Good car, *horrible* location (easyCar)

Member Name: NCG1

Product:	easyCar
Date:	11/04/02 (360 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Flexible booking, Accessible

Disadvantages: Busy locations

Easyrentacar.com (or easycar.com, as they are now) are a very good deal. The one disadvantage is that they are located in the middle of town. Now, this is fantastic in the getting there in under two hours and not using every possible form of public transport on the way stakes, but its less good for actually driving the car away. Personally, I drive very rarely, and on the occasions that I do I would much prefer not to have to relearn the art in the middle of the Elephant and Castle monster roundabout.

Having said that, I have rented from the London Bridge branch of easycar three times now, and I have always been happy with the car and the service. This is what you get:

CAR

A Mercedes A class - this can be either automatic or manual (you don't get a choice). I've driven both, and prefer the automatic (but that may be something to do with not driving for ages and forgetting where the gears are!). The car itself is small and maneouverable - good for Devon lanes and London traffic. It is fine on the motorway, though the steering gets a bit funny above about 80mph (but you won't be doing that, will you... ;-) ). The driving position is high for a small car, which I like as you get a good view of the traffic. And you can fit a surprising amount in if you put the back seat down (I've used it to move house and buy furniture at Ikea).

COST

Its hard to be exact about the cost, as the easycar booking/ pricing system is like that for an aeroplane ticket. Basically, it will be cheaper if you:
- book a long time in advance
- want the car at an unpopular time (not over Xmas, for example)
- book for a longer stretch (because of the one-off preparation cost, which is proportionally more for shorter hires)

The cheapest it can be is about £5 a day, and that can rise to about £20 a day at the peak (say, a Bank Holiday weekend). When you have typed in all your details, you will be able to see ho
w much each day is costing you. Apart from being interesting, this allows you to choose which days (and parts of days) according to price. I have found that easycar is roughly £40 cheaper per week than hiring from my local, independent car hire place, but you would no doubt want to check this out for yourself.

I have read other ops on this site about people being charged for scratches etc that were already on the car. I've never had this problem. However, I have always gone for the optional extra insurance (£25 last time I did it), which may make them less worried about every last scratch. Also, I was very careful to note every single scratch and mark before hiring the car - to the extent of getting my torch out so as to see better in the dim underground car park!

WEBSITE

This is at easycar.com, and is easy to use but rather time-consuming. It is definitely best done over the fastest connection that you have access to - otherwise you need to sit there with the radio on while it has a bit of a think. You can book at terminals in the collection points, but then you don't get the cost benefits of booking early and you risk not being able to get a car that day.

If there is going to be more than one driver, I would recommend that you book it together, as you will need information such their driver's license number which you probably won't know. Also, the pricing system means that you may save a lot by changing a day or two, and you'll need to discuss that. You can change the dates on which you pick the car up/ give it back after you have booked for free, but if you cancel altogether you won't get any of your money back.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I have only used the London Bridge branch, but I have had good service each time. The maximum wait has been about 10 minutes (while the staff helped someone struggling to book over the web), and the other times I've been dealt with immediately. I
would recommend that you double and triple check exactly what you need to take with you (things like a credit card, as a debit one won't do for the deposit, and photo ID such as a passport) as the staff seem to be allowed no discretion. If you don't have the right documents, you don't get the car. Having said that, there is a useful page on the website that provides a checklist of exactly what you need to bring with.

I've never had to phone their breakdown line, so I don't know whether its helpful. However, the number for it is on the fob of the car's key ring, so its definitely always there if you need it (unless you lock the keys in the car, but there's advice on their website about what to do in that case).

LOCATION

They choose their pick-up locations to enable people without a car to get to them easily. This is a fantastic idea, and something that other car hire firms really should learn. The London Bridge branch is five minutes along a slighly complicated route from London Bridge station (mainline and tube), which is very handy once you've worked out the map. The only problem is that you have to drive the car straight out into heavy London traffic. It would be much easier to get the feel of it going round some quiet suburban streets. But this is only a small whinge, and basically the location couldn't be more accessible unless it was opposite my flat!

I would definitely recommend using easycar - I've never had any problems with the car or the booking. However, its also worth getting a quote from a local place as well, as if you're booking last minute or for a busy time the price differential might not be much, and a local pick-up is much more convenient.

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