Many travellers swear by small, local car hire companies, while
others feel more secure renting from big international rental
agencies. We’ve sorted through the pros and cons of going
local to help you make up your mind!
The pros
- The extra smile: Many travellers agree that privately owned
companies provide better service, and that you’re more
likely to be viewed as a valued client than just another number
in the system. Word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising for
such agencies, and customer satisfaction is likely to be high up
on their list of priorities.
- It makes money sense: For many travellers looking for cheap
car rental, a rule of thumb is to use a local smaller, local
company if they need to rent a vehicle for more than a week as
the rates are often significantly cheaper.
- Flexibility: While big companies have hard and fast rules,
smaller companies are at liberty to make exceptions, such as
accepting cash instead of credit cards or, in the USA for
example, making it easier for under-25s to rent a car.
- Someone cares: local car rental companies are often more
approachable, and it is not uncommon, for example, for the branch
manager to provide customers with his/her mobile phone number.
The cons
- Emergency blues: Unlike the big companies, local agencies may
not offer large-scale support services given geographical
location and limited human resources. If you’re a woman
travelling alone or are likely to travel to remote places,
consider sticking to the big agencies.
- No loyalty programmes: Independent companies don’t
typically offer such programmes – neither do they extend
discounts in conjunction with frequent flier programmes or
certain types of credit card.
- The extras: If you need to combine low cost car hire with
some special extras, like a GPS, baby seat or special rack for,
say, ski equipment, check beforehand that the local company will
be able to supply such items. The same applies if you’re
looking to rent a specialised vehicle, like a 4 x 4.
- Language problems: Don’t assume that all local car
rental companies abroad employee English-speaking staff! It can
be very frustrating trying to make yourself understood, and a
language barrier increases the risk of incurring additional costs
without your knowledge.
- Convenience: Since local car hire companies don’t
usually have offices at airports and close to hotels, finding a
pick-up and drop-off point may prove to be less convenient.
Further reading: