iCarhireinsurance.com a provider of independent car-hire excess insurance) has researched the costs of car hire in five European holiday destinations to find the difference in cost between booking six weeks ahead and the night before.
The insurance company looked at quotes for a medium, compact hire car (specifically a Ford Focus or Renault Megane), for a week, at Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Enterprise, Sixt and Budget.
The research showed that, in certain countries, it was cheaper to book at the last minute, rather than six weeks in advance. “Travellers can save up to GBP146 (R2 500) in Milan, GBP97 (R1 700) in Nice and GBP62 (R1 100) in Barcelona.”
However, in the other two countries (Greece, including the Greek Islands and Portugal) savings could be made by booking six weeks ahead.
The study also found that it was important to shop around. “In Faro, a week’s hire with Europcar is GBP283 (R5 000), while Enterprise offers a rate of GBP654 (R11 450). In Nice, Hertz quotes GBP158 (R2 800) and Sixt, GBP188 (R3 300) for the week’s hire, while Enterprise quotes GBP338 (R5 900).”
