits and damage and similar aspects of the rental process, but there can also be some significant differences too. Make sure not to get caught out by making assumptions – it can cause headaches for staff, and sometimes additional fees or unexpected complications for you further down the line, too.
Insurance and additional options
We’ve already sort of covered this above, but it’s worth reiterating – once you’ve got your budget sorted and all the information you need, don’t hesitate to ask one of our team about any additional options we may provide with our car hire services. The Collision Damage Waiver is a prime example – personally, we would strongly recommend purchasing it, as it limits the excess you have to pay in the event that your car gets damaged.
That’s all the essentials covered – when it comes to what you actually need to take on each job though, we’ll leave the final judgement to you! As for us, we’ll keep doing exactly what we do best: providing the very best prices on daily car hire and van hire.
With over 50 years of van, car and minibus hire experience here at Intack Self Drive, our fleet now spans over 450 cars, vans, and minibuses – so if you’re a business user looking for vehicles to meet your company requirements, or just a private customer looking for a personal vehicle for short-term use, you can count on us to have exactly the right vehicle at exactly the right price. Feel free to give us a call on 01254 57811, and we’ll be happy to help however we can!