[Anonymous]

[SwissExPat]

I’ve noted that when hiring cars in Europe, if you step up form a regular mid size car (Opel insignia ) to something slightly more fancy (BMW 320) the daily rate usually doubles ( not sure why this is).

Just booked a hertz BMW 5 series for euro 90 for 2 days but noticed all the other usual suspects were at euro,200+.

Is there any logic to premium car hire rates? (I book excess 10 hires Per year)

[IanFromHKG]

Not much, so far as I can determine – at least as regards hire cars in the UK, rather than continental Europe – and not much honesty in what they advertise either. They always seem to use “or equivalent” wording, which appears to be code for “well, not that car at all actually because we never have any of them, but we will give you something much cheaper that’s about the same size”. So, to take a (non-premium) equivalent – not once in the times we have booked, say, a “Ford Mondeo or equivalent” have we ever received a Ford Mondeo, or even seen one in the car park. More than 3/4 of the time we get either a Skoda or a Vauxhall.

[SwissExPat]

Sure…. But I will expect a 5 series on arrival….

Seems that on the BT forum, the car rental postings do not attract much traffic or attention….

Shame BA does not do car hire… Might find more opinions!

[Traveller1978]

The higher cost are all about fleet management and purchasing power. There’s not that much demand for premium car hire as there is for economy/ compact car hire. So if Avis and Hertz negotiate their deals with Vauxhall and order 2500 Vauxhall Astra’s they get say a 25% discount on the listed price (probably even more). But theý’re not ordering 2500 BMW 5-series so more depreciation from the purchase price in the short life of a rental car’s cycle.

And as any marketing person will concur with me: to make a product feel premium, don’t let a customer pay pennies.

On BA not doing car hire: BA and Avis have a good partnership though, check http://www.avisba.com. Accumulates you Avios and get a free additional driver as well on any car hire worldwide.

[Author]

Posts